Monroe & Revolution 1774-79
Monroe & Government in 1780
Monroe & Revolution 1781-83
James Monroe was born on 28 April 1758 in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
His father Spence Monroe was a carpenter, and James was his first child.
His mother and his father taught him how to read.
They were aware of the Stamp Act crisis in 1765, and in 1766 Spence joined
a hundred in Westmoreland who did not buy products from Britain.
In 1769 Spence sent James to be educated at the Campbell Academy
that was next to the Anglican Church.
Reverend Archibald Campbell taught the students Latin, Greek,
and French as well as mathematics, history, and classics.
James began doing farm work to help his father
so that he could do more carpentry in 1772.
That year the mother of James, who was from a wealthy family,
died after childbirth, and James inherited her fortune.
Spence Monroe died of an illness in 1774 and left behind many unfinished chairs.
James as the oldest son inherited his land and property, and he felt responsible
for educating
his younger brothers and sister Elizabeth who helped take care of the younger kids.
Their uncle Joseph Jones allowed James to continue at the Academy.
Jones was a bachelor and took care of the Monroe family.
He was a member of Virginia’s House of Burgesses and became friends
with George Washington, George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson.
In June 1774 Jones sent James to the College of William and Mary
which had been founded in 1693 in what became the capital Williamsburg.
The College was the second after Harvard in the 13 colonies
and had only sixty students when James Monroe was there.
He became interested in philosophy, and Jones persuaded him to study law.
He became friends with his wealthy roommate John F. Mercer.
On June 24 James joined 24 older men in an attack
on the palace of the Royal Gov. Dunmore.
They took 200 muskets and 300 swords and gave them to the militia in Williamsburg.
After the rebellion began in Massachusetts on 19 April 1775,
the next day Virginia’s Royal Governor Dunmore dissolved Virginia’s Assembl
and moved gunpowder to a Royal Navy man-of-war Fowey.
He had heard about Patrick Henry’s speech
on March 23 calling for an armed colonial force.
Students at William and Mary organized military companies
and marched on the Palace Green.
Monroe knew James Innis who formed the Williamsburg Volunteers,
and Monroe signed their complaint against the Mistress of the College.
Patrick Henry believed that Dunmore was part of the plan to disarm the colonies,
and he led the training of the militia who marched to Williamsburg.
Dunmore accused Henry of violating the law and warned people not to aid him.
On June 1 Gov. Dunmore prorogued Virginia’s Assembly
and on the 5th the Burgesses formed a committee to investigate the powder magazine.
Horsemen from Piedmont arrived with long rifles demanding “Liberty or Death.”
Monroe’s classmate John Marshall was leading the Culpepper Minute Men.
Lord Dunmore fled to the Fowey at Yorktown and from there proclaimed martial law.
On 24 June 1775 young James Monroe joined patriots who removed
the weapons from the powder magazine and took back the magazine.
That summer Patrick Henry organized two regiments and companies of minute men,
and on July 29 the Virginia Convention authorized them
and made Henry the Colonel of the first regiment.
On September 20 he began building an encampment behind William and Mary College.
Eight days later James Monroe became a second lieutenant in Virginia’s third regiment.
Edmund Pendleton became president of the Committee of Safety,
and he sent troops to the Chesapeake region.
On December 9 Virginia’s second regiment defeated
Dunmore’s guardians at the Great Bridge near Norfolk.
By January 1776 the Continental Congress had recognized eight regiments in Virginia.
Monroe was still a student, and he drilled with the Third Regiment.
After Dunmore had Falmouth and Norfolk burned,
George Washington called them “flaming arguments” for independence.
He had become commander of the Continental army at Cambridge on 3 July 1775.
Virginia’s rifles were much deadlier than the muskets in New England.
After the British forces left Boston on 17 March 1776,
General Washington prepared for their moving to New York.
On May 15 the Virginia Convention proposed that
the United Colonies become free and independent states.
The Convention also adopted a Bill of Rights on June 12 and the
“first constitution of a free and independent State” on July 5.
James joined the Third Virginia Regiment that was led by Col. Hugh Mercer.
Monroe by then was six feet tall, and he was made a lieutenant.
On 29 June 1776 the Assembly declared Virginia a sovereign state
and they made wealthy Patrick Henry their Governor.
After Congress declared independence on July 2,
Lt. Monroe marched in a parade on July 4.
In August he went with the third regiment to Philadelphia, and then
they marched north to New York and fought under General George Washington.
James Monroe later wrote an Autobiography
in which he referred to himself in the third person.
Here is his account of his early service with the Third Regiment:
As the war then pressed on New York and there were
regular regiments in the army, the Third Virginia Regiment,
commanded by Colonel Weedon, was ordered there,
which it reached by rapid marches immediately after
the battle of Long Island, in which Smallwood’s and
Haslet’s regiments were nearly cut to pieces.
Weedon’s regiment was posted on Harlem Heights,
where the troops that were drawn together in
that quarter, to oppose the enemy who soon
afterwards landed on York Island, took possession
of the city, and menaced Fort Washington.
Three companies of that Regiment, Thornton’s in which
Mr. Monroe was a lieutenant, Chilton’s, and Ashby’s,
under the command of Major Leitch, and a like number
of troops from Connecticut, under Colonel Knowlton,
were detached in advance of the army, across
the valley, at Harlem, to meet them.
This small corps met the head of a column of the enemy.
at the edge of a wood, through it passed bordering on
the valley, and fighting gallantly, checked its career;
Knowlton and Leitch both fell, and their wounds
being mortal, they died, the first on that day,
the other a fortnight afterwards.
Such was the good conduct of this small regiment in
that encounter that the commander, in reviewing the
occurrence in the general orders of the succeeding
day, bestowed on it the highest commendation.
Checked at that point, the enemy passed up the Sound,
with intention to fall in the rear of the troops which
were collected around Fort Washington.
