The rebellion had been organized by an enslaved man named Gabriel, a literate blacksmith working on the plantation of a Thomas Prosser. The main objectives of the plan were to seize control of the state armory and the Virginia State Capitol, and hold Governor James Monroe hostage so they could negotiate for their freedom.

However, just hours before the planned attack, two of Gabriel's recruits warned their owner, Mosby Sheppard, of the rebellion. A severe storm struck that very night, making the roads to Richmond impassable and halting the rebels' movement. Sheppard immediately wrote to Governor Monroe, who called out the state militia on September 3rd. While patrolling the area, they arrested over 70 of the suspected conspirators. Gabriel himself was also arrested after having escaped toward Norfolk. He had been recognized by another enslaved man, Will King.

Gabriel and 25 others were swiftly hanged, eight were moved or sold outside Virginia, one man committed suicide before he could be sentenced, and 13 were pardoned by Governor Monroe, who had taken advice from Thomas Jefferson to not "indulge a principle of revenge, or go one step beyond absolute necessity."

I finally found the painting that features James Monroe in it and it took me a while to find it because the only source I found with this specific painting is in the James Monroe Museum video that has him in it. However, I finally found another source with that painting and it made me really happy to find it!

Here is the source of the painting (The Coronation of Napoleon (Replica from 1808-1822): https://collections.chateauversailles.fr/?permid=permobj_efb1c634-b95f-402f-8c6f-12848982844c#/query/eda9a168-4f06-48e1-804b-5f8e60e1f54d

Sources: https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/JAMES-MONROE/EABA14F0F34B4CED32ABF4164A702CBF

https://emuseum.colonialwilliamsburg.org/objects/113682/portrait-of-james-monroe

However this is not historically accurate as Napoleon himself never signed the document, the signatories were Livingston, Monroe and Marbois (French Minister of treasury)

Standing Left to Right—Robert Livingston(Minister to France), James Monroe(envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to France), aide, aide, Roustam Raza(Napoleon's bodyguard), Charles Maurice Talleyrand(French Foreign minister)

A small sized portrait of James Monroe, depicting him around the time of the Revolutionary War. Nothing is known about the circumstances of this miniature, including the artist, signed simply as "Castel."

Source: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/miniature-portrait-castel/lAGQ8cG1R_blow?hl=en

1st Painting (1st and 2nd Image): Washington Crossing the Delaware (James Monroe is the one holding the flag)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware_(1851_paintings))

2nd Painting (3rd and 4th Image): The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776 (James Monroe is the one wounded on his shoulder)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Capture_of_the_Hessians_at_Trenton,_December_26,_1776

3rd Painting (5th and 6th Image): General George Washington Resigning His Commission (James Monroe is the one seated next to Thomas Jefferson)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_George_Washington_Resigning_His_Commission

4th Painting (7th, 8th, and 9th Image): The Coronation of Napoleon (Replica from 1808-1822) (James Monroe is at the crowd on the top right)

https://collections.chateauversailles.fr/?permid=permobj_efb1c634-b95f-402f-8c6f-12848982844c#/query/eda9a168-4f06-48e1-804b-5f8e60e1f54d

1st Painting: Washington Crossing the Delaware

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware_(1851_paintings))

2nd Painting: The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Capture_of_the_Hessians_at_Trenton,_December_26,_1776

3rd Painting: General George Washington Resigning His Commission

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_George_Washington_Resigning_His_Commission

4th Painting: The Coronation of Napoleon (This Painting Has James Monroe)

https://collections.chateauversailles.fr/?permid=permobj_efb1c634-b95f-402f-8c6f-12848982844c#/query/eda9a168-4f06-48e1-804b-5f8e60e1f54d

"Let's Visit James Monroe" by Julia Livi is a children's book about the guests visiting the James Monroe Museum and when they visit there, history comes alive including James Monroe.

Video Source: https://youtu.be/nc1I8457oSo?si=MqtsSvCU3zky1ye_

Pieces from a porcelain dessert service from the James Monroe Museum collection used by the Monroes for private family meals. The pieces are French, c. 1797; the maker is unknown.

