History of Westmoreland County Virginia United States of America

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Biographies:

Henry Lee, soldier, was born at Leesylvania, Westmoreland county, Va., Jan. 29, 1750; son of Henry and Lucy (Grymes) Lee; grandson of Henry and Mary (Bland) Lee; great grandson of John and Lettice Lee; great2 grandson of Richard and L?titia (Corbin) Lee, and great3 grandson of Col. Richard and Anne Lee. Col. Richard Lee, a man of wealth and distinction, sold his estate, Stratford, Langton, England, and came to America about 1640, as secretary of the colony and a member of the king's privy council. He was president of the council of state, 1641; represented York county as burgess in 1647; Northumberland county in 1657, and was a member of the Tobacco commission in 1663. He married Anne (surname unknown), and they had eight children. Henry Lee (born 1756) was graduated at the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1773, A.M., 1776. Prevented from visiting Europe by the preparations for active revolution, he returned to Virginia, recruited a company of "light horse" in 1775, was appointed captain in Col. Theodoric Bland's legion of Virginia cavalry, and in 1777 joined Washington's army in Pennsylvania. He was promoted major for gallant conduct in battle in January, 1778, and was given command of two troops of horse, to which he added a third troop and a company of infantry, and "Lee's legion" became an independent partisan corps and its leader received the cognomen "Lighthorse Harry." This corps constantly hung on the flank of the British army and annoyed both their march and camp. On July 10, 1779, Leo surprised the British troops in garrison at Paulus Hook, New York harbor, and with the loss of five of his riders carried off 160 prisoners, for which service congress gave him a gold medal. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel and marched his legion to South Carolina, where he covered the rear of General Greene's army, giving occasional opportunity for Tarleton's dragoons to measure swords with the Virginians. After Greene had crossed into Virginia Lee remained in the mountains of North Carolina to encourage the Whigs and harass Tarleton and the loyalists. His efforts to surprise the British dragoons were unsuccessful, but he gave battle to and defeated 400 loyalists under-Colonel Pyle. At the battle of Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781, his legion proved more than a match for Tarleton's dragoons, and when General Greene marched against Camden he sent Lee and Marion to cut off Rawdon's communications with the Seacoast, and they captured Fort Watson, which forced Rawdon to abandon and burn Camden, May 10, 1781. Colonel Lee then proceeded south, capturing Forts Mort and Granby, and on May 25 reached Augusta, Ga., which city also fell into his hands, June 5, 1781. He rejoined Greene's army, and took part in the siege of Fort Ninety-six, which after twenty-eight days was raised on the approach of Rawdon with 2000 men. The British general, fearing that he would again be cut off from the seacoast by Lee, evacuated the fort, June 29, 1781, and retired upon Charleston, followed by Greene's army. Then followed the battle of Eutaw Springs, Sept. 8, 1781, in which Lee's legion rendered distinguished service, and when night came on, and the British retreated to Charleston, Lee followed so closely as to capture a large number of Rawdon's rear-guard. He witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Oct. 19, 1781, and soon after resigned his commission and became proprietor of Stratford House by his marriage to his second cousin, Matilda, daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee. He was a delegate to the Continental congress from Virginia, 1785-88, and a member of the convention called to ratify the Federal constitution in 1788, and in that body, with Madison and Marshall, he opposed the efforts of Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, James Monroe, Benjamin Harrison, and John Tyler to defeat the ratification. He was a representative in the general assembly of the state, 1789-91, and governor, 1792-95. President Washington in 1794 commissioned him major-general in command of the U.S troops sent to western Pennsylvania to suppress the insurrection caused by the enforcement of the Federal excise law, and on his appearance with 15,000 men the insurrectionists were overawed and peace was restored without bloodshed. He was a representative in the 6th congress, 1792-1801, and at the close of that congress retired to private life. He married as his second wife, in 1798, Ann Hill, daughter of Charles and Anne Butler (Moore) Carter, of Shirley, Va. He was oppressed by debt the last years of his life, and for a time was confined within the bounds of Sportsylvania county. On July 27, 1812, while he was in Baltimore on a personal business visit to William Hanson, editor of the Federal Republican, the printing office was attacked by a mob, and in the conflict that followed he was left for dead upon the street, where he was found insensible. He was disqualified from military service from the effects of the encounter. He visited the West Indies in 1817 for the benefit of his health and on his way home he stopped at the homestead of General Greene, near St. Mary's, Ga., where he was entertained by Mrs. Shaw, daughter of his old commander, and under whose roof he died. He is the author of: Funeral Oration upon President Washington (1799), delivered before both houses of congress, in which occur the words, "The man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens;" and of War in the Southern United States (2 vols., 1812), revised with additions by his son Henry (1827), and by his son Robert Edward, with memoir (1869). He died on Cumberland Island, Ga., March 25, 1818.