This movement drew our army to the White Plains,
where something like a general action ensued,
in which the enemy gained the advantage.
They then moved down towards the fort, and in the
disposition which was made of our force, the
Third Regiment was ordered into Jersey, to supportWashington
Fort Lee, which was erected on the south side of
the Hudson, opposite to Fort Washington.
That Regiment took its position at Newark.
Both those forts fell, and immediately afterwards
General Washington drew the few remaining
troops back in that quarter, to the same point.
The enemy, knowing how inconsiderable his forces
were, pressed on him, and this commenced through
Jersey a retreat which will be forever celebrated in
the annals of our country for the patient suffering,
the unshaken firmness, and gallantry of this small band
when brought to action, of which the army consisted,
and of the great and good qualities of its commander.
We passed the Delaware at Trenton and occupied the
commanding ground contiguous to it on the opposite shore.
Soon after this, the winter having commenced,
the enemy retired to winter quarters, stationing
their troops in the different towns through Jersey
from Delaware to New York.1
Monroe’s first major fighting was in that battle led by George Washington
and Nathanael Greene at Harlem Heights in New York on September 16.
The Americans had 30 killed and about 100 wounded
while the British lost 14 killed with 157 wounded.
James was impressed by the skill of Washington
who withdrew the army to White Plains, New York.
Monroe and the Virginians fought the British there on October 24.
Washington led a retreat to New Jersey in November.
At Brunswick on December 1 Washington ordered all the boats
on the Delaware River secured opposite the city of Trenton.
As British forces approached, he had the bridge destroyed and retreated to Princeton.
As they camped near Trenton, he had them collect all the boats in the area.
Captain William Washington and Lt. Monroe had quarters at William Neely’s house.
Thomas Paine was an aide to General Greene, and he wrote inspiring pamphlets;
one was printed in Philadelphia on December 19,
and Washington had it read to each regiment.
Washington’s army crossed the Delaware on the night of December 24 and 25.
His most trusted officers were Nathanael Greene, George Mercer, Lord Stirling,
Arthur St. Clair, Henry Knox, Edward Hand, James Monroe,
Adam Stephen, Alexander Hamilton, and John Sullivan.
Lt. Monroe later wrote this about the surprise attack after crossing
the Delaware and marching to Trenton, New Jersey on December 26:
The command of the vanguard, consisting of 50 men,
was given to Captain William Washington of the
Third Virginia Regiment, an officer whose good
conduct had already been noticed.
This appointment having been communicated to the
other officers by Colonel Weedon, Lieutenant Monroe
promptly offered his services to act as a subaltern
under him, which was promptly accepted.
On the 25th of December, 1776 they passed the
Delaware in front of the army in the dusk of the evening
at Coryell’s ferry, 10 miles away from Trenton, and hastened
to a point, about one and one-half miles from it,
at which the road by which they descended intersected
that which led from Trenton to Princeton, for the purpose,
in obedience to orders, cutting off all communication
between them and from the country to Trenton.
The night was tempestuous, as was the succeeding day,
and made more severe by a heavy fall of snow.
Captain Washington executed his orders faithfully.
He soon took possession of the point to which he
was ordered, and holding it through the night,
intercepted and made prisoners of many who
were passing in directions to and from Trenton.
At the dawn of the day, our army approached,
with the Commander-in-chief at its head.
Captain Washington then moved forward with the
vanguard in front, attacked the enemy’s picket, shot
down the commanding officer, and drove it before him.
A general alarm then took place among the troops in town.
The drums were beat to arms, and two cannon
were placed in the main street to bear
on the head of our column as it entered.
Captain Washington rushed forward, attacked,
and put the troops around the cannon to flight,
and took possession of them.
Moving on afterwards, he received a
severe wound and was taken from the field.
The command then devolved on Lieutenant Monroe,
who advanced in like manner at the head of the corps,
and was shot down by a musket ball which
passed through his breast and shoulder.
He also was carried from the field.
Our troops, then entering the town in several columns
and attacking the enemy as they formed, soon
overcame and made prisoners of them.
Lieutenant Monroe was taken to the same room to which
Captain Washington had been carried, and their wounds
were dressed by Dr. Cochrane, the Surgeon General of
the army and by Dr. Riker, who had quartered with them
in the country and accompanied them in the vanguard
in the attack on the picket and advance in the city….
Lieutenant Monroe was carried on the night of the
action back to Mr. Coryell’s, where he was confined to
his bed about ten days, treated with great kindness, and
thence moved by Headquarters to Mr. Henry Wyncoop’s,
a very respectable magistrate in Bucks county, who was
afterwards a member of Congress, and where he was
confined by his wound nine weeks and treated with
like kindness … until his health was restored….
After the battle of Trenton, Captain Washington was
promoted to a Major in the cavalry and Lieutenant
Monroe to a Captaincy in the infantry as a reward of
their service, the latter in a regiment to be raised,
the command of which was given to Colonel Thruston.
The attempt to raise the corps failed, and in consequence,
Major General Lord Stirling, under whom Colonel Weldon
had acted in the preceding campaign and to whom
Mr. Monroe was known, invited him into his family
as an aide-de-camp, which invitation he accepted
and joined him in that character in July 1777 at the
crossroads in Bucks county, 20 miles above Philadelphia,
the army being then on the march to meet the enemy,
who had ascended the Chesapeake and were approaching
the head of the Elk, at which place they debarked.
It was at the same point and at the same time that
General La Fayette joined the army, and it was at that
period, their ages being nearly equal—the general being
a few years older only and moving in the same circle,
although their rank was essentially different—that an
acquaintance was formed between them which was
preserved ever afterwards with the most sincere
reciprocal attachment, and attended in their
progress through life in their respective stations
with the most interesting occurrences.Washington
Mr. Monroe acted as aide-de-camp to Major General
Lord Stirling through the campaigns of 1777-78 and was
present with him in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown
and Monmouth, in which his conduct was approved by
the Commander-in-chief as well as by his general.2
Monroe wanted to help with recruiting troops in Virginia,
and in April 1777 General Washington approved his mission.