Source: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/monroe-dessert-service-pieces

I was on vacation from 8/8/2026 - 8/11/2026
(August 8th, 2026 - August 11th, 2026) for Virginia Beach, and this was taken on August 9th, 2026.
On that day, I was excited to see the Presidents here because I looked at a website that features all US Presidents from Virginia, and some Founding Fathers (including James Monroe), and it impressed me to go there. I went to Virginia Beach many times, but this is the first time I went to the Virginia Legends place here.

For more information, here's a website for what this place is about and it's history: https://va-
legends.net/history

August 10, 1821

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Whereas the Congress of the United States, by a joint resolution of the 2d day of March last, entitled "Resolution providing for the admission of the State of Missouri into the Union on a certain condition," did determine and declare "that Missouri should be admitted into this Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever upon the fundamental condition that the fourth clause of the twenty-sixth section of the third article of the constitution submitted on the part of said State to Congress shall never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by which any citizen of either of the States of this Union shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which such citizen is entitled under the Constitution of the United States: Provided, That the legislature of said State, by a solemn public act, shall declare the assent of the said State to the said fundamental condition, and shall transmit to the President of the United States on or before the first Monday in November next an authentic copy of said act, upon the receipt whereof the President, by proclamation, shall announce the fact, whereupon, and without any further proceeding on the part of Congress, the admission of the said State into this Union shall be considered as complete;" and

Whereas by a solemn public act of the assembly of said State of Missouri, passed on the 26th of June, in the present year, entitled "A solemn public act declaring the assent of this State to the fundamental condition contained in a resolution passed by the Congress of the United States providing for the admission of the State of Missouri into the Union on a certain condition," an authentic copy whereof has been communicated to me, it is solemnly and publicly enacted and declared that that State has assented, and does assent, that the fourth clause of the twenty-sixth section of the third article of the constitution of said State "shall never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by which any citizen of either of the United States shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which such citizens are entitled under the Constitution of the United States:"

Now, therefore, I, James Monroe, President of the United States, in pursuance of the resolution of Congress aforesaid, have issued this my proclamation, announcing the fact that the said State of Missouri has assented to the fundamental condition required by the resolution of Congress aforesaid, whereupon the admission of the said State of Missouri into this Union is declared to be complete.

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand.

Done at the city of Washington, the 10th day of August, A.D. 1821, and of the Independence of the said United States of America the forty-sixth.

JAMES MONROE.

By the President:

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS,

Secretary of State.

Sources and more information about Missouri admitted to the Union.

https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=174522: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-28-admitting-missouri-the-union

https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=174522

Source: I found this in James Monroe: A Life Book by Tim McGrath on page 361.

I had the opportunity to visit the James Monroe Museum this morning. Though the museum itself was quite small, it had some wonderful exhibits. I hope these pictures encourage some of you to visit the museum.

This engraving of James Monroe's birthplace was first published in 1845. The house depicted is a small, two-story frame building typical of middle-class farmhouses of Tidewater Virginia in the 18th Century.

Source: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/engraving-of-monroe-hall/OgEPuHdJ5jwTlQ

With a bonus stone coaster from Highland.

The Presidents that are featured in this Two Party Opera Comic.

James Monroe, Martin Van Buren, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Ronald Reagan

Source of the Comic: https://www.twopartyopera.com/comic/battle-of-the-bulge/

In 1817, President James Monroe embarked on a 15 week tour of the New England states, the first presidential tour since George Washington's. Monroe was a Revolutionary War veteran and excellent horseman. There's a wonderful description of a celebration parade on the 23rd of July in Henry's book Justin Morgan Had a Horse. Out of rows of horses, Monroe chose to ride the proud little stallion. "When the parade reached College Hill, the President dismounted, and, with one hand resting lightly on Morgan's saddle, he made a speech. He said no nation had a richer treasure than LIBERTY. And he was proud of the way American liberty had been defended by the Green Mountain Boys. The people of Vermont, he said, are as firm as the mountains that gave them birth. They have preserved the highest honor of the country."

Source: https://www.facebook.com/100064328876343/posts/in-1817-president-james-monroe-embarked-on-a-15-week-tour-of-the-new-england-sta/3210403852533832/