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Robert Edward Lee, soldier, was born at Stratford, Westmoreland county, Va., Jan. 19, 1807; son of Gen. Henry and Anne Hill (Carter) Lee; grandson of Henry and Lucy (Grymes) Lee, and of Charles and Anne Butler (Moore) Carter. In 1811 Gen. Henry Lee removed his family from Stratford to Alexandria, Va., and in that town Robert received his preparatory education, first at the academy under W. B. Leary, and subsequently at the high school of which Benjamin Hallowell, a Quaker, was head-master. He was graduated from the U.S. Military academy, West Point, second in his class in 1829, was commissioned 2d lieutenant of engineers and was assigned to duty in the engineer bureau, Washington, which enabled him frequently to visit his mother in Alexandria. On June 30, 1831, he was married at Arlington House, Va., by the Rev. Mr. Keith, to Mary Ann Randolph, only daughter of George Washington Parke and Mary Lee (Fitzhugh) Custis, and a descendant of John Custis, who came to Virginia from England in the seventeenth century, and during Bacon's rebellion, 1675-76, was commissioned a major-general of colonial troops; and was appointed collector of customs for the eastern shore of Virginia in 1687. This alliance subsequently made Lee master of Arlington estate and of the White House estate on the Pamunky river. In September, 1831, he was ordered to duty on the defences at Hampton Roads, where he remained, 1831-35. He was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1835 and became assistant to the chief engineer of the army at Washington. He was commissioned captain of engineers in 1836 and made astronomer of a joint commission created by the legislatures of Ohio and Michigan to determine the boundary line between those states. In 1837-40 he was employed on the upper Mississippi in constructing levees above St. Louis, Mo., to reclaim submerged plantations and define the course of the river. He was on topographical duty in Washington, 1840-41, and on fortifications in New York harbor, 1841-45. In January, 1846, he was ordered to report to Gen. Zachary Taylor on the Rio Grande opposite Matamoras, Mexico, and he was made chief engineer on the staff of General Wool and took part in the engagement at Palo Alto, May 8, at Reseca de la Palma, May 9, and in the capture of Matamoras, May 18. On the change of base from the Rio Grande to Vera Cruz, Captain Lee was made chief engineer on the staff of General Winfield Scott and the combined U.S. army was landed in 75 surf-boats, 100 men in each boat, under the cover of the fleet of Commodore Conner, at Sacrificios, ten miles below Vera Cruz, March 9, 1847. On March 13, Captain Lee, supported by the Palmetto regiment of South Carolina and the 1st New York volunteers, made a reconnoissance of the Mexican lines, designated the position of the assaulting batteries to be constructed of sand-bags within 1000 yards of the rock masonry walls of the city, and on March 22 he bore under a flag of truce a demand for the surrender of the castle and city. This being denied two days were given to remove the women and children, when, on March 25, the army and navy opened fire, and on March 29 the Mexican forces capitulated and the U.S. army occupied the place. They were without means of transportation, the paroled Mexican army having cleared the country of horses and mules. The situation was desperate as yellow fever threatened the place. In this emergency Captain Leo became responsible for the honesty of a Texan soldier, Col. Tom Kinney, and the commanding general on his recommendation paid over to Kinney $50,000 in gold for 6000 mules to be delivered within three days. The contract was carried out by bribing the paroled Mexicans, and the army moved toward the city of Mexico. On reaching Cerro Gordo Pass, April 14, 1847, the engineering skill of Lee surmounted the advantage of position and the Mexican army under Santa Anna was defeated, as it was at every stand through the valley to the city of Mexico? Contreras, Churubusco, Molina del Rey, Chapultepec, where he was slightly wounded, were a succession of victories due largely to his engineering skill, and on Sept. 13, 1847, at the head of the storming party, he planted the Palmetto flag of South Carolina on the wall of Mexico city, and in the triumphal entry into the ancient capital the next day Captain Lee rode at the right of General Scott at the head of his army of 10,000 men. In 1858 referring to this