Monroe only managed to find six volunteers, and he went
with his uncle Joseph Jones back to Philadelphia in August.
Jones on August 11 wrote this letter to George Washington about recruiting soldiers:
Captain Monroe leaving Town this evening
I cannot avoid informing you by him that as
far as his conduct has fallen under my observation,
and I have not been inattentive to it,
he has been diligent in endeavoring to raise men
but such is the present disposition of the people in Virginia
neither Captain Monroe or any other Officer preserving the
Character a Gentleman ought to support can recruit men.
Some men have indeed been raised but by methods I could
not recommend, and I should be sorry he should practice.
The enlisting Men for the usual bounty is now and will
I expect be for some time impracticable if at any time
it should mend, on account of the high bounty given
by the Militia exempts, a mode of raising Men very
hurtful I conceive to the recruiting Business.
I wish Captain Monroe could have made up his Company
on his own account as well as that of the Public,
but I am satisfied any further prosecution of the attempt
will be equally unsuccessful with his past endeavors.
It is probable I may have the gratification of seeing you
in this City as I cannot think the Enemy mean to carry
on their operations to the Southward—
a few days will I expect open their design.3
General Lord Stirling added Monroe to his staff as an aide-de-camp,
though he had to give up his rank.
In the Battle of Brandywine on September 11 the Stirling brigade
helped the Continentals defend Birmingham Hill.
Monroe carried messages to General Washington.
Monroe helped wounded Lafayette, and they became life-long friends.
On October 4 Washington led an attack on the British commanded by
General William Howe near Germantown, and the Americans suffered heavier losses.
The Americans defeated a British attack of Fort Mercer on October 22.
The brother Admiral Richard Howe besieged Fort Mifflin from September 16
until the Americans departed after a week of bombardment on the night of November 15.
While the American soldiers were struggling in the winter at Valley Forge,
General Stirling and his aides stayed on the ground floor of William Currie’s farmhouse.
On 5 May 1778 a report reached General Washington that Benjamin Franklin
had made an alliance with the French who would be sending troops and ships.
On June 25 Washington let General Charles Lee lead an attack on the British
and Loyalists at the Monmouth Courthouse, and with 5,000 men Lee retreated.
Stirling and his aides led men who attacked the British in the woods.
Monroe led 70 men to find out where the British General Cornwallis
and his army of 6,000 men were attacking.
Monroe’s message helped the Americans fight off the forces of Cornwallis.
On June 28 Captain Monroe worked as a scout, and from the field at Monmouth
he wrote this short letter to General Washington:
Upon not receiving an answer to my first information
and observing the enemy inclining toward your right
I thought it advisable to hang as close on them as possible—
I am at present within four hundred yards of their right—
I have only about 70 men who are now fatigued much.
I have taken three prisoners—If I had six horsemen
I think if I could serve you in no other way I should
in the course of the night procure good intelligence
which I would as soon as possible convey to you.4
Washington permitted Monroe to recruit troops in Virginia
for a campaign in South Carolina, though no invasion occurred.
On 20 December 1778 Major Monroe resigned from the Continental Army
and gave up his position on General Stirling’s staff.
He had not been paid and went to live with his uncle Joseph Jones
who was representing Virginia in the Continental Congress.
When Monroe learned that the British had invaded Savannah, Georgia on December 29,
he wrote to officers in the South to see if they needed another commander.
After the British raided military storehouses at Norfolk, Virginia on May 10,
the Virginia Assembly voted to raise four more infantry regiments.
Monroe offered to enlist and wrote to General Stirling,
Alexander Hamilton, and General Washington.
On 22 May 1779 General Washington in a letter to Col. Archibald Cary
praised the merits of James Monroe writing,
I very sincerely lament that the situation of our
service will not permit us to do justice to the merits
of Major Monroe, who will deliver you this, by placing
him in the army upon some satisfactory footing.
But as he is on the point of leaving us and expresses
an intention of going to the Southward where a new
scene has opened, it is with pleasure I take occasion
to express to you the high opinion I have of his worth.
The zeal he discovered by entering the service at an
early period—the character he supported in his regiment,
and the manner in which he distinguished himself at
Trenton, where he received a wound, induced me
to appoint him to a Captaincy in one of the additional
regiments—This regiment failing from the difficulty of
recruiting, he entered into Lord Stirling’s family and has
served two campaigns as a volunteer aid to his lordship.
He has in every instance maintained the reputation
of a brave, active, and sensible officer.
As we cannot introduce him into the Continental line,
it were to be wished that the State could do something
for him, to enable him to follow the bent of his military
inclination and to render service to his country.
If an event of this kind could take place, it would
give me particular pleasure; as the esteem
I have for him, and a regard to merit, conspire
to make me earnestly wish to see him
provided for in some handsome way.5
On the same day Alexander Hamilton wrote this letter
to Lt. Col. John Laurens on James Monroe:
Monroe is just setting out from Head Quarters and
proposes to go in quest of adventures to the Southward.
He seems to be as much of a knight errant as your worship,
but as he is an honest fellow, I shall be glad he may find
some employment that will enable him to get
knocked on the head in an honorable way.
He will relish your black scheme if anything
can be done for him in that line.
You know him to be a man of honor,
a sensible man and a soldier.
This makes it unnecessary for me to say
anything to interest your friendship for him.
You love your country too,
and he has zeal and capacity to serve it.6
“The “black scheme” refers to enlisting Africans into the American army,
and Monroe did favor that.
Col. Cary and the Virginia legislature designated Monroe a lieutenant colonel
and put him in command of one of the four regiments,
though the Assembly refused to provide funds to recruit troops.
