July 9, 1864---The Battle of Monocacy Junction, Maryland

JULY 9, 1864:             

The Battle of Monocacy (The Battle of Monocacy Junction).  General Jubal Early C.S.A. and his troops, numbering between 12,000-15,000 approach Monocacy Junction. Facing them is a scratch force of less than 6,000 Union troops, hurriedly organized by General Lew Wallace U.S.A.. Some of the Union men are exhausted; they have been in combat with Jubal Early nearly every day this week. Others are green garrison troops.

Even as Wallace’s troops face Early’s, Washington is in a flap: No one knows quite what is going on. President Lincoln is wiring the President of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for more up-to-date information than his own advisors can give him. Someone (probably Edwin Stanton) has ordered a gunboat in the Potomac to keep up steam in the event that the First Family and the Cabinet must be evacuated. This harks back to an order given in the dark and confused days of April 1861. When the famously even-tempered President hears of the plan, he famously loses his temper. Rounding on his Cabinet, he asks acidly just what it is those distinguished gentlemen have been doing for the last three years?

The word going ‘round is that General David Hunter is in position to swoop down on Early (in fact, he is 300 miles away in Parkersburg, West Virginia resting his troops worn out by quick marching nearly to Ohio). No one quite knows where Early is, nor even that there is a battle going on for certain at Monocacy, though the boom of artillery can be heard in D.C.

The Rebels cross the Monocacy River not far from Frederick, Maryland. Three waves of attackers try to force the Union lines. Two are beaten back with heavy losses on both sides. In the third wave, the Union center and right flank fall back. This leaves the left flank “hanging in the air.” It is picked apart by Confederates, and the uninjured begin to retreat toward Baltimore.

The Union takes 1,294 casualties out of 5,800 men. The Confederates suffer only 800 casualties out of 14,000 men. General Lew Wallace, the future author of Ben-Hur, is temporarily relieved of duty when the first reports trickle in, but General Grant almost immediately reverses himself when he grasps the gestalt of the battle.  

Monocacy is a Confederate victory, the northernmost of the entire war, but a pyrrhic one as things transpire. Although it is a Union defeat, the tough, the tired, and the inