Grace Munroe
MSA SC 5496-50994
War of 1812 Refugee, St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1814
Biography:
Grace Munroe lived on Sotterley Plantation in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, as a slave of John R. Plater. At Sotterley, Grace worked as a cook, which would have put her in close proximity to Lewis Munroe who worked as a house servant. At age 27, Grace escaped Sotterley in July 1815 by boarding the British frigate Severn, captained by Joseph Nourse, in the Patuxent River. Grace was among 49 slaves that escaped from Sotterley during the War of 1812, and one of 44 slaves to escape via the Severn frigate, including six other slaves with the same surname: Lewis Munroe (26 years old), Gerard Munroe, Ester Munroe, Richard Munroe, Lewis Munroe (3 years old), and Kitty Munroe.1
After the war, the older Lewis Munroe retained his freedom in Nova Scotia where he received land in the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbor from Henry H. Cogswell. A census taken of the men who received land from Cogswell indicates that the older Lewis Munroe had one woman and five children under his care.2 John Plater's reparations claim does not specify the exact relations between the Munroes, but they seem to have been a family unit. In that case, Grace Munroe is possibly the one woman attributed to the older Lewis Munroe in the 1815 census.
The Munroes were joined in the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbor by the Coursey and Seale families who had also escaped from Sotterley. The refugee families likely encountered tremendous setbacks during their first year of freedom, such as spending their first Canadian winter without any spare clothing. A letter from Cogswell to Governor John Sherbrooke indicates that as late as December 24, 1815, the families had not yet received any munitions clothing.3
1. Claim of John Rousby Plater, St. Mary’s County, Case #310, Case Files Ca. 1814-28, 3.5 ft. entry 190, Record Group 76, National Archives, College Park.
2. Commissioner of Public Records NSARM RG 1 vol. 420 no. 93 (microfilm no. 15464)
3. Ibid.
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