campaign General Scott said: "My success in the Mexican war was largely due to the skill and valor of Robert E. Lee. He is the greatest military genius in America; the best soldier I ever saw in the field; and if opportunity offers he will show himself the foremost captain of his time." He was brevetted major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel of engineers for his services in this campaign and returned to his home in Arlington, Va. In the autumn of 1848 he was ordered to Baltimore where he engaged in constructing a system of defensive works; and he was superintendent of the U.S. Military academy, 1852-55. He was promoted lieutenant,colonel in February, 1855, and assigned to the 2d U.S. cavalry, Col. Albert Sidney Johnston. The regiment was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., and in October was ordered to Fort Mason, Texas, but Lee was detained on court-martial duty until April, 1856, when he rejoined his regiment in Texas and was engaged in repressing Indian outbreaks until October, 1859. He then visited Arlington to [p.385] settle the estate of his father-in-law, who had died in 1857, leaving him first executor of his will. On Oct. 17, 1859, he received orders to report to the adjutant-general at Washington without delay and he was ordered to Harper's Ferry in command of three companies of U.S. marines to suppress a threatened attack on the U.S. arsenal. He found the arsenal in the possession of a revolutionary party led by John Brown, and his followers numbering about forty-five men. Colonel Lee called upon him through Lieut. J. E. B. Stuart, under a flag of truce, to surrender, which Brown refused to do unless guaranteed safe conduct with his prisoners and men across the river into Maryland and not to be pursued until his party had gained a point half a mile from the arsenal. This Lee refused to consider and at once opened an assault on the engine house on the arsenal grounds, in which the survivors of the defending band, seventeen whites and three negroes, were taken prisoners at the point of the bayonet. Colonel Lee then entered the building and had Brown and his wounded followers cared for in the arsenal by a surgeon of the marine corps and afterward delivered them over to Judge Robert J. Ould, the U.S. district attorney. The prisoners were given over to the charge of the state courts, and tried and convicted on a charge of treason, murder and inciting insurrection among slaves, and the state militia supplanted the U.S. troops as guard and Colonel Lee and the U.S. troops had no part in the execution of John Brown. He left Harper's Ferry, Dec. 3, 1859, and soon after Christmas of that year rejoined his regiment at San Antonio, Texas, where he remained in the service till ordered to Washington, where he arrived, March 1, 1861, and reported to Lieutenant-General Scott, commanding the U.S. army. Seven states had at this time passed the ordinance of secession and on Feb. 4, 1861, had formed a union as "The Confederate States of America." Abraham Lincoln would be inaugurated President, March 4, 1861, and Winfield Scott, the general-in-chief of the U.S. army, desired the advice of the officers of the U.S. army. Colonel Lee assured General Scott that if Virginia seceded from the Union and the government decided to coerce the states by military force, his sense of duty would oblige him to go with his state. On March 10, 1861, Colonel Lee was assigned to duty as a member of the board to revise the "Regulations for the government of the United States army" and he filed the report of the board, April 18, 1861. On April 15 President Lincoln called upon the loyal states for 75,000 volunteers and Virginia was called upon for her quota. This demand, and other considerations, caused the Virginia convention, which had been in session since Feb. 13, to pass an ordinance of secession by a vote of 88 to 55. President Lincoln, hoping the act of the seceding states had caused Lee's spirit of loyalty to the Union to overbalance his sense of loyalty to his state, is said to have offered him the command of the army, which Gen. Scott wished to transfer to a younger man, repeatedly naming Robert E. Lee as his successor. This offer, it is said, was made at army headquarters through Francis Preston Blair, Sr., April 18, 1861, and that Colonel Lee replied that he was opposed to secession and deprecated war, but that he could take no part in the invasion of the Southern States, considering such an act a breach of his oath to "support and defend the constitution of the United States" as interpreted by Attorney-General Black. He then went to General Scott and reported his decision and on April 20, 1861, he tendered the resignation of his commission in the U.S. army to Simon Cameron, the Secretary of War, at the same time addressing a letter to General Scott, asking him to recommend its acceptance. On April 23, upon the invitation of a committee of the Virginia convention, he visited Richmond where he accepted the commission of commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of Virginia with the rank of major-general. On April 24, 1861, in his address before the convention