Dr. Bachman played a crucial role in the emergence of St. John's as one of the most important Lutheran churches in South Carolina. The congregation approved the construction and partially raised the funds for the construction of a larger, brick and stucco church in front of the small wooden church within six months of his arrival in Charleston. Membership grew under his leadership while many of the problems of the past seemingly disappeared. His marriage to Harriet Martin, Rev. Martin's daughter, also gave the congregation a sense of temporal continuity. He played an instrumental role in the development of Lutheranism in South Carolina, including: being a prime mover in the creation of the South Carolina Synod in 1824, where he was president for ten years until he stepped down in 1833; the establishment of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, who's first professor had been trained under him, in 1830; a primary mover in the formation of Newberry College where he was the first chairman of the Board of Trustees; instrumental in the adoption of the Book of Worship (1866), and a leader in the movement to prepare a Lutheran common order of service (ELCA). He turned down the presidency of the University of South Carolina in the 1830s to have time to work with Audubon on their joint book on North American animals (see below). Bachman's wife, Harriet, died in 1846, and two years later he married his sister-in-law Maria, who had lived with the family throughout the first marriage to help with the children. Not just a maiden aunt living with her older sister, Maria had acquired by this time a significant reputation as a naturalist painter in her own right.

Bachman's most famous association was with John James Audubon. Reputedly meeting on the streets of Charleston within hours of Audubon's arrival in Charleston in 1831, Bachman invited Audubon and his entourage to move in with him at his Rutledge Avenue home with his wife, seven surviving children, sister-in-law, and house servants. Audubon stayed with the Bachmans for more than a month and they formed a liaison which lasted the remainder of Audubon's life. Maria Martin, became Audubon's assistant, painting the plant and animal surroundings that energized Audubon's published paintings. She continued this task until his death twenty years later [It is noteworthy that Audubon's publishers failed to list her contributions to Audubon's work and for many years her role in that work was forgotten.] Bachman collaborated with Audubon in the creation of The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1843-1848). The lasting nature of the association is mirrored in the marriage of two of Audubon's sons to two of Bachman's daughters.

Bachman's views on the issue of African-Americans is seemingly contradictory. On the one hand he was both a slaveholder and an advocate of slavery, as well as giving the opening prayer at the convention in which the ordinance of secession of South Carolina was passed. On the other hand, he authored The Unity of the Human Race (1850) in which he argued that both master and slave were from the same species, not a popular position among southern Euro-Americans at the time. More importantly African-American membership at St. John's soared during his leadership and he was responsible for the encouragement and training of three of the most important early African-American religious leaders in this country, Jehu Jones, Daniel Alexander Payne, and Drayton Boston (ELCA).

The war brought many problems to Bachman. His library, including all of his notes and papers with Audubon, were destroyed by Sherman's troops. While traveling in the upcountry he was taken prisoner by Union soldiers and permanently disabled by a beating administered by the soldiers. Finally his eyesight began failing in his later years. He died in 1874 of paralysis in Columbia, SC, and was buried under the altar of St. John's Lutheran Church.

b.  February 4, 1790
d.  February 24, 1874