He wrote critical letters and chose to stay with Joseph Jones
who had just become Virginia’s Chief Justice.
Jones persuaded him to study law at William and Mary College
so that he could serve in a government.
Jones provided for his living expenses and gave him a letter of introduction
to Thomas Jefferson who had become Governor of Virginia.
On 30 May 1779 Col. James Monroe left Washington’s army that was at White Plains.
In January 1780 Gov. Thomas Jefferson accepted Monroe into his circle.
Monroe sold the family farm he had inherited,
and he moved to the farm he had inherited from his mother.
His sister Elizabeth was living on her husband’s farm
in Caroline County with the two younger brothers.
Governor Jefferson based on reports of British soldiers in the area directed Monroe
to meet with Governor Albert Nash of North Carolina and John Rutledge
of North Carolina to establish relay stations with horses from Richmond
to where the British army was in North Carolina.
Jefferson wrote this letter to James Monroe on 16 June 1780:
You will proceed with the riders provided for you,
stationing one at every forty miles or thereabouts
from hence to the vicinity of the British army in
Carolina where you will continue yourself,
observing their movements and when their
importance requires it, communicating them to me.
Instruct your riders to travel by night and day without
regard to weather giving and taking way bills expressing
the hour and minute of their delivering and receiving
dispatches, also direct them to engage in the
neighborhood of their station, some able and trusty
person to take their place in case of their becoming
sick or otherwise unable to perform their duty.
Important events also, though they should not be
attended by any movement, which respects us,
I would wish you to communicate.
The state and resources of our friends, their force,
the disposition of the people, the prospect of provisions,
ammunition, arms, and other circumstances,
the force and condition of the enemy,
will also be proper articles of communication.
Inform Governors Nash and Rutledge from time to time
of your station, also the commander of the American force
and of the particular troops of this commonwealth; that
they may through you be enabled to correspond with me.
I must leave to your own discretion though to decide
when the importance of their communications may render
it proper for you to put your Line of riders into motion
as it is of consequence for the quick conveyance of
important Letters that the horses be kept fresh.
I shall expect as soon as you shall have obtained knowledge
of the present state of things that you communicate it to me
and afterwards only from time to time as before directed.
Indeed should a fortnight at any time have intervened
without any occurrence worth communicating it
might not be amiss to write that that is the Case,
as the Horses cannot be injured by performing
their stage once in that interval of time.7
Monroe discovered that South Carolina already had a line of communication,
and his letter reached Richmond in two days instead of three.
Monroe wrote to Jefferson again on 26 June 1780 with this detailed letter:
Some few days since I arrived here and trust
I have so arranged the line of communication
between us, that whatever alteration the course of
events may effect in my own situation, I shall have it
in my power to make it subservient to my wishes.
I expected I should more effectually put in execution your
Excellency’s Orders by coming immediately here, the source
from which Governor Nash at Newbern, or Baron de Kalb at
Hillsborough get their intelligence, than by taking my route
to either of those posts, and I have had the good fortune in
meeting Governor Nash here to approve my determination.
The Governor was on his route to Baron de Kalb and
called upon General Caswell here with a view of making
himself acquainted with his Force and Object, in order to
concert some regular and connected plan of either
offensive or defensive action, as circumstances
might admit, for the protection of the Country.
I have it not in my power to give your Excellency at present,
information upon all the points you require, but an event we
are informed has taken place of such importance in its
probable consequences to the State of Virginia, as to
make it necessary I should immediately inform you of it.
We have it from authority we cannot doubt, that an
embarkation has taken place at Charles town and
sailed some days since under the Command of
General Clinton, consisting of about 6,000 men, the
remainder of their Army supposed upwards of 4,000
with their Cavalry forming a corps of 600 under
Col. Tarleton are left behind under Lord Cornwallis.
General Caswell has repeatedly had information, they had
embarked, but never ‘til today that they had sailed;
and today I examined myself two men of Woodfords
Brigade, lately escaped from Charles-town, who confirm it.
A Garrison of about 800 are said to be left at Charles-town;
2500 at Camden; the Cavalry are stationed about 40 miles
above Camden; about 600 of the 71st regiment on the river
Peedee between long bluff and Anson’s Court House.
What may be the object of those who have sailed or of
those who remain is uncertain and must depend on the part
the Court of France means to take this year in our favor;
but if We may judge from the View which has hitherto
evidently influenced their Councils (if no internal event
has happened to their prejudice) provided they act on a
consistent plan, we must conclude they mean to land
somewhere in Virginia, and by directing their Armies to the
same object endeavor to conquer all these Southern States.
Upon this Principle I am inclined to think their
operations have of late been taken and that
upon this principle they will determine.
What again would induce this belief and with me it is only
an inferior circumstance (for upon Principles of expedience
they should act thus) is the universal scarcity of all kinds
of provisions, except Meat, which prevails in this Country.
Upon this account the Army under General de Kalb at
Hillsboro, and that under General Caswell here, are no
longer able to hold those Stations and are in that dilemma,
that they have only the alternative of advancing
shortly on the Enemy or retiring to Virginia.
This however will in a great degree be
remedied when the Harvest comes in.
What plan General de Kalb may take to oppose them
I cannot determine, but as that which the Enemy
have adopted creates a division of their force,
ours also must necessarily be divided and in that
case rather than hang or temporize between them,
I doubt not he will take a decided part against this Body.
I mean I hope he will keep on their left Flank and harass
and retard them in all their Movements as much as possible.
Their forces have been pointedly directed against the
Continental Troops, and to get the Country and throw them
down on the Sea Coast would necessarily be a great object;
a considerable advantage also arising from the position
I have suggested would be that the troops who oppose
this Army and those who oppose that which may land
in Virginia might act on a common principle and when
the Enemy effect a junction they might join also,
still keeping the command of the Country.
This plan has not the protection of any particular Spot but
is on a larger Scale and has Independence for its Object.
