Grace Munroe
She trusted the British so her family could be free.
Grace Munroe was enslaved by John Rousby Plater of Sotterley in St. Mary’s County. Grace was one of the total 49 enslaved individuals at Sotterley who escaped to British forces during the War of 1812. Grace and 43 others fled, boarding the H.M.S. Severn in July, 1814.
Plater listed Grace Munroe at 27 years old and as “a cook,” appraised at $400 in his claim for reparations following the war where only six of the 49 listed were given a title or occupation. Grace was one of two women given a title, the other was Tenny Merritt. Due to her skill and age she was the second highest valued woman listed by Plater.
Six other refugees who boarded the H.M.S. Severn also had the surname of Munroe. In 1815, Sotterley refugee Lewis Munroe received land from Henry H. Cogswell in Nova Scotia, Canada in the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbor. In an 1815 census taken of those who obtained land from Cogswell, Lewis, age 26, was listed having one woman and five children under his care, suggesting that the Munroes, including Grace, were a family unit. This assumption places Grace Munroe as having retained her freedom and settled in Nova Scotia with her family unit, following her participation in the largest emancipation in the United States until the Civil War.
Additional Resources
British Vice Admiral Cochrane’s Proclamation offering freedom.
Historic Sotterley, Maryland State Archives, Sotterley Plantation (Images of America) by Jeanne K. Pirtle Find Records (maryland.gov)
The Slaves’ Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812: Smith, Gene Allen, St. Martin’s Press, 2013. book.
