Attachment_L_ElectricMapText_110723.doc

Attachment L_ElectricMapText_110723

BATTLE MAP NARRATIVE

It is July 1864, the fourth year of the Civil War, and the Northern grip has tightened on the Confederacy. General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia has been driven back to Petersburg, only 25 miles from the Confederate capital at Richmond. He is surrounded by hardened Union forces that outnumber him two to one, and bolstering the Federal ranks are men brought down from Washington. They have come from the ring of forts that surround the capital city, and their removal has left the Capital virtually defenseless. Washington has become a tempting target. General Lee ordered a Corps to secure the Shenandoah Valley and, if events allow it, cross the Potomac River, and threaten or capture Washington from the north. Verbal orders go to Lee’s boldest field commander, Confederate General Jubal Early, who secures the valley. While in route to Maryland Early receives orders to send a cavalry detachment to raid the Federal prison at Point Lookout, and free the thousands of Confederate prisoners held there. By the eighth of July, “Old Jube” and some 15,000 troops are massing on the outskirts of Frederick, Maryland. Ahead lays Monocacy Junction, and the road to Washington.

The summer has been a hot one along the Monocacy, but good for the crops. On the Thomas farm and around Worthington house the wheat is cut and the corn is waist high. Across the river, Best’s barn is already full of grain. It will soon be brought over to Gambrill’s mill. Two bridges cross the river at Monocacy Junction: The old covered bridge that carries the road to Washington, and the iron railroad bridge of the Baltimore and Ohio.

Last week, agents along this railroad were the first to report the advancing Confederates, and they carried the alarm to Baltimore, and the headquarters of Union General Lew Wallace. Most of the men he commands are home guards and 100-days men who have never seen battle. And now as night falls on the eve of battle, he moves the last of an improvised army into position – ten regiments of veterans who have arrived just in time to strengthen the home guard and increase the Union force to 5,800 troops. Most are formed in two lines, covering the bridge and the river south of it. Other regulars join Wallace’s men at the two block houses and in the nearby rifle pits that were put in place the year before to aid in the defense of the bridges. The defense line running northward is mostly home guards and 100-days men. Out in front of the junction is a line of skirmishers. The Federals have only a single battery of six cannons, along with the 24-pounder howitzer mounted near the blockhouse east of the railroad bridge. 4 AM … The last troops are in place and by now Wallace knows the odds are against him, but he’s made up his mind to fight. Hopeful to delay the enemy and give time for Union troops to reinforce Washington from Petersburg.

By early morning, farmers have sensed the immediate danger. The horses have been taken to hiding places at the mountain, cellars boarded up and families sent into hiding. It is none too soon. A line of Confederate skirmishers appear that will test the defense of the bridge. Behind them, in line of battle, is a full Confederate division supported by artillery. The fighting is soon fierce at the junction, but with the brass howitzer aiding them, the Union defenders hold their ground.

They countered the probing attacks so well that Confederate General Early abandons his attempts at a frontal assault. An alternate means is found when cavalry troops locate a crossing south of the junction. They will instead flank the enemy. Meanwhile Confederate sharpshooters are put in Best’s barn to pick away at the Federals, as more Confederate artillery is brought to bear. The Union gunners return fire, and set the barn ablaze. At Worthington ford the Confederates push through a few Union defenders, splash across the river, dismount, and form for attack. To meet the threat, the Union brigades shift to the left on the Thomas farm and a line of skirmishers are advanced to the wooden fence that separates the farms. They wait there, behind the fence, as the unsuspecting Confederates come quick-stepping through the cornfield. The skirmishers pour a withering fire into the rebel troops, shattering the first Confederate attack. To prevent an attack on their right flank Union troops torch the wooden bridge.

A lull then fell over the battlefield… time to treat the wounded at Gambrill’s mill, and wait, for another Confederate thrust. This time the cavalrymen attack on a broader front and feel for the Federal left flank. The lines close to pointblank range… fighting becomes hand to hand… the Federals are pushed back behind Thomas house… but reserves are rushed in too counter attack, and they overwhelm the Confederates driving them back a second time.

With little time to rest the Confederate main thrust came, a full division out of Frederick, crossing the river and forming up. The Confederate attack would be in three echelons: the first was to turn the Federal left flank… the second to smash through the middle of the line, and following it would be the third, sweeping up along the river to the bridges. The battle was brief and fierce, and hundreds fell in the assault… Thomas house was lost… as the Federal lines weakened and fell back. Across the river at the junction the Confederates drove through to the blockhouse, forcing the defenders into a desperate escape across the railroad bridge under fire. Outgunned and outnumbered the Federal forces fall back… as the Confederates keep coming like a sheet of flame… and then it was over, as the Federals retreat past Grambrill’s mill, north along the river, to Baltimore. They held as long as they could, and it was long enough. As darkness falls Jubal Early’s army encamps on the field, badly mauled, and too late to press on.

The Confederates finally reached Fort Stevens two days later, but by then Union troops had just arrived from Petersburg to stop them. Early and his army were forced to withdraw, ending the South’s last incursion into the north. While it is true that “The Battle of Monocacy” was a defeat for General Wallace and his men, it is true only in a limited sense. For by fighting for time, he would write later, “These men died to save the National Capital, and they did save it”.

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