Monocacy National Battlefield - Overview

Monocacy National Battlefield – Fighting to Save Washington D.C. –



Most Americans reading this will remember will remember September 11th, 2001, when terrorists attacked New York City, The Pentagon (located in Virginia) and Washington DC, that last attack being soundly defeated by the courageous passengers of United Airlines Flight 93.

Many Americans familiar with Washington DC and the White House are also familiar with the fact that the President’s home was burned by the British Army during the War of 1812. Many other American public buildings were also put to the flame during the brief British occupation of the national capitol.

What many Americans will be surprised to learn was that there was another time that the Washington DC was put in immediate danger. The threat did not come from a foreign foe or murderous terrorists, but from people who had only a few years before, had considered themselves loyal Americans – Indeed, one of the men was himself a former Vice President of the United States!

During the Civil War, in 1864 a medium sized Confederate Army under the command of Gen. Jubal Early stealthily invaded Maryland, the third time in the Civil War a sizable Confederate force had been north of the Potomac River. Their mission was to attack the Union capital, and to perhaps free Confederate prisoners held in a Maryland prison camp.

Washington DC, having earlier been stripped of many of it’s defenses, was in great danger. The only thing that could keep this Confederate army from marching down Pennsylvania Avenue was a pick-up Union force of part-time soldiers, convalescents, and militia -- backed up by hastily brought up veteran forces.

Monocacy National Battlefield tells the tale of what historians call “The Battle That Saved Washington”.

Background

The Fortified City
In 1861, shortly after the Civil War began, Washington DC became the most heavily fortified and protected city on Earth. The district was ringed with fortresses in Maryland and those parts of Virginia that were near the Potomac coast. Each fort was manned with soldiers and artillery to guard the capital, the Congress and the President against Confederate attack.

The Siege of Petersburg
By early summer of 1864 the tide of war had turned heavily against the Confederates. The main Union army under generals Ulysses S Grant and George Gordon Meade (known as the Army of the Potomac) had advanced into Virginia. After a series of bloody battles this army had pinned the main Confederate army under general Robert E. Lee (known as the Army of Northern Virginia) against their capital city of Richmond and Richmond’s vital rail hub at Petersburg. A long, drawn out siege had begun, and this bode ill for the Confederates.

Supplies and reinforcements flowed into the besieging Union ranks every day – extra soldiers to replace casualties, all the bullets and gunpowder they needed, all the food they could eat. Grant, Meade and their men wanted for nothing at Petersburg.

Meanwhile the siege slowly but surely sapped the Confederate strength. They were losing soldiers they could not replace, and their supply lines lay vulnerable to ever-increasing Union pressure. It was only a matter of time before their railways and roads were closed off by fresh Union soldiers. When that time came, the Confederate army would surely collapse from hunger and lack of supply.

To make the most of his numerical superiority of manpower, Grant ordered that the Washington defenses be scaled down, and most these soldiers be reassigned. Man of them had done nothing for the entire war except guard a city that had not yet come under attack. Grant insisted that they should take part in invading Virginia and bringing Lee’s army to bay. This produced a considerable boost in the numbers of Grant’s Army, but left Washington DC a tempting target for a possible Confederate raid.

Union Morale- 1864
Despite the fact that the military advantage clearly lay with the Federals, the political and civilian situation in 1864 was not as encouraging. Civilian dissatisfaction with the war- and with President Abraham Lincoln’s handling of it - was at an all time high.

Northern citizens had been horrified for the last three years at the casualty lists that were reported in the newspapers after each battle. Grant’s recent “successes” (actually bloody defeats and stalemates that Grant had refused to retreat from) had only stepped up the pace of the body counting. In pushing Lee back to the gates of Richmond and Petersburg, he had lost more men then any Union general ever had. The siege at Petersburg was costing men daily, and although the Confederate side - though no doubt in dire straits, was showing no signs of imminent collapse. There was no close end in sight. Was the war-weary Northern population really supposed to call this “success”?

The people of the North would have a chance to call President Lincoln to account in November. 1864 was a presidential election year, and Lincoln would have to do what no freely elected chief executive had done before- run for reelection in the middle of a civil war. With no clear-cut victories in Virginia to boast of, Lincoln’s chances of re-election looked bleak. It was possible, even likely, that Lincoln could be voted out of office and replaced with another President, possibly a man who would be willing to end the Civil War by granting the South independence!

Northern frustration with the war effort was well known in the south. Perhaps, reasoned some Confederate generals, one more Union setback would aggravate Northern disaffection to the point where they voted out president Lincoln, perhaps forcing the Federal government to sue for peace.