assembled in Richmond, accepting the trust, he closed with these words: "Trusting in Almighty God, an approving conscience and the aid of my fellow-citizens, I devote myself to the service of my native state in whose behalf alone will I ever again draw my sword." On May 20, 1861, the people of Virginia by a vote of 150,000 to 20,000 ratified the ordinance of secession, and the same day the U.S. navy yard at Norfolk was evacuated by the U.S. authorities and taken possession of by the Virginia state troops. On May 22 the state entered the Confederacy and on May 24, 10,000 Federal soldiers crossed the Potomac and took possession of Alexandria, Va. On May 29. President Davis with his cabinet arrived in Richmond, which became the capital of the Confederate States of America. On June 8, 1861, Virginia transferred her military forces to the new government and General Lee remained the ranking officer of the Virginia military forces, and as such became military advisor to Governor Letcher, commander-in-chief. In selecting the defensive lines for the state, he [p.386] designated Manassas Junction, where, on July 21, 1861, the first great battle was fought and won by the Confederacy. After the death of Gen. Robert S. Garnett, Lee was ordered to assume command of the troops in western Virginia comprising about 6500 men commanded by Generals Johnson, Loring, Wise and Floyd. He had before been commissioned a general in the Confederate army but was out-ranked by both Generals Cooper and Albert Sidney Johnston. He found the Federal forces commanded by Gen. W. S. Rosecrane, who like Lee was a skilful engineer, but now in command of an army double the number under Lee, and both commanders acted on the defensive, chiefly on account of incessant rains and the state of the roads. After the season for active operations in the mountains was over, Lee was put in charge of the defences of South Carolina and Georgia. In the spring of 1862 he was made military adviser of President Davis. On June 1, 1862, after Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had been severely wounded and the command of the Confederate army had devolved on Gen. Gustavus W. Smith, who renewed the battle of Seven Pines with but partial success, President Davis appointed Gen. Robert E. Lee to the command of the Army of Northern Virginia and he drove the army of McClellan to the protection of the Federal gunboats at Harrison's Landing on the James river. Lee had inflicted on his adversary a loss of 150 ordnance and commissary wagons and 12,000 stands of arms, burned to prevent change of ownership, and 15,900 killed and wounded, 10,800 prisoners, 54 pieces of artillery, and 36,000 stands of arms captured by the Confederate army. On July 13 he detached General Jackson with 10,000 men to operate against Pope who had succeeded to the command of a Federal army and was holding the line north of the Rappahannock river. In August Lee advanced with the main body of his army, about 35,000 strong, to give battle to the new commander. The issue was joined at Manassas, Aug. 29-30, and Pope's army made a leisurely retreat toward Washington. Lee then moved into Maryland, crossing the Potomac, Sept. 8, 1862, at Leesburg ford. He issued a proclamation to the citizens of Maryland to rally to the flag of the Confederacy, closing his appeal with these words: "While the people of the Confederate States will rejoice to welcome you to your natural position among them, they will only welcome you when you come of your own free will." Meanwhile Pope had been relieved of the command of the Army of Virginia and General McClellan was appointed his successor and had under his command 87,164 men. General Lee had an army of 85,255 men and had taken position near Sharpsburg, Md., between the Potomac river and Antietam creek. On September 17, McClellan opened the battle along his entire line and the conflict continued during the day, and under the cover of the next night Lee withdrew his army to the Virginia side of the Potomac without disorder, completing the retreat Sept. 19, 1862. On October 8, Lee ordered Stuart with 5,000 horsemen to re-cross into Maryland and harass McClellan's army, and he accomplished his purpose and entered the state of Pennsylvania almost unopposed. On Oct. 26, 1862, McClellan crossed the Potomac and encamped in Loudoun county, Va., and on Nov. 2, 1862, he was succeeded by General Burnside. Then followed the battle of Fredericksburg, where Burnside mustered 116,683 men and was opposed by Lee with 78,513 men. The battle was fought and won by General Lee, Dec. 13, 1862. In 1862 General Lee executed a paper emancipating all the slaves held by his estate, 196 in number, in accordance with the will of his father-in-law, G. W. P. Custis, by which, five years after Mr. Custis's death, which occurred Oct. 10, 1857, all his slaves were to be freed. This was Lee's second act as an emancipator, he having freed the slaves owned by himself in 1854, while an officer in the U.S. army. On May 2-5, 1863, the Army of the Potomac, under Hooker, recruited to the strength of 138,378 men, opposed General Lee's army of 53,000 men, 170 pieces of artillery and 2700 