Acting on any other principle and taking particular
positions for particular purposes may lead the
respective Corps into danger and perhaps ruin.
General Clinton previous to his departure issued a
Proclamation discharging all who had taken them from
their paroles and requiring their immediate attendance to
swear allegiance and bear Arms in favor of his Sovereign
declaring that all who refuse to comply with these
reasonable terms who shall be found in arms hereafter
in favor of the rebellion shall not be treated as Soldiers
and prisoners of War but as banditti and robbers.
I have not seen the Proclamation but Governor Nash
who has told me this is the purport of it;
only 1500 Militia are collected here under General
Caswell and about 1100 under Brigadier Rutherford
west of the Enemy, who hold the position I could wish
Baron de Kalb to take with the Continental Troops at least.
At Charlotte, Salsbury or Chatham the country is
better able to support an Army, and when harvest
comes in will be more so, while that near here
or towards the coast is much exhausted.
Between here and Halifax it is so much so (and I am told
by the Inhabitants on the Road that want is not confined to
them alone but extends considerably to the Right and left)
that I could scarcely get provisions for myself and
men and in many instances could not procure
Corn for my Horses at any rate.
The Governor of this State has extensive powers
and except where it affects the Life the Advice
of Council he knows no restraint on his will.
He also seems well disposed to act with that firmness
and decision in most instances which the unhappy
State of his Country requires, without regard to any
local or personal enmity which may arise against him
in the discharge of the duties of so important a trust.
He is constrained to emit money constantly, as occasion
requires and has now ordered out 4,000 militia in
addition to those I have mentioned as already in the field.
At Governor Nash’s request I shall attend him tomorrow
to where Baron De Kalb may be, or if the Governor does
not go himself, shall perhaps go upon the business I have
referred to and in my next shall have it in my power to
inform your Excellency of the plan Baron de Kalb may take
for his future operations, with the probability of Success, or
what effect it may have on the movements of the Enemy.8
James Monroe and other Virginians wanted their state to cede land in the West
for new states, and on 30 June 1780 his uncle, Judge Joseph Jones,
wrote this letter to Governor Thomas Jefferson:
The Troops left by Sir Henry Clinton in South Carolina
amounting to about 3500 Men besides 1500 sent to
Georgia cannot be sufficient unless increased by the
accession of Tories, to overawe that State, especially
when the Inhabitants shall find themselves supported
by the Regulars and Militia going to their assistance.
The 5000 Militia recommended by Congress to be raised
by Virginia to join the Southern Army including the 2500
then or about to be raised and the additional Body to be
kept in readiness, if your intelligence corresponds with
the above state of the Enemies Strength cannot now be
necessary the requisition being made upon a supposition a
much greater Force would have continued in South Carolina.
The alteration of circumstances will justify an alteration
of measures and by lessening the Draughts of Militia
increase the number of Recruits for the Regular Army
upon which and not upon Militia is our great dependence.
Besides the calling forth, if it can be safely avoided,
such large Bodies of Militia lessens the
productions of the Earth and generally
produces great distress to a number of Families.
Sir Henry Clinton’s proclamation exempting the
Inhabitants of South Carolina not taken in the Town
from their paroles, evinces his design and expectation
of gaining the people to his side, and that they will
take up arms in support of the British Government.
It is not improbable his threats and promises may in
their present unsupported situation induce many to do so,
unless the approach of the American Troops shall afford
them hopes of Protection, in which case I am inclined to
think he will be disappointed as the people cannot but
feel resentment at the sudden transition from assumed
lenity to a demand of bearing Arms in manifestation of
their loyalty, or being exposed to confiscation of
property and punishment for supposed Crimes.
We hear our assembly are about to reconsider
their late determination respecting the scheme of
Finance recommended by Congress, and that it
was expected the Measure would yet be adopted.
I am happy to hear it, being confident the rejection of
the proposition and the emission of more paper money
could not fail of producing the worst of consequences.
Let us not depart from the determination
not to increase the quantity.
That resolution has already appreciated
the money and a steady adherence to the
measure will at length effectually do it.
The present is the season for accomplishing
the great work of Confederation.
If we suffer it to pass away, I fear it will never return.
The example of New York is worthy of imitation.
Could Virginia but think herself as she certainly is
already fully large for vigorous Government she too
would moderate her desires, and cede to the United States
upon certain conditions, her Territory beyond the Ohio.
The Act of New York the Instructions of Maryland to their
Delegates and the Declaration of that State upon the
Subject, And the late remonstrance of Virginia are now
before a Committee, and I expect they will report, that
it be recommended to the States having extensive western
unappropriated Claims to follow the example of New York
and by Law authorize their Delegates to make the cession.
I some time past sent Mr. Mason
a Copy of the New York Act.
Gloomy as the prospect of our affairs has been and in fact
still is when compared with the Objects we have in view
through the course of this Campaign I yet feel myself
revived by the accounts lately received from our State
that the people are at length awakened from their slumber
and appear to act with becoming Spirit and ardor at this
important conjuncture, especially as the States in general,
for the present moment, seem to be roused and impressed
with the necessity of great and immediate exertions,
and if the Spirit is kept up for a while, we may
reasonably hope for the happiest Consequences.
I have been much and still am depressed to
think that America should do so little for herself
while France is preparing to do so much.
That we should, contending for everything dear and
valuable to her, look on with folded arms and suffer
other Powers almost unassisted by us, to work out
our salvation and Independence.
The Idea is humiliating.
The Fact must be dishonorable and our Posterity
will blush to read It in future story.
Letters from Martinique so late as the 3rd and 4th
of this month inform us of the arrival of a Spanish Frigate
announcing that 12 Spanish Ships of the line, 4–50 Gunships
and six Frigates with about 10,000 Troops were about
200 leagues to windward when the Frigate left them,
coming forward to join the French fleet and forces.
