Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/265

JAMES MONROE 215 the artillery corps, and served in the war with Algiers, in which he was wounded while directing part of the quarter-deck guns of the "Guerriere" in an action with the "Mashouda" off Cape de Gata, Spain. He was aide to Gen. Winfield Scott in 1817- 22, became 1st lieutenant of the 4th artillery on the reorganization of the army in 1821, and served on garrison and commissary duty till 1832, when he was again appointed Gen. Scott s aide on the Black Hawk expedition, but did not reach the seat of war, owing to illness. He re signed his commission on September 30, 1832, and entered politics, becoming an alderman of New York City in 1833, and president of the board in 1834. In 1836 he declined the appointment of aide to Gov. William L. Marcy. He was in congress in 1839- 41, and was chosen again in 1846, but his seat was contested, and congress ordered a new election, at which he refused to be a candidate. During the Mexican war he was active in urging the retention in command of Gen. Scott. In 1850- 2 he was in the New York legislature, and in 1852 was an earnest supporter of his old chief for the presidency. After the death of his wife in that year he retired from politics, and spent much of his time at the Union club, of which he was one of the earliest and most popular members. Just before the civil war he visited Richmond, and, by