It is a sad commentary that most Americans are more familiar with Marilyn Monroe than the first patriot with the same last name. And who knows? Maybe the Hollywood type who renamed Norma Jean was a history buff? But I digress. This profile reintroduces one of those nose-to-the-grindstone founders who quietly made his mark on America and the world. The fact that James Monroe is also an important historical figure in my novel, The Lafayette Circle, makes his story even more compelling.
Planter Orphan
James Monroe was born at the aptly-named Monroe Hall in Westmorland County, Virginia, on 28 April 1758. James's father was a mildly prosperous planter. Both of his parents died when Monroe was in his teens, and he took over the plantation and care of his siblings under the guidance of his mother's brother, Joseph Jones, a member of the House of Burgesses. Jones took young Monroe to Williamsburg and enrolled him in the College of William and Mary. His uncle also introduced him to the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry—up-and-coming Virginians who would help change the world, as would young James.
Patriotic Student
Williamsburg was abuzz with patriotic fervor. Monroe was still attending William and Mary College when the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775. Eager to get into the fray as so many young Virginians were, he left William and Mary, and on 28 September 1775, Monroe was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd Virginia Continental Infantry. His first commander was Colonel Hugh Mercer, who would rise to become one of General George Washington's most trusted generals until his untimely death by British bayonets at Princeton. Lieutenant Monroe marched north to New York City with his regiment the following year.
Years of Combat
There, he first saw combat at Harlem Heights on 16 September 1776 and volunteered to accompany the rangers of Major Thomas Knowlton. Knowlton, mortally wounded in the skirmish, became the namesake of the Military Intelligence Corps' honorary award, which bears his name.
After additional fighting at White Plains in October, British General William Howe managed to turn the flank of the Continental Army but allowed it to slip away to New Jersey. Monroe's regiment marched south and west in a series of retreats that saw the Continental Army dwindle and American morale plummet. By late December, Washington's meager force was huddled on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River and in dire straits.
Things changed with the arrival of General John Sullivan at the head of the division of General Charles Lee. Curiously, Lee had allowed himself to get captured at BoskingRidge, New Jersey, by a party of British dragoons, including a young Banastre Tarleton.
Crossing the Delaware
The added troops meant Washington was able to launch the plan he had been deliberating since crossing into Pennsylvania—a return across the Delaware. With Howe's forces controlling New York City and most of the Jerseys, the cause was at its nadir. He needed a bold stroke, so on Christmas night, Lieutenant James Monroe and Captain William Washington's company of Colonel Weedon's Third Virginia were poling their long Durham boats through the ice floes jamming the Delaware River. It was the night of the 25th and about as silent as Washington could hope for as his columns trudged through the blustery cold along icy wooded trails. Monroe had met a man named Riker along the way. He was at first thought a Loyalist, but it turned out he was quite the patriot and joined the ragged force plunging toward the Hessian-occupied town of Trenton.
Christmas Surprise
At daylight on the 26th, the Continental forces attacked the sleeping town. Sentries were driven from their posts as the Virginians moved in from the north. Their objective—a two-gun battery manned by Hessians was positioned to blast the advancing Americans of Nathanael Green's brigade. The town was chaotic as sleepy musketeers and grenadiers stumbled from their quarters and shouldered firelocks.
The pop, pop of desultory musket fire filled the chilly morning air. This soon grew in intensity, sending Monroe's company scattering for cover—they were the vanguard of their regiment and brigade. The Americans began to return fire, and more Continentals were arriving down King Street.
The boom of cannon from behind filled them with confidence. General Henry Knox's batteries were in action. Musket fire to the south also meant General Sullivan's brigades were attacking. But ahead lay that pesky Hessian battery, ready to cut down the advancing column and thwart the attack.
The order came from Captain Washington, "Forward!" The company rose as one and moved forward at a trot, the men's fingers frozen to the muskets in hand as the icy mix of sleet seared their faces and stung their eyes. The buzz of lead was all around them, and Captain Washington suddenly dropped to a knee, clutching his hands, which streamed blood. Lieutenant Monroe was suddenly in command.
He charged forward with the company moving at the double, and soon, the Hessian gunners, who were not shot or on the run, were raiding their hands and being marched to captivity. But not before a lead ball tore into Monroe's chest, staggering him and soaking his uniform in blood. Carried to an aid post where Washington was being treated, it was soon evident the ball had torn an artery—a mortal wound.
But fortune smiled on James Monroe as well as George Washington that morning. As it turned out, Riker, Monroe never learned his first name, was a surgeon. And rare for those times, a very competent surgeon. He was able to close the artery and save the future president from bleeding to death in a battle that had no soldiers killed and just five wounded, including Monroe and Washington. He was promoted to captain for his gallantry.
