Church of the Brethren, Unsung Brethren Sam Mumma, Jr. (Antietam)

15 South Mulberry Street
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
301-733-3565

MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Hagerstown Church of the Brethren is to celebrate the love of Jesus Christ and glorify the
Lord by striving to live as Christ lived, experiencing the power of God's healing in our lives. We seek to nurture
our faith community through prayer, music and the proclaimed Word, while enthusiastically reaching out to
others with compassion, respect and love for everyone so that we may grow in faith and commitment together.

VISION STATEMENT
Journeying with Christ - Serving Our Neighbors - Uniting at the Master’s Table

Unsung Brethren

Samuel Mumma Jr. was born – August 22nd 1838 – on his father’s farm one
mile north of Sharpsburg, Maryland. He was baptized at an early age in
Antietam Creek and became a member of the German Baptist Brethren
Church. As a matter-of-fact, his father, Samuel Mumma, Sr., donated land
for the construction of the now world-famous Dunker Church on the
Antietam Battlefield which evolved into the Church of the Brethren.

On January 10th 1867, Samuel Mumma, Jr. married Frances Reichard. This
union was blessed with the birth of two sons and seven daughters. At the
age of 68, Sam Jr. became the Sharpsburg postmaster. In March 1906, he
received a letter from a James F. Clark of New Burn, North Carolina. This
was the same Sergt. Clark – 3rd North Carolina Infantry – who was in
charge of burning the Mumma home during the Battle of Antietam, 34
years earlier. Clark had no way of knowing Mumma was now postmaster of
Sharpsburg.

Wanting to cure a bad case of curiosity and conscious, Jim Clark wrote,
“Please be so kind to give me the correct name of the man who lived in
the brick house that was burned at the Battle of Antietam.” Clark
mentioned how he and several volunteers from Company A tossed a
piece of flaming campfire wood through an open window on to the bed –
the straw-stuffed mattress exploding into flames.

Although having lost his home and all personal belongings at the action of
Sergt. Clark, Mumma was not a man to carry the burden of not forgiving
another human being. Sam sent a reply informing Jim Clark his father had
taken the family north and found sanctuary in the Manor Church of the
Brethren – escaping the “bloodiest day of the Civil War.” He continued by
saying that he understood the young sergeant was only “acting under
orders” when he burned their home and neither him or his family held a
grudge. To express his forgiveness, several souvenir postcards
portraying scenes of the battlefield, were forwarded to the now-aging
veteran in North Carolina.

Samuel Mumma, Jr. passed away November 8th 1925. His body was placed
in the Mumma graveyard just yards from his home that had been rebuilt
the year following the fire. He could now face eternity knowing he had
taken a load of guilt off the shoulders of an old soldier. Perhaps it was
through his Brethren teaching, Sam discovered “a peace that passes all
understanding” and forgiveness is as rewarding to the one forgiving as
to the one that is being forgiven. “But if you do not forgive, neither will
your Father is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Mark 12:26

Sam Mumma, Jr.