cavalry at Chancellorsville, and the force of Hooker was first placed on the defensive and finally forced to intrench on the Rappahannock. On June 2, 1863, Lee moved his army northward toward the Potomac, and on June 13 Hooker followed. The Army of Northern Virginia invaded Pennsylvania late in June to relieve Virginia of the burden of war. Lee reached Gettysburg July 1, 1863, by way of Carlisle and Chambersburg, where he found the Army of the Potomac under General Meade, who had succeeded General Hooker. Meade brought into action an army of 89,000 men with over 15,000 in reserve and Lee faced him with 62,500 men and no reserve. Each army lost over 20,000 men and the battle was won by the Federal army after three days' incessant fighting. The Army of Northern Virginia retreated up the valley and General Lee acted on the defensive for nearly a year. On Aug. 8, 1863, General Lee tendered his resignation to President Davis by reason of physical disability. President Davis, in declining to receive his resignation, under date of Richmond, Va., Aug. 11, 1863, says: "To ask me to substitute you by some one in my judgment more fit to command, or who would possess more of the confidence of the army or of the reflecting men of the country, is to demand an impossibility." General Lee confronted General Grant at the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, and the battles that [p.387] followed up to June 3, 1864, ended with the sanguinary battle of Cold Harbor in which Grant's army lost 16,000 men killed and wounded in a succession of assaults on the entrenched army of General Lee. In forcing Lee's army of 63,000 men seventy-five miles, General Grant with 149,000 men lost 61,000. Then followed the investment of the Army of Northern Virginia within the lines of Richmond and Petersburg, where the armies of the Potomac and James slowly crushed out its life after a ten months' siege, ending with the evacuation of Richmond, April 2, and the surrender of its remnant of an army comprising 28,000 officers and men at Appomattox. April 9, 1865. About an equal number had been killed, wounded, captured or dispersed, or had deserted to their homes, in the week of the retreat. On Aug. 24, 1865. General Lee accepted the presidency of Washington college at Lexington, Va., at a salary of $1500 per annum, declining at the same time several offers with much larger salaries. He was formally inaugurated Sept. 18, 1865, and under his administration the college greatly prespered He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Mercer university, Ga., in 1866. In 1871 the general assembly of Virginia changed the name of the institution to Washington and Lee university, and as a further memorial a recumbent statue of General Lee by Valentine was presented to the university by the Lee Memorial association and his remains placed in a vault under the statue. This statue was unveiled by the association with appropriate ceremony in June, 1873. An equestrian statue by Merci? surmounting a massive pedestal erected in Capitol Square. Richmond, Va., was unveiled and dedicated May 29, 1890. On June 19, 1901, bronze busts of Washington and Lee were unveiled at the university; the former being the gift of Oscar Straus of New York, and the latter of Frank T. Howard, class of 1874, of New Orleans. The busts were placed on either side of the archway leading to the rotunda. In the selection of names for a place in the Hall of Fame for great Americans, New York university, made in October, 1900, his was one of the twenty names in "Class N, Soldiers and Sailors." and secured a place, receiving sixty-nine votes, Grant with ninety-two and Farragut with seventy-nine alone in the class securing mere votes. In 1869 Gen. G. W. C. Lee prepared a new edition of and added a memoir to his father's work, "War in the Southern Department of the United States" (2 vols., 1812). See also; biographies by John Esten Cooke (1871), Edward A. Pollard (1871), John W. Jones (1874), and E. Lee Childe (London, 1875); "Four Years with General Lee," by Walter H. Taylor (1877); "Memoirs," by Gen. A. L. Long (1886), and "Robert E. Lee and the Southern Confederacy," by Henry A. White (1899). He died at Lexington. Va., Oct. 12, 1870.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

James Monroe, fifth president of the United States, was born in Westmoreland county, Va., April 28, 1758; son of Spence and Eliza (Jones) Monroe, and nephew of Joseph Jones (1727-1805) . The Monroes came to Virginia about the middle of the seventeenth century and were of Scottish origin. James Monroe attended the College of William and Mary for a short time and upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary war he was one of the twenty-five students to enter the military service. He enlisted in the Continental army at Washington's headquarters in New York city and was appointed lieutenant in the 3d Virginia regiment under Col. Hugh Mercer. He took part in the battles of Harlem, White Plains and Trenton, and while leading the advance guard at Harlem Heights he was severely wounded in the shoulder. He served as a volunteer aide with the rank of major on the staff of