Lewis Munroe
MSA SC 5496-51008
War of 1812 Refugee, St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1814
Biography:
Lewis Munroe lived on Sotterley Plantation in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, as a slave of John R. Plater. At Sotterley, Lewis worked as a house servant, which would have put him in close proximity to Grace Munroe who worked as a cook. At 26, Lewis escaped from Sotterley in July of 1814 by boarding the British frigate Severn, captained by Joseph Nourse, in the Patuxent River. Lewis was among 49 slaves that escaped from Sotterley during the wAr of 1812 and one of 44 slaves that escaped via the Severn frigate, including six other slaves with the same surname: Grace Munroe, Gerard Munroe, Ester Munroe, Richard Munroe, Lewis Munroe (three years old), and Kitty Munroe.1
After the war, Lewis Munroe retained his freedom in Nova Scotia where he settled on land in the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbor conveyed to him by Henry H. Cogswell in 1815.2 The census taken of the refugees who received land from Cogswell indicates that Munroe had under his care one woman, possibly Grace Munroe, and five children, possibly Gerard, Ester, Richard, Lewis, and Kitty Munroe. John Plater's reparations claim does not specify the exact relations between the Munroes, but they do seem to have been a family unit. A year later, another census in 1816 indicated that Lewis had an additional woman living under his care.3
The Munroes were joined in the Northwest Arm by the Coursey and Seale Families which 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.4
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.
4. Ibid.
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