James Monroe, still a teenager, joined the 3rd Virginia Regiment, commanded by Hugh Mercer, and served in campaigns led by George Washington in New York and New Jersey.
"He is our only president to have served on active military duty in the Revolutionary War aside from George Washington," said G. William Thomas, president of the James Monroe Memorial Foundation, in the opening ceremony.
At the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Monroe sustained a bullet wound to his shoulder and nearly died. He carried that bullet in his body for the rest of his life.
Following his military service, Monroe served in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Continental Congress and then was elected by state legislators to be one of the first U.S. senators from Virginia.
Washington appointed him ambassador to France, and in 1799, he was elected governor of Virginia.
--Brock-Perry
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