Robert Munford III (1737-1783) was an American playwright, civic leader and soldier, having served under Colonel

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

and later serving in the Revolutionary War. Munford was the son of Robert Munford II and his wife Anna Beverley Munford. Munford hailed from Mecklenburg County, Virginia where he was an influential land owner and served on the first county government which formed there in 1765. He is best known, however, for his literary works as he is regarded to be the author of the first comedic plays written in America, '' The Candidates'' (ca. 1770) and '' The Patriots'' (ca. 1777). He also wrote a handful of poems, and left at his death an incomplete translation of the ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'' of

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

. No record survives of any public performance of either play, although it is possible that they may have been shown privately. Munford is currently buried near the site of his homestead, most of which currently rests below John H. Kerr Reservoir near

Boydton, Virginia Boydton is a town in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 431 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, and it is near Kerr Lake. Geography Boydton is located at (36.667997, −78.389001) ...

. His gravestone can be viewed along the Robert Munford Hiking Trail, which is owned and managed by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

. One of Munford's poems was published in 1779, but much of his work remained unseen by the public before his death. In 1798 his son published a volume containing both plays, a handful of poems, and the first book of ''Metamorphoses''.

References

External links

''A Collection of Plays and Poems, by the Late Col. Robert Munford, of Mecklenburg County, in the State of Virginia. Now First Published Together: Electronic Edition''
at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

1737 births 18th-century American dramatists and playwrights People of Virginia in the French and Indian War People of Virginia in the American Revolution Beverley family of Virginia People from Mecklenburg County, Virginia Virginia colonial people 1783 deaths American male dramatists and playwrights American male poets 18th-century American poets 18th-century American male writers Poets from Virginia {{US-dramatist-stub