Battle Born Patriots Chapter, Sons of The American Revolution

08/22/2026

James Monroe had such an illustrious and influential career as a statesman that is easy to overlook his heroic service in the Revolutionary War. At age 18 he withdrew from the College of William and Mary and enlisted in the Continental Army, being commissioned a lieutenant in the 3rd Virginia Regiment. Shortly after joining the army, Monroe and his regiment were part of George Washington’s bold attacks across the Delaware River. In the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Monroe was very seriously wounded, earning a promotion and a commendation for valor from General Washington.

After the war Monroe completed his studies, became a lawyer, and entered politics, aligning himself with Jefferson’s Republican party. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, the U.S. House of Representatives, then the United States Senate. In 1794, President Washington appointed him as the U.S. Minister to France.

Monroe was serving in Paris when the Jay Treaty was signed and ratified. The Treaty, which resolved remaining issues between the U.S. and Great Britain, was reviled by Jeffersonian Republicans as a betrayal of France. Concerned that the Jeffersonian Monroe was too sympathetic to France and being told by Gouverneur Morris and others that Monroe was disparaging him and the Federalists, on August 22, 1796 (230 years ago today) President Washington recalled Monroe, terminating his service as minister.

Angry at being recalled, in 1798 Monroe published a lengthy pamphlet defending his tenure in Paris, decrying the Jay Treaty, and complaining that U.S. foreign policy under the Federalists was too pro-British. With the Jeffersonians on the ascendancy, Monroe’s dismissal would ultimately have no adverse impact on his career. He would go on to serve as governor of Virginia, then as U.S. minister to Great Britain (during which time he traveled to France and helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase). After another term as governor of Virginia, he served as Secretary of State during the Madison administration. In 1816 he was elected 5th President of the United States.

The image is a 1794 portrait by Louis Semé, made as Monroe began his term as Minister Plenipotentiary to France.

08/22/2026

After Cowpens, John Eager Howard was holding seven British swords. Each handed to him personally by the officers who surrendered to him.

The Marylander was commanding the Continental line under Daniel Morgan on January 17, 1781, against the feared Banastre Tarleton.

In the noise of battle, a misunderstood order sent Howard's men into an orderly withdrawal. The British saw it as a rout and charged in wild disorder. It was a mistake. Howard kept perfect control, faced his men about and unleashed a devastating volley at close range. Then he ordered the bayonet.

The British line collapsed. As the 71st Highlanders gave up, their officers rode to Howard and surrendered their swords to him one by one. By his own account, he held seven at once.

Congress awarded him a silver medal. General Nathanael Greene said Howard was "as good an officer as the world afforded, and deserves a statue of gold, no less than the Roman or Grecian heroes.

08/22/2026

When the Revolutionary War broke out, Massachusetts-born Benjamin Thompson was 20 years old and living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he was serving as a major in the New Hampshire militia. From the beginning, he was an unwavering Loyalist. In 1775 he was clandestinely helping General Thomas Gage identify and round up British deserters, while secretly funneling intelligence reports to Gage. Twice brought before the Massachusetts Committee of Safety on charges of treason, Thompson was acquitted both times due to a lack of reliable evidence. But he knew his position as a spy was becoming untenable and in October 1775 he fled to Narraganset Bay, where he boarded a British frigate that carried him to inside British lines in New York City. By 1780 he was serving in high-ranking positions in the British colonial administration in London.

In 1781 Thompson returned to America, serving for a while as a cavalry officer under General Alexander Leslie in South Carolina. Afterwards Thompson commanded the King’s American Dragoons, a regiment he raised in Long Island, New York, earning notoriety for using a Huntington church as a stable.

While Thompson’s history during the Revolutionary War is interesting, it was his life after it that made him famous. He became a celebrated officer in the Bavarian army, a count of the Holy Roman Empire, and was knighted by George III. He also became one of the most acclaimed scientists of his time. In 1799 Thompson (aka Count Rumford) founded the Royal Institution, which is still one of Great Britain’s leading scientific research institutions. He made groundbreaking contributions to the study of heat and friction, and his numerous inventions include the drip coffee maker, the first steam radiator, the pressure cooker, the double boiler, the Rumford stove, the Rumford roaster, the Rumford furnace, the Rumford photometer, and the Rumford fireplace, which by using dampers finally solved the problem of smoky chimneys.

Even as his international reputation grew, Thompson yearned to return to America. He unsuccessfully sought permission to return in 1793, made a substantial donation to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston, and in 1799 upon learning about the proposal to create the United States Military Academy he inquired about being appointed superintendent. He spent the last ten years of his life in Paris, and upon his death on August 21, 1814, at age 61, he left the bulk of his estate to Harvard College (funding the Rumford professorship there) and he donated his military library to West Point.

The 1783 portrait is by Thomas Gainsborough. There are statues of Thompson/Rumford in Munich and Woburn, Massachusetts (his birthplace). Rumford Crater on the moon is named in his honor. Franklin Roosevelt remarked that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were the only the only Americans of Thompson’s time who were his intellectual equals.

08/22/2026

The Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier was vandalized in Philadelphia in 2020. Beneath the tomb lie the bodies of thousands of men who died for the better future we have now.
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https://www.8thvirginia.com/p/many-men-have-died-in-darkness
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08/22/2026