The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864
A series of see-saw moves and countermoves by small Union and Confederate forces had been occurring in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1864. This long, fertile valley in Western Virginia had long been a source of food for the hungry Confederate army. By late May of 1864, a Union push in the Valley had practically cleared it of Confederates.

General Robert E. Lee responded by sending a third of his Army into the Valley under one of his hardest fighting generals, Maj. Gen Jubal Early. These battle-tough veterans succeeded in clearing out the Union forces there, and pushing them to the west, into the Appalachian Mountains. The entire Valley, from Lexington to Harper’s Ferry lay open to Confederate Forces. Harpers Ferry is only about 120 miles away from Washington DC.

Protecting Washington DC
By the end of June 1864, Early’s Confederates had the run of the Shenandoah, and were approaching Maryland. On July 6th, they crossed into the Old Line State, Confederate forces invading Northern territory for the 3rd time in the war.

That same day, Union General Grant dispatched a division of his own veterans from Virginia to defend Washington. These soldiers would have to take a 2-day journey to arrive in DC in time. In the meantime, the general responsible for defending Washington and Baltimore, Major Gen Lew Wallace would have to rely on what soldiers he had.

What Wallace had was a pickup force of militia and home guardsmen – a motley crew of citizens mustered into service for an extreme emergency like this. They numbered a pathetic 2,500 inexperienced men - a feeble match for Early’s 14,000 battle toughened veterans. This scratch Union force set up defensive positions near Frederick, Maryland along the Monocacy River.

The Union picture brightened somewhat when the division of veteran regulars under Gen James Ricketts began arriving on July 8th. Not only did this bring the Yankee rifle count to a total of 5,800, but these men brought the glad tidings that thousands more Union soldiers were shipping North from Virginia to DC. They would arrive in the capital in about three days. Monocacy was a two-day march from the capital.

Wallace’s goal now was not to defeat the Confederate force, but to delay them for a mere day, or even half day. The mission of his troops would be to by time to defend Washington.

The Battle of Monocacy
As the dawn broke on July 9th, 1864 Confederate General Early knew that he had little time to waste if he was going to move on Washington, but there was no way to avoid Wallace’s little army. If he wanted to cross Monocacy River, he would have to fight.

The Confederates at first tried to force the bridge over the Georgetown Pike (the road to Washington) with a thrust south. Stiff resistance by Union sharpshooters convinced Early that the direct way would cost too many men … men Early could not afford to loose, and men he would need in good shape for the attack on Washington.

As precious minutes and hours ticked by, Early searched for another way to cross the river. He found a ford (a shallow, slow and flat place in the river bed) around 10:00.

First a scouting party of cavalry forded the river and tried to strike at the Union flank. Union general Ricketts countered by sending in his most experienced soldiers. The Confederates, thinking they were only up against untried militia ran headlong into the lethal fire of Union veterans, and tumbled back to the river. A second attack at 2:00pm fared little better.

Early, by now having burned most of a precious day, sent a division of infantry against the stubborn Union line. This finally dislodged Wallace’s men. The Union forces retreated to Baltimore, leaving behind 1300 casualties.

The Confederates had lost 900 casualties, but worse, they had lost time. The road to Washington was now open … but for how much longer?

Nick of Time
Early’s men resumed their thrust towards Washington on July 10th, and they arrived at the outskirts of the District of Columbia in the late afternoon of July 11th. They were tired, sleep deprived, and strung out along a the road, arriving in segments- in no shape to fight right away. Early had no choice but to let them rest and regroup for any attack on DC.

At that very instant, steamships were puffing into the Washington docks along the Potomac River. Gangplanks slammed down to the wharves and piers, and thousands of veteran Union soldiers disembarked. With flags waving, and drums clattering they poured through the streets of the capital city at the double-quick to meet Early’s men.

By the time the Confederate forces were mustered for a fight, they were outnumbered, and the forts around Washington were stuffed with Union troops. It was hopeless. There would be no attack on DC. Early fired a few defiant shots from his cannons, and then slipped away.

The Battle That Saved Washington
The Battle of Monocacy was a Confederate victory, to be sure. Wallace’s outnumbered Union force was compelled to retreat. The stubborn Union defense, however had robbed Early of a chance to capture the Capital city, and possibly inflict a devastating blow to Union morale. Wallace himself paid tribute to his soldiers who had fallen along the banks of the Monocacy River, saying of them “These men died to save the National Capital. And they did save it”.