Replica of James Monroe's Birthplace Completed in Virginia-- Part 1

From the October 4, 2021, Fredericksburg (Virginia) Free Lance-Star by Adele Uphaus.

After more than a decade of planning,  fundraising and building,  a replica of former President James Monroe's  birthplace farmhouse is finally complete and open to the public.

The James Monroe Memorial Foundation has overseen the reconstruction process ever since signing a 99-year lease on the land with Westmoreland County in 2005, held a grand opening ceremony this past Saturday, October 2.

For decades, the site near the town of Colonial Beach where the nation's fifth president was born and lived until his teens was nothing more than a dusty pull-off from State Route 205--  the James Monroe Highway.

James Monroe was the son of a middling plantation owner and carpenter Spence Monroe and  his wife Elizabeth was born in the family home  on April 28, 1758.

He lived there until the age of 16 when both of his parents died, and he enrolled at the College of William and Mary, where he studied law for two years until he joined in the American fight for independence against Great Britain.

--Brock-Perry

Benjamin Howard (Missouri)-- Part 1

 From Wikipedia.

Benjamin Howard moved along the Mississippi River with Col. Benjamin Stephenson in an attempt to clear the Indians out.

1760-September 18, 1814

Congressman from Kentucky, first governor of Missouri Territory, brigadier general War of 1812.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, then part of Virginia and graduated 1797 from College of William and Mary.  Served in the 10th and 11th Congresses from Kentucky.  On April 17, 1810, was appointed by President James Madison to be governor of Louisiana Territory (the part of the Louisiana Purchase north of the present day state of Louisiana.

--Brock-Perry

Andrew Hunter Holmes and the "Great Rebellion" at Princeton-- Part 1

From the William and Mary Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 16, 1908.

The "Great Rebellion" at Princeton took place on March 31, 1807.  On April 1, 1807, one of the expelled students was one Abel P. Upshur, of Virginia, who later became Secretary of State of the United States.  Five other "rioters" were from Virginia like him, including Andrew Hunter Holmes.

Andrew Holmes was born in 1789, and attended Princeton and William and Mary.  he was a lawyer in New Orleans when the War of 1812 began and was killed at the 1814 Battle of Mackinac.

--Brock-Perry

Andrew Hunter Holmes- Part 2: "The Great Rebellion" at Princeton.

From the William and Mary Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 16, 1908.

Evidently, Andrew Holmes had a part in it as he was disciplined.

"The Great Rebellion" at Princeton took place on March 31, 1807.  During discipline hearings the next month, several were expelled, many of whom were Virginians.  One of them was Abel P. Upshur, who later became U.S. Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of State.

Upshur would later be killed by the cannon explosion of the USS Princeton in 1844.

Five other of the "rioters" were Virginians, including one Andrew Hunter Holmes.

--Brock-Perry

George Croghan-- Part 3: Hero at Fort Meigs

From the Wild Geese Site: Exploring Heritage of the Irish Worldwide "George Croghan: Irish-American "Boy major,' Hero of the War of 1812" by Joe Ganna.

Born at Locust Grove in Louisville Kentucky on November 15, 1791.  He gave up his law studies at the College of William and Mary shortly before his graduation and enlisted in the Army and in November 1811 fought Tecumseh  at the Battle of Tippecanoe.  He served as a private on Gen. William Henry Harrison's staff and so impressed the general that he was promoted to captain.

In May 1813, Croghan was part of the American forces under William Henry Harrison besieged at Fort Meigs in Ohio.  There, he showed his bravery in combat while leading a raiding party out from the fort against a British battery.  As a result he was promoted to major.

--Brock-Perry