Editor of THE TIMES BOOK REVIEW:
    My two sisters and I are James Monroe's nearest living descendants, and as a family group we are unwilling to allow any cloud to rest on his memory. He has been dead ninety-two years, and we feel that he has earned the peaceful repose of his quiet sleep under the superb tomb in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va., erected by his native State as a tribute of gratitude. James Monroe cannot defend himself, and I feel it absolutely my duty to vindicate his memory.
    In an article published in THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW of Feb. 4, 1923, copied from The Ladies' Home Journal, written by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, an anecdote is given in regard to James Monroe jilting during the Revolution a Miss Nannie Brown, a member of the household of Lord Sterling. Mrs. Van Rensselaer states that after the Battle of Trenton, where Monroe was severely wounded, "he was taken to the house of Lord Sterling and nursed back to health by Lady Sterling and Miss Brown." As the Van Rensselaer story reads, it was during his convalescence that an attachment was formed between the young soldier and the young woman mentioned, and later, "without rhyme or reason," he jilted her.
    I chance to have in my possession a letter written by James Monroe during the latter period of his life, which gives an account of his movements after he was wounded at Trenton. It reads as follows:

    The command fell on me, and soon afterward I was shot thro' the shoulder by a ball which grazed my breast. I was carried by two or three soldiers, for I fell, to the room where Captain Washington was under the care of two surgeons, by whom my wound was likewise dressed. I was removed that night to Mr. Corryell's, where I remained ten days, kindly treated, when I was removed to Mr. Wyncoop's, where I remained for nine weeks.

    It was Judge Wynkoop's fair daughter, Christine, and not Nannie Brown, who won Monroe's heart through his long convalescence, but she was already pledged to another and was obliged to reject the young Virginian.
    Mrs. Van Rensselaer also gives an anecdote in regard to Mrs. Alexander Hamilton snubbing Monroe when he was President by saying: "I do not care to know a President of the United States who jilted my friend, Miss Nannie Brown." It is of decided interest to note that this same story can be found in the "Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton," pp 116, 117, by Alexander McLane Hamilton. But in this book the anecdote mentioned does not refer to Nannie Brown, but to the Reynolds incident, a well-known affair in the life of Alexander Hamilton.
    Mrs. Van Rensselaer speaks of James Monroe as an "obscure Virginian." As to the obscurity of my illustrious ancestor's origin, I take pride in stating that I was admitted to the Society of Colonial Dames of America, a society which I am told that Mrs. Van Rensselaer claims to have formed, upon the services of Andrew Monroe 2d (James Monroe's great-grandfather), his father, Spence Monroe, and President Monroe's own services in Continental days.
                                 ROSE GOUVERNEUR HOES.
    Washington, D. C.

Source:

Hoes, Rose Gouverneur, "Concerning James Monroe," The New York Times, New York, Sunday, 25 March 1923, p. BR24.