The Count Guichen was going out
with 16 sail of the line to meet them.
Upon the junction of these Fleets, the superiority of the
Combined Force will be decided and we may expect soon
to hear of some important stroke made in that Quarter.
It was conjectured their first attempt would be
St. Lucie if the approach of the hurricane months
did not discourage the enterprise, then Jamaica and
from thence come round and by uniting the whole
Forces sweep the Coast of North America.
The representation is grand and opens so
pleasing a prospect to us, I will not lessen
your pleasure by a doubt of it being verified.
These letters further inform us that the Armament
carrying on at Brest and which they expected was
for the West Indies is for North America and that
it was expected to sail about the 15th April.
It is said to consist of ten ships of the line and
a large Body of Troops—no doubt they will make
it as large as they well can as it is evident the
war will be principally here and in the West Indies.
Between the 12th and 15th of last month
Rodney and Guichen have had three engagements.
The last a severe action in which the Count kept the Sea.
For further particulars I refer you to the enclosed paper
as well as for the account so far as we are yet informed
of the action at Springfield in the Jerseys between our
Troops and Militia under General Green and the
British and Hessians under Kniphausen.
The Jersey Militia acquired immortal Fame as
indeed they do upon almost every occasion
where they are engaged with the Enemy.9
Monroe met and got to know Major Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina,
and he wanted to study in Europe as Pinckney had.
When Congress ordered General Horatio Gates to command the American army
in North Carolina, Monroe’s work was completed.
General Gates arrived there in late July.
The British General Cornwallis had an army of 2,100 that defeated
the 4,000 Americans under Gates at Camden, South Carolina on August 16.
The Americans suffered 900 casualties, and a thousand were captured
while the British had only 313 killed and wounded with 11 missing.
On 9 September 1780 Monroe wrote this
grateful letter to Jefferson sharing his intentions:
Your kindness and attention to me in this and a
variety of other instances has really put me under
such obligations to you that I fear I shall hardly
ever have it in my power to repay them.
But believe me in whatever situation of life the chance
of fortune may place me, no circumstance can happen
which will give me such pleasure or make me so happy,
at present or during my progress through life,
as to have it in my power to convince you of
the proper impressions they have made on me.
A variety of disappointments with respect to the
prospects of my private fortune previous to my
acquaintance with your Excellency, upon which
I had built as on ground which could not deceive me
and which failed in a manner which could not have
been expected, perplexed my plan of life and exposed
me to inconveniences which had nearly destroyed me.
In this situation had I not formed a connection with you
I should most certainly have retired from society with
a resolution never to have entered on the stage again.
I could never have prevailed on myself to
have taken an introduction to the Country or to
have derived any advantages or even to have
remained in connection with one, by whom I felt
myself injured but whose near relationship and
situation in life put it in his power to serve me.
In this situation you became acquainted with me
and undertook the direction of my studies and
believe me I feel that whatever I am at present
in the opinion of others or whatever I may be
in future has greatly arose from your friendship.
My plan of life is now fixed, has a certain object for its view
and does not depend on other chance or circumstance
further than the same events may affect the public at large.
In the late instance when we were threatened by an
invasion from the south our prospects were so gloomy and
the danger so imminent that I thought it the duty of every
citizen to turn out and bear a part in repelling the invasion.
The attention your Excellency and Council paid me in
calling on me to perform the duties of so important a trust
at so critical a time if it had gone no further than intimating
the good opinion you severally entertained of me, I knew
did me honor and gave me more pleasure than any
pecuniary compensation I could possibly derive from it.
I was happy in undertaking the charge with a
view of performing some service to the country
and also of assuring you that even in an affair
which had so distant a relation to you, how
effectually you might command my small services.
My plan of taking nothing for any little service
I might do the public in this cause did not
commence with my late employment.
During the greater part of my service in the army
I had not my expenses borne and as in this instance
I have only acted the part which the opinion of the
duty I owe to the public dictated and which many
worthy Republicans are now acting without even a
similar compensation, it is my wish not to deviate from it.
Under the present direction my prospects are fixed and
although my private fortune is but small still it is
sufficient for my maintenance in the pursuit of them.
Col. Lawson waited on me the other day and proposed
my bearing part with him in his present undertaking.
I excused myself by every argument which my
situation and the nature of his plan would admit of
and had been happy to have evaded it altogether.
I represented to him the nature of things in that country
and that the ultimate advantage which the success of
his plan could effect would be the driving the enemy
into Charles town from which they might advance
so soon as the militia moldered away.
I wished him, as Council are making every exertion
in their power, for the defense of that Country, to
change his view and rather form a corps within the
state or one more immediately for its defense than
to go in search of adventure more remote which
promises at best but little advantage to our towns
while it exhausts and weakens ourselves, but promised
if he could get no one more capable or whose private
circumstances would better dispense with their absence
than myself, if his plan succeeded, I would bear a part.
If I can possibly avoid it, I mean not to leave my studies
a day, but if in the progress of things I should be so
circumstanced as in your opinion I owed it to myself or the
public to bear a part, so far as the public interest will be
forwarded by furnishing myself or the troops I command
with necessaries so far I shall be happy to receive them.
You will forgive the liberty I have taken
in writing you a letter of this kind.
Your kindness has really led me into it and at the same
time it enables me to explain some part of my conduct.
I am happy that it gives me an opportunity of assuring
you how just a sense I have of your good offices.10
In September armies led by the generals Washington and
Rochambeau were gathering at Yorktown, Virginia.
On 5 January 1781 a British army led by the traitor Benedict Arnold
attacked and burned the capital at Richmond.
On that day Jefferson and Lafayette, who had no troops, fled.
The British occupied Richmond until January 19.
On June 18 Monroe wrote this in a short letter to Jefferson:
I sometime since addressed a letter to you
from a small estate of mine in King George
whither I had retired to avoid the enemy from
the one I lately disposed of on the Potomac River.