the Earl of Sterling and engaged in the battles of the Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, and was recommended by General Washington for a commission in the state troops of Virginia. He was not given a field commission as he desired, but the effort led to his gaining the friendship of Governor Jefferson, who sent him as military commissioner to collect information regarding the condition and aspects of the army in the south. This commission gave him the rank of lieutenant-colonel, but interrupted his services in the field. In 1782 he was elected to the state assembly and he also served as a member of the executive council. He was a delegate to the Continental congress assembled in New York city, 1783-86, and while in congress he presented his bill for the temporary government of the newly acquired northwestern territory by the United Sates. This bill was the paramount issue of the congress, 1784-87, and Monroe twice crossed-the Alleghenies to become familiar with the condition of the country. It was finally settled by the ordinance of Sept. 13, 1787, for the government of the Northwest Territory. Mr. Monroe was chosen one of the nine judges to decide the boundary question between Massachusetts and New York in 1784, and resigned this position in 1786, as both the states in question were opposed to his views as to the right of free navigation of the Mississippi and neither was likely to accept his judgment in the question at issue. He was married in 1786 to Elizabeth, daughter of Lawrence Kortright of New York city. After the expiration of his three years' service in congress he engaged in the practice of law in Fredericksburg, Va. He was elected a delegate to the state assembly and was a member of the state convention that met at Richmond in 1788 to consider the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. With Patrick Henry, William Grayson and George Mason he was opposed to consolidation, fearing the formation of a monarchy and predicting conflict between the state and the national authorities and that a President once elected might continue for life. It was only on condition that certain amendments should be made to the instrument that he finally consented to its ratification. The first of the U.S. senators elected from Virginia were Richard Henry Lee and William Grayson. Upon the death of Grayson on March 12, 1790, Governor Beverley Randolph appointed John Walker to fill the vacancy, and on the assembling of the Virginia legislature James Monroe was elected to complete the term, and for a full term beginning March 4, 1791. He took his seat in the senate, Dec. 6, 1790, and was succeeded, Dec. 7, 1795, by Stevens Thomson Mason, Senator Monroe having been appointed by President Washington U.S. minister to France. While in the senate he was an aggressive anti-Federalist and as such did not support Washington's administration and was especially hostile to his secretary of the treasury. He objected to the confirmation of many of the President's appointments, notably those of Gouverneur Morris as U.S. minister to France and of John Jay as U.S. minister to England, but notwithstanding his opposition and greatly to his surprise he was appointed by Washington to succeed Morris to France. He arrived in Paris at the close of the French revolution and in the excitement of the time did not receive official recognition until Aug. 15, 1794. At his official reception on that date he addressed the Convention in cordial terms, but was severely criticised in the United States when his report reached the government, being charged with exceeding his authority. Secretary of State Randolph feared that his expressed friendliness to France might offend the British ministry, but after receiving all the dispatches from Monroe, he better understood the situation and it was not till Senator Pickering took up the portfolio of state that Monroe was replaced by the appointment of Charles C. Pinckney, the date of his recall being Aug. 22, 1796. He printed his instructions, his correspondence with the French and United States governments, his speech, and letters received from the American residents at the French capital, in a pamphlet which was issued in Philadelphia as "A View of the Conduct of the Executive." He was elected governor of Virginia on the anti-Federalist ticket, serving, 1799-1802. Upon the election of Thomas Jefferson as President, Monroe was returned to France as an additional plenipotentiary, and with Robert R. Livingston secured a treaty with that country, ceding Louisiana to the United States, which negotiation resulted in the payment of $15,000,000 by the United States for the American territory then owned by France, known as the territory of Louisiana. On the completion of his mission in France in 1803 he went with Charles Pinckney to negotiate a treaty with Spain and thence to London as U.S. minister at the court of St. James, where he was joined in 1806 by William Pinckney, sent to act as a commissioner with him in securing a cessation of aggressions as exercised by the British government against neutrals. In 1807 he was sent to Spain to negotiate for the purchase of Florida