II.

Early Life

James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, one of the five children of Spence Monroe, a carpenter, and Elizabeth Jones Monroe. The family lived on a small farm at the edge of a forest in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Young Monroe walked several miles through the forest to attend the school of Parson Campbell, where John Marshall (later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States), was a fellow student and close friend. It was from Parson Campbell that Monroe learned the stern moral code that he retained throughout his life.

When Monroe entered the College of William and Mary, he was a solemn, studious 16-year-old. But the year was 1774, and Monroe found it difficult to concentrate on his studies as Virginia and other American colonies moved closer to war with Great Britain. However, he remained at college for more than a year, during which his father died. His uncle, Judge Joseph Jones, assumed the cost of Monroe's education and became his guardian and trusted adviser.

In 1775 Monroe left college to go to war. He became a lieutenant in the Third Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army, formed that year to fight British troops. In August 1776 the regiment was ordered north to the army's main base at Harlem Heights, outside New York City. They arrived during the American retreat from Manhattan Island and fought at Harlem Heights and White Plains. Monroe accompanied the retreating army through New Jersey and across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. On December 26, 1776, at the Battle of Trenton, Monroe's captain was wounded and “the command fell on me,” as Monroe later explained, “and soon after, I was shot through by a ball which grazed my breast.”

When he had recovered from his wound, Monroe was named aide-de-camp to Major General Lord Stirling. He fought in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in the autumn of 1777. That winter he was with General George Washington at Valley Forge, and in June 1778 he fought in the Battle of Monmouth.

Early in 1779, Monroe, now a major, left the northern army, which was encamped outside New York City with no immediate prospect of action. He arrived in Virginia in May, armed with letters of recommendation from several prominent men, including General Washington, who said of him: “He has in every instance maintained the reputation of a brave, active, and sensible officer.” The Virginia legislature made him a lieutenant colonel and commissioned him to lead a militia regiment then being recruited. However, the unit was never formed, and for all practical purposes, Monroe's military career was over.

Instead of commanding the regiment, Monroe became an aide to Thomas Jefferson, who was then governor of Virginia. He also became Jefferson's pupil in the study of law. During this period, Monroe began to see what course his life would take. At a time when, as he expressed it, his “plan of life” was “perplexed,” he later wrote Jefferson, “you became acquainted with me and undertook the direction of my studies ... my plan of life is now fixed.”