Battles Lost and Won
Monroe recovered fully from his wound and served ably at the Battle of Brandywine and Germantown in the fall of 1777. His performance in those battles gained him a promotion to major and appointment as aide-de-camp to General William Alexander on 20 November 1777. Major Monroe fought at the Battle of Monmouth on 28 June 1778, one of the hardest-fought engagements of the war and the last major battle in the north. But Monroe, who was essentially broke and unable to enlist troops, resigned from the Continental Army on 20 November. This was common. Many Continental Army officers who served honorably left to enter business, return to farming, or engage in politics. Alexander Hamilton is just one example.
Law and Politics
Back in civilian life, Monroe studied law under Governor Thomas Jefferson, a relationship that would impact their lives and the nation's fate. When Charleston fell in 1781, Virginia planned to raise several new regiments, and Monroe was given the rank of lieutenant colonel, although he never served in combat.
His military career flatlined, but Monroe's political career was on an upward arc—a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, followed by the Confederation Congress. Later, he served in the state constitutional convention. Like many prominent Virginians (Patrick Henry, George Mason), he opposed the proposed constitution for its centralized authority. That did not stop him from taking a seat in the new US Senate in 1790.
Diplomacy
Monroe's international and diplomatic career began in 1794 when President George Washington appointed him US Envoy to France. His career in factional politics started three years later when he returned to Virginia and joined the anti-Federalist opposition organized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. This Virginia triumvirate would profoundly affect US politics and the trajectory of the new nation.
Monroe was elected Governor of Virginia in 1799. Still, in 1802, President Jefferson appointed him Envoy to France to bolster Robert Livingston's negotiations with Napoleon Bonaparte over the Louisiana Territory, which the US purchased from France the following year for 15 million dollars—doubling the size of the US. Afterward, Monroe served as minister to Great Britain, where he negotiated a commercial treaty in 1806, which the US Senate rejected because it did not address the hot-button topic of the day, impressment.
A Second War with England
After another stint in Virginia politics, Monroe served as President Madison's Secretary of State in 1811. Tensions with Great Britain during that period resulted in the war. The War of 1812 was not going well, so in August 1814, Madison temporarily appointed him Secretary of War. The third member of the Virginia triumvirate, James Monroe, was elected the nation's fifth president in 1816—pretty good teamwork.
Chief Executive
The nation was growing by leaps and bounds when Monroe took office, and a growing sense of American patriotism and exceptionalism, if not nationalism, was everywhere. During this so-called Era of Good Feelings, Monroe and his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, strove to advance America's position on a global stage. A brief war in 1819 against the Florida Seminoles, successfully waged by General Andrew Jackson, led to the Spanish sale of West Florida to the US in 1820, propelling him into a second term.
The Era of Good Feelings
In 1819, James Monroe became the first American president since George Washington to travel the nation on a goodwill tour. The nation was expanding west into the Louisiana Territory, the war with Britain was over, and America had stood on its own against the world's only superpower. The Spanish colonies of South America were throwing off the Spanish yoke and forging their own democracies. America seemed the model of the future. With the nation's 50th anniversary just a few years off, the American experiment seemed on a glide path to a prosperous future.
The Holy Alliance
Not all nations welcomed the success of American democracy and the implosion of the Spanish empire. At the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the autocratic countries Prussia, Austria, and Russia formed a political bond called the Holy Alliance. Holy because they still felt their rulers' authority came from God—the divine right of kings. They now eyed the Spanish colonies. This did not escape the notice of Britain, which had its own interests in the New World and did not welcome intruders.
The Monroe Doctrine
In 1822, Monroe's administration officially recognized the new democracies of America: Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico, after they won independence from Spain. The British approached Monroe with the idea of a joint statement of status quo ante in the New World, but when he ran it by his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, Adams demurred. Why should the US not issue its own policy? After all, Britain was still our rival, and we had just fought a war with them. He offered to help draft a letter to Congress laying out the idea that external powers should not interfere in the affairs of the Americas—no new colonies. Drafted in 1823, it was released in early 1824.
Vive Lafayette
As all this transpired, Monroe's administration decided to leverage the popularity of the last surviving general of the Continental Army, the Marquis de Lafayette. What better way to highlight American exceptionalism, celebrate the upcoming anniversary, honor a war hero, and send a political shot across the bow of nations like the Holy Alliance? The year-long visit began in August 1824, coinciding with the election of John Quincy Adams, who succeeded Monroe in 1825.
Final Years
The former planter, politician, soldier, and statesman retired to his estate outside Leesburg, Virginia, with his wife, Elizabeth (Kortright) Monroe. President John Quincy Adams and General Lafayette visited the couple just before Lafayette's return to France. They had lots to reminisce over. After all, they were both wounded in service to America—and the young General Lafayette was also present at Trenton, Brandywine, and Monmouth.
Ironically, the last member of the Virginia triumvirate would move to New York City upon Elizabeth's death in 1830. He resided with his daughter and her family at 63 Prince Street—on Lafayette Square. James Monroe became the third president to die on Independence Day when he succumbed to heart failure and tuberculosis on 4 July 1831.