by the United States. This mission was unsuccessful and he returned to London, where, with William Pinckney, he concluded the treaty with Great Britain after long negotiations. The treaty failed to provide against the impressment of American seamen and secured no indemnity for less sustained by Americans in the seizure of their goods and vessels, and the President refused to send it to the senate. Monroe returned to the United States and drew up a defence of his official conduct. He was for a third time elected a delegate to the state assembly, and in 1811 was again elected governor of Virginia, which office he filled for a few months, when he was appointed by President Madison secretary of state as successor to Robert Smith, who resigned, April 1, 1811, and he held the portfolio until March 4, 1817. He also acted as secretary of war, 1814-15. While a member of the cabinet, hostilities commenced between the United States and Great Britain; the public buildings at Washington were burned, and the country was greatly depressed. He gained much praise for the measures he adopted for the safety of the national capital and for the prosecution of the war. At the Republican (Democratic) caucus held in Washington, D.C., March 16, 1816, he was nominated for President of the United States, with Daniel D. Tompkins of New York for Vice-President. Rufus King of New York was the candidate of the Federalist party for President and John Eager Howard of Maryland for Vice-President. In the election Monroe and Tompkins received the support of 183 electors, while[p.416] King received 84 electoral votes; the votes for Vice-President being: Howard 22, James Ross of Pennsylvania 5, John Harshall of Virginia 4, and Robert G. Harper of Maryland 3. James Monroe was inaugurated March 4, 1817, and appointed John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts secretary of state; continued William H. Crawford of Georgia as secretary of the treasury; appointed Isaac Shelby of Kentucky as secretary of war, which appointment was declined by General Shelby and George Graham of Virginia, chief clerk, was appointed ad interim, being succeeded by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina the same year. He continued Benjamin W. Crowninshield of Massachusetts as secretary of the navy, and on his resignation in November, 1818, appointed as his successor Smith Thompson of New York, on whose appointment to the supreme bench Samuel L. Southard of New Jersey succeeded him. In the attorney-general's office he requested Richard Rush of Pennsylvania to continue in office, but soon after appointed him U.S. minister to England, and appointed William Wirt of Virginia his successor. He secured the continuance of the services of Return J. Meigs, Jr., of Ohio, as postmaster-general until 1823, when he appointed Jehu McLean of Ohio as his successor. The foreign missions were filled by: Richard Rush to Great Britain; James Brown of Louisiana to France; George W. Campbell of Tennessee to Russia, succeeded in 1820 by Henry Middleton of South Carolina; John Forsyth of Georgia to Spain, followed in 1823 by Hugh Nelson of Virginia. His only appointment to the supreme bench was that of Smith Thompson of New York to he associate justice in 1823. The administration of President Monroe was unattended by any great political discussion and the general prosperity and healthy growth incident to a period of peace and to the acquisition and settlement of new territory resulted in the appearance of no opposition to the continuation of his administration for another term and in 1820 no nominations were made by either party. In the election of November, 1820, 231 electors were favorable to his re-election, and his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, secured the support of the one other elector. Vice-President Daniel D. Tompkins secured 218 electors, Richard Stockton of New Jersey eight, Daniel Rodney of Delaware four, Robert G. Harper of Maryland and Richard Rush of Pennsylvania one each. President Monroe's second election was thus practically unanimous, the party he represented meeting with no opposition, a unique instance in the history of American politics. He continued his cabinet as composed during his first administration, making the few changes noted under that head. In his message to congress in 1823 President Monroe referred to the proposed intervention of the allied powers of Europe as indicated by the news of the proceedings of the congress of Verona, October-December, 1822, where a project had been discussed to aid Spain in recovering her domain in America, in these words: "We should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety," and in another place: "The American continents by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained are henceforth not to he considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." This unwritten law at once consistent with international rights and justified by self-defence became known and respected as the "Monroe Doctrine," and has been maintained by the United States on all subsequent occasions, notably in matters relating to the Isthmus of Panama; in the case