geekyIt was recently pointed out to me that James Monroe was one of three Presidents to die with bullet fragments still in his body (not including those Presidents who were assassinated). The other two were Andrew Jackson (the remnants of a life of dueling) and Theodore Roosevelt (from the 1912 assassination attempt on his life.)
James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in his family home in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father Spence Monroe was a planter and a carpenter, and his mother Elizabeth was his first tutor. When his father died in 1774, sixteen year old James inherited his small plantation and slaves. His mentor was his maternal uncle, Judge Joseph Jones, who had been educated at the Inns of Court in London and was the executor of his father's estate. That same year, Monroe enrolled in the College of William and Mary.
At that time, many students were excited about the prospect of military service in the Revolutionary War. In early 1775, just one year after his enrollment, Monroe dropped out of college and joined the 3rd Virginia Regiment in the Continental Army. His background as a college student and the son of a well-known planer enabled him to obtain an officer's commission. In June 1775, after the battles of Lexington and Concord, Monroe joined a group of men who raided the arsenal at the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg. They made off with 200 muskets and 300 swords and used these weapons to arm the Williamsburg militia.
Monroe's regiment joined the Continental Army led by George Washington. The army retreated from Long Island in the fall of 1776 into New Jersey, crossing the Delaware River in December 1776. Many enlistments were due to expire at the end of the year, so Washington decided that only a bold step could save the Army and the revolutionary cause. Washington ordered his force of less than 3000 effective soldiers, to cross the Delaware River on Christmas Day 1776, where they would fight in the Battle of Trenton.
Monroe and his regiment crossed over and marched through a snowstorm north and then east towards Trenton. Along the way, the soldiers were spotted by a young patriot doctor, John Riker. Riker volunteered to serve as a medic and treat casualties in the anticipated battle with the German-speaking Hessian professional mercenary soldiers. The Americans approached the center of Trenton from north and south. When the Hessians sounded the alarm, they tried to get several of their artillery pieces in action to fire into the American line. Lieutenant Monroe and General Washington's cousin, Captain William Washington and their men rushed to seize the guns before they could fire. Both young officers were severely wounded. Captain Washington was badly wounded in both hands. Lieutenant James Monroe was carried from the field bleeding badly after he was struck in the left shoulder by a musket ball, which severed an artery. Very fortunately for Monroe, volunteer doctor Riker clamped the artery, saving Monroe from bleeding to death.
Monroe was sent home to Virginia to nurse his injuries. The Battle of Trenton would be Monroe's only battle as he would spend the next three months recuperating from his wound. In John Trumbull's painting Capture of the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton, Monroe can be seen lying wounded at left center of the painting. After recuperating from his wound, he was appointed as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia, and tasked to recruit and lead a regiment, but the regiment was never raised. In 1780 the British invaded Richmond, and Governor Thomas Jefferson commissioned Monroe as a Colonel to command the militia raised in response, and act as liaison to the Continental Army in North Carolina.
Monroe went on to study law under Jefferson from 1780 to 1783. After passing the bar, he practiced law in Fredericksburg, Virginia before beginning his remarkable political career as a Congressman, Senator, Governor, Minister (Ambassador) to France and Great Britain, Secretary of War, Secretary of State and President of the United States.