I had then the pleasure to congratulate you on your
safe retreat from Richmond to Charlottesville and
anticipated the joy yourself and family must have
felt on your arrival at Monticello from which the
misfortune of the times has long separated you.
I lament your felicity on that head was of but short duration.
I hope however that neither yourself nor Mrs. Jefferson
have sustained injury from these obtrusions of the enemy.
In former I advised you I would not stay at home
in the present state of the country and should
be happy to bear some post in her defense.
For that purpose I set out to join the Marquis’s army to act
in any line either himself or Council would employ me in.
Being confined here some few days with small indisposition
General Weedon has requested of me to sit out this Evening
to manage the British flag on its way to Alexandria.
So soon as I disengage myself from this affair, I shall
join the army and serve till the enemy leave this State.
I earnestly wish to leave the Continent and shall not
alter my plan unless our public affairs change materially.
Whither you continue in or retire from office I hope
to see both yourself and family in the course of the year.
If we … and in the former instance I should find you
at Stanton on my way to the Springs.
Otherwise God knows where we shall be.11
Monroe sent this report to Jefferson on October 1:
I proposed to myself the pleasure of visiting yourself and
family before this at Monticello but the prospects below and
the arrival of General Washington in the State induced me
to postpone the trip of pleasure to the less agreeable one
to camp upon the Idea of bearing some small part in
bringing about the event we all so anxiously wish for.
With this view I waited on Gov. Nelson and
solicited some command in the militia but was
informed the militia in the field was officered
and of course that I could procure none whatever.
This would have mortified me much had I not
discovered during my continuance with the
army that General Washington had under his
command 15,000 regular troops, a force certainly
very sufficient to reduce the post at York.
On the contrary upon being well informed of our force
and the propriety of the appointments through the whole,
I was the rather surprised the militia were detained at all,
more especially when we take into consideration the
difficulty of supply, for surely in the present state of
things the militia will not render sufficient service to
counterbalance the quantity of provisions they consume.
I had however the good fortune to effect a point
which since interruption of our civil affairs in this State
I have been very desirous to accomplish and in the
expedience whereof was so happy as to have your
concurrence when with you last at Richmond.
Col. Josiah Parker has a ship just ready to sail
for France and has been so kind as offer me
a passage in her, which I have accepted.
I should be happy to wait on you before I sail and
shall be sincerely sorry to leave the Continent without
wishing yourself and family health and happiness in person,
but as we sail the 10th or 12 of next month from some
port south of Portsmouth and I have much business to
transact in these few days I shall be at home and
unfortunately deprived of that pleasure.
I have to desire of you a letter to each of our
Ministers and also your advice upon the plan
I had better pursue as also where I had better visit.
Since my return from Richmond.
I have lived a very sedentary life upon a small estate
I have in King George in course of which time have
read all the books you mention on the subject of law.
I have made such a disposition of the property I sold
in Westmoreland as to give me an interest nearly
competent to my purpose without injuring the principal.
I mean to convey to you that although I shall most
probably be glad sometime hence to acquire more by the
practice of the law (if I have it in my power) I would still
wish to prosecute my studies on the most liberal plan to
qualify myself for any business I might chance to engage in.
This if not profitable will be agreeable, for surely these
acquirements qualify a man not only for public office, but
enable him to bear prosperity or adversity in the capricious
turns of fortune with greater magnanimity and fortitude by
giving him resources within himself, of pleasure and content,
which otherwise he would look for in vain from others.
I wish you to say whither if I am so fortunate as to sail
and arrive safe, you would advise me to reside altogether
in the South of France or (if possible) spend a year
at the Temple in London before my return.12
On 5 October 1781 Thomas Jefferson wrote this letter to James Monroe:
I should have been and shall always be happy to
see you at Monticello, but could not expect so much of
the little time you have to prepare for your journey.
I enclose you three letters, the one directed to
Dr. Franklin, the other two for Mr. Jay and Mr. Adams
but not directed because I really do not know
the address of those two gentlemen.
This you will be able to learn before you shall
have an opportunity of delivering them,
and you will be so good as to superscribe it.
With respect to the part of France or even of Europe
in which it will be best for you to reside, you will
certainly be the best judge yourself, when you get there.
Paris itself would no doubt be agreeable,
and like all other great cities would admit of
so much perfect retirement as you should choose.
But the South of France might be preferable
in climate and other circumstances.
In fact these and your own good judgment
must and ought to govern your determination.
The books noted in the paper I once took
the liberty of putting into your hands, are
amply sufficient in the line of the law.
Adding to them any new publications of the same kind
in England I should not think further reading necessary.
The other branches of science noted in the
same paper will afford you agreeable and useful
employment, and in some of them you will find
better books in Paris than those I named.
An entrance in the Temple, or gown from thence,
would hardly add to your character here,
but could you attend Westminster hall a term or two,
no doubt you would catch something in the manner
of doing business which, formed as our habits are
on that model, might be of advantage to you.
An attendance on parliament would
be useful in the same way.
When I left Richmond in May I put into the hands
of Mr. Buchanan for you a small box containing the
Parliamentary debates and Historical register,
between 30 and 40 vols., and left with Mrs. Sherrar
a letter to you, begging your acceptance of them
as a small memorial of the esteem I entertain for you.
The books are still with Mr. Buchanan.
They may be of use when you shall become
a parliamentary man, which for my country
and not for your sake, I shall wish to see you.
I think with you that the present force of regulars before
York might admit a discharge of the militia with safety.
Yet, did it depend on me,
perhaps I might not discharge them.
As an American, as a Virginian, I should covet
as large a share of the honor in accomplishing so great
an event as a superior proportion of numbers could give.
I shall be very happy to hear from you whenever
you can spare time to write, though cannot promise
a full return of American news, secluded as I am
and mean to be from the news-talking world.
