Private James Monroe
Pvt. James Monroe
Private James Monroe was born in Franklin County, Virginia, c. 1845. He enlisted on July 28, 1864, in Grafton, West Virginia, for a term of 3 years and served with the 45th USCT Infantry, Company G. He was 19 years old, 5’3” tall and was described as having a black complexion, black eyes, and black hair. His occupation was listed as laborer on his muster roll, but his enlistment papers described him as a farm hand. He could not write at the time of his enlistment and expressed his name with a mark.
After mustering in Philadelphia, PA, Monroe was at the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, on September 28-30, 1864. The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm was the first Battle of Deep Bottom, part of the James River south of Richmond that was shallow enough for Union soldiers to cross. There Pvt. Monroe met Confederate lines guarding both sides of the James River at Chaffin’s Bluff. The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm was an important engagement in the Siege of Petersburg and was a significant battle in which USCT proved their abilities as soldiers.
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Monroe then went to Fort Harrison in Richmond and from there fought at Darbytown Road on October 13, a battle in which Union soldiers fought to maintain control of their newly acquired position near Richmond. They successfully used earthworks and heavy artillery to thwart the Confederate calvary and began to edge the Confederate Army out of Richmond.
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The next battle in which Pvt Monroe participated was the Battle of Fair Oaks between October 27-28, which was the culmination of U.S. Grant’s Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. This battle was hard fought and deadly, with an estimated 1,603 Union casualties.
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The 45th USCT Infantry, Company G, had a total of 240 soldiers. Twenty-nine of them were killed in battle and 12 died of disease. Monroe was among those 12, dying from smallpox on Feb. 2, 1865, at a Union Hospital in Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, at which Clara Barton was superintendent of nurses. Monroe died only a month before President Abraham Lincoln visited the hospital.
Disease was the primary cause of death during the Civil War. Approximately two-thirds of Civil War soldiers died of disease. Dysentery, and not smallpox was the deadliest disease of the war, but smallpox killed about 23 percent of white troops who contracted it and 36 percent of the USCT soldiers who became sick.
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At the time of his death, Monroe had been paid $100 of his enlistment bounty and was still due $200. Subtracted from that were items for which he owed the government, including a screwdriver, spring vice, and a ball screw totaling 88 cents. He also owed Ellis Peer $14. Peer was a “sutler,” a civilian merchant who traveled with the army, selling to the soldiers clothing and unessential items. Monroe had no personal effects at the time of his death.
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Military records stated that he was buried between Bermuda Hundred and Jones Landing on the James River in Virginia, south of the road. The exact location of his grave is unknown today. Pvt. Monroe is one of nearly 4,000 Civil War soldiers who was awarded a West Virginia Medal of Honor that has yet to be claimed by a family member.
Contributors: Sarah Plummer Mackenzie Jackson, Cathie Cummins, Connor Boquist, Luke Skinner, Steve Fante, Ryan Blake and Will Keene
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