One aspect of the Moravian Church’s experience during the American Revolution that has received much attention over the years is the role of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as a hospital for wounded and sick soldiers. Somewhat less known is that a number of other Moravian communities fulfilled a similar role during the conflict and in this month’s post we would like to highlight one example of this, that of Lititz, Pennsylvania.

Shown on the 1759 map above, Lititz was founded by Moravians in 1756 and was named by Count Zinzendorf after Litice Castle in the Czech Republic [1].  Like Bethlehem, initially only members of the Moravian Church were allowed to live in the town, this restriction would be dropped in the mid-19th century.

These pages are from the diary of the Lititz congregation records when the community learned that they would be required to house wounded and sick soldiers. The entry for December 14th, 1776, reads:

“A doctor by the name of Kennedy [2] brought us the news that by order of General Washington, 250 sick and wounded soldiers must be quartered here. He inspected our house which suited his purposes exactly, and ordered that it be immediately vacated, for we might expect the first of the sick in four days. We could however retain the kitchen and cellar for our own use.”

The document shown above is a 1758 plan for the “house”  referenced in the quote above. It was in buildings like this that several hundred injured or ill soldiers were housed, cared for by both the Moravians and members of the Colonial Army. Unfortunately disease, likely typhus, ran rife through the hospital, killing many of the soldiers, and at least 10 of the Moravians. The church members who died were buried in the community’s cemetery, while approximately 110 deceased soldiers were buried in a nearby field. The exact site of this was lost for many years, until the graves were rediscovered in the 1930s during the excavation of a cellar. The remains were reinterred and monuments to the fallen can be found both nearby and at the Brother’s House, which still stands today.

One of the military doctors stationed at Lititz, Dr. William Brown (1748-1792) is particularly noted for having actively worked to improve conditions at the hospital, particularly in regard to sanitation, and for writing a text titled “Pharmacopeia Simpliciorum et Effecaciorum in usum Nocosomii Militaris,” sometimes referred to simply as the “Lititz Pharmacopoeia”. This slim volume, written in Latin, was a handbook of medicines useful for a military hospital and was the first of its kind produced in the United States.

In April of 1777 the Moravians learned the troubling news that the Colonial government was considering forcing them to vacate Lititz entirely in order to expand the hospital. In response, Moravian leadership reached out to both Dr. William Shippen Jr. and General George Washington in protest. Dr. Shippen replied that he would only take such a drastic measure if absolutely necessary, while General Washington’s response can be seen above and reads in part:

“….it is ever my wish & aim that the public Good be effected with as little sacrifice as possible of individual Interests – and I would by no means sanction the imposing any burthens on the people in whose favor you remonstrate, which the public service does not require. “

Ultimately this expansion never proved necessary and to the relief of the Moravians the hospital was closed down in late August 1777, marking the end of another chapter in the story of the interaction between the Moravian Church and the tumultuous period its members were living through.

[1] Litice Castle had sheltered members of the Moravian’s predecessors, the Unity of the Brethren, during the 15th century Hussite Wars.

[2] Dr. Samuel Kennedy Sr. (1731-1779)

Further Reading:

This article provides an overview of how the Revolutionary War impacted various Moravian communities, including Lititz, and can be read with a free JSTOR account —> Weinlick, John R. “The Moravians and the American Revolution: An Overview.” Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society 23, no. 1 (1977): 1–16.

These books and articles go into more detail concerning the use of Lititz as a military hospital and are freely available online:

Herbert H. Beck, “Graveyard of the Revolutionary soldiers of Lititz,” Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society, vol.37, no.1 (1933): 1-5

Herbert H. Beck, “The Military Hospital at Lititz, 1777-78,” Papers Read Before the Lancaster County Historical Society, vol. 23, no.1 (1919): 4-14

Jordan, John W.  The Military Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz During the Revolution. Philadelphia, 1896

There are a number of monuments and historical markers related to the American Revolution in Lititz, a few of particular relevance to this topic are:

“In Memory of 110 Soldiers of the Continental Army” The Historical Marker Database

“In Memory of the Brave Soldiers of the Continental Army” The Historical Marker Database

“The Lititz Pharmacopoeia” The Historical Marker Database