of French intervention in Mexico under Maximilian, and in the Nicaragua canal treaty, signed Nov. 18, 1901, following which Secretary of State Hay said: "The briefest expression of our rule of conduct is, perhaps, the Monroe Doctrine and the Golden Rule. With this simple chart we can hardly go far wrong." During his administration President Monroe made a formal visit to the principal cities of the northern and southern states. On Feb. 22, 1819, the purchase of the Floridas was concluded by a treaty with Spain, thus giving the United States control of the entire Atlantic coast from the St. Croix to the Sabine. Although favoring internal improvements, he vetoed the Cumberland Road bill, May 4, 1822, holding that congress had no authority to make appropriations for internal uses, unless of national significance, but he also believed that the minor improvements of the interior should he left to the separate states. The national reception of the Marquis de Lafayette as the nation's guest occurred, 1824-25, during Monroe's administration. At the close of his second administration in 1825 he retired to his county seat at Oak Hill, Loudoun county, Va., and subseqently went to live with his son-in-law, Samuel L. Gouverneur, then postmaster of New York city. He was financially embarrassed and intended to enter upon the practice of the law in New York, but he found serious obstacles in his health and age, and not even his prestige as an Ex-President served to procure him clients. He[p.417] lived the life of a recluse,?indeed many persons did not know of his residence in New York city until the news of his death was published. The citizens of the city of New York united to do him honor and the funeral held July 7, 1831, was a public one. The remains were buried in the Marble cemetery on Second Street, New York. On April 6, 1858, the general assembly of Virginia appropriated $2000 for their removal to his native state, and on July 4, 1858, they were reinterred with appropriate honors in Hollywood cemetery, Richmond. The degree of A.B. was conferred on him by William and Mary college in 1775; and that of LL.D. by Harvard college in 1817, by Dartmouth college in 1817, and by the College of New Jersey in 1822. His name was one of the thirty-seven in "Class M, Rulers and Statesmen" submitted for a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, New York university, October, 1900, and received nineteen votes, sixteen in the class receiving a larger number. He is the author of: A Men, Git to Prove the Rights of the People of the West to the Free Navigation of the Mississippi (1786); A View of the Conduct of the Executive as to the Mission to the French Republic (1797), which caused political excitement, gained for Monroe election as governor of Virginia, and on the copy of the work owned by President Washington were written animadversions that were subsequently published. He left in MS. Philosophical History of the Origin of Free Governments and The People the Sovereigns (1867). He left a large number of MSS., including his correspondence and state papers, which were purchased by congress and deposited in the library. Samuel Waldo wrote Tour of James Monroe through the Northern and Eastern States, with a sketch of his Life (1819); John Quincy Adams wrote Life of James Monroe with a NotiCe of his Administration (1850); George F. Tucker, Concise History of the Monroe Doctrine (1858); Daniel C. Gilman in American Statesmen series, Life of James Monroe (1883); and Demonstration at Removal of Remains of James Monroe was published (1858). He died in New York city, July 4, 1831.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Richard Elliott Parker, senator, was born at Rock Spring, Westmoreland county, Va., Dec. 27, 1783; son of Capt. Wiliam Harwar and Mary (Sturrman) Parker, and grandson of Judge Richard and Elizabeth (Beale) Parker. He studied law at Lawfield, Va., under his grandfather, Judge Richard Parker, was admitted to the bar and settled in practice in his native county, which he represented in the Virginia legislature for several years. He was colonel of the militia in Westmoreland county at the outbreak of the war of 1812, and served as colonel of the 35th Virginia regiment, with which he defended the Northern Neck from British attacks, 1813-14. He was wounded in the action at White House, Sept. 16, 1814, returning after the war to the pratice of law, and was elected a judge of the general court, July 26, 1817. He was elected to the U.S. senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Benjamin Watkins Leigh, serving from Dec. 15, 1836, to Feb. 13, 1837, when he resigned to accept a seat on the bench of the Court of Appeals of Virginia, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dabney Carr, Jan. 8, 1837. He declined the position of attorney-general in the cabinet of President Van Buren, in 1840, as successor to Felix Grundy. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. William Foushee, of Richmond, Va. He died at the "Retreat," Snickersville, Va., Sept. 9, 1840.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

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