Yet you shall certainly have the best I can give you
if you will let me know how and where to address you.
The Annual register, Monthly reviews and
Parliamentary debates, no doubt, will
obtain your perusal wherever you settle.
In our present dearth of science nothing would be
more acceptable after you are done with them,
and they should be preserved for you till your return.13
When Monroe learned that Washington’s army and the French led by
General Rochambeau were besieging the British invaders at Yorktown, Virginia,
with the help of 28 ships led by Admiral de Grasse in Chesapeake Bay,
Monroe hastened to join the army again as he wrote to Lafayette.
General Cornwall finally surrendered his army at Yorktown on 19 October 1781.
Monroe ran for the Virginia Assembly in April 1782
and was elected by citizens in King George’s County.
He wrote this short letter to Jefferson on May 6:
Mr. Short being just setting out for Monticello, I am happy
to take the opportunity to assure you how sincerely I thank
you for the late instance of your kindness and attention to
me, which I particularly value as a testimony of your regard
for me, and at the same time to assure you that nothing but
a series of disappointments in the vessels I had appointed to
sail in deprived me of the opportunity of availing myself in
that instance of the advantage it would have given me.
Mr. Short will inform you of my appointment in the House,
upon declining the other plan, and how very anxiously I wish
your arrival and how very sincerely I join the better part of
this community in my desire that a few days more will give
us your aid in the House and society to your friends.14
Monroe also wrote to Jefferson on May 11 and June 28.
Monroe wrote this letter to George Washington on 15 August 1782:
You will pardon the liberty I take in writing you upon a
subject which has no relation to the public interest when
I inform you I am induced thereto merely from a principle
of gratitude to make acknowledgement for the personal
service I have received from your Excellency.
The introduction you gave me some time since to this State,
or the purpose of attaining some military appointment
to place me in the service of my country in a line with
those worthy citizens, with whom common hardship
& danger had nearly connected me, although it failed
me in that instance has availed me in another line.
Upon relinquishing my military pursuits, which I did
with reluctance, & returning to those studies in which
I had been engaged previous to my joining your army,
till of late I have been literally a recluse.
Having gone through that course which in the opinion of
Mr. Jefferson to whom I submitted the direction of my
studies, was sufficient to qualify me in some degree for
public business, in my application to my country in the
first instance & in the subsequent appointment of the
Assembly to the Executive Council of the State I have
had the pleasure to experience your friendly letter
in my favor of essential service to me.
If, therefore, I was so fortunate in the management of my
conduct more immediately under your eye as to gain your
good opinion & esteem I flatter myself that in the discharge
of the duties of my present office & a faithful observance &
attention to the confidence reposed in me by my country I
shall take no step which will entitle me to forfeit theirs or
give you cause to repent your prepossession in my favor.
A conscience that I had in some degree merited your
approbation & that of the Gentlemen of the army with
whom I had the honor to associate, gave me a consolation
& a pleasure in my subsequent retirement, though
wounded & chagrined at my disappointment from the State,
which I could not have derived from any other source.
If in the line of my present appointment fortune should
put it in my power to pay attention to or obey in any
instance your Excellency’s commands believe me
she could not confer a favor on me, I should
receive with greater pleasure from her hands.15
In January 1783 the British stopped fighting the French,
and the United States Congress of the Confederation ratified the peace treaty on April 15,
and they voted to disband the army.
The war ended when Britain ratified the treaty on July 27.
On that day George Washington resigned his commission as General before
the Congress
at Annapolis, and Madison and Monroe were both present wearing cocked hats.
Monroe’s term in the Virginia Assembly ended in June.
He was elected to the Congress of the Confederation,
and his one-year term began on November 3.
The Assembly put George Rogers Clarke
in command of a small army in the vast frontier.
Monroe began writing to Clarke on 26 June and wrote to him twice in 1783.
Monroe wrote this in his Autobiography:
The first session, under his first appointment to Congress,
was held at Annapolis and commenced in December 1783.
The Virginia delegation consisted of Mr. Jefferson,
Mr. Hardy, Mr. Arthur Lee, John Francis Mercer and himself.
The contest for our liberties had succeeded by the
complete establishment of our independence.
A definite treaty to that effect had been concluded,
and its ratification was among the first acts of the session.
The resignation of the Commander-in-chief of all our forces
of the commission under which he had acted through the
whole war, was a necessary consequence of its termination,
and which occurred in an early stage of that session.
The scene was highly interesting.
The manner in which he took his leave and the sentiment
expressed in the audience given him by Congress of the
conduct through that arduous struggle was such as evinced
the high sense entertained of his merit and became the dignity
of the body under whom he had so served.
It could not fail to excite the sensibility of Mr. Monroe
to reflect that he had served as a lieutenant
under him only a few years before.
Nor could it otherwise than be gratifying to him to recollect
that his promotion had been the result of the free suffrage
of his fellow citizens, founded in part, at least, on the
favorable opinion entertained and expressed of his conduct
in that service, unsolicited and unsought by himself.16
Notes
1. The Autobiography of James Monroe, p. 27-28.
2. Ibid., p. 25-27.
3. To George Washington from Joseph Jones, 11 August 1777 (Online).
4. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 1 1778-1794 ed. Stanislaus Murray Hamilton, p. 1.
5. Ibid., p. 20-21.
6. James Monroe by W. P. Cresson, p. 50.
7. From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 16 June 1780 (Online).
8. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 1 1778-1794, p. 3-7
9. To Thomas Jefferson from Joseph Jones, 30 June 1780 (Online).
10. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 1 1778-1794, p. 8-11.
11. Ibid., p. 11-12.
12. Ibid., p. 12-14.
13. From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 5 October 1781 (Online).
14. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 1 1778-1794, p. 15.
15. Ibid., p. 19-22.
16. The Autobiography of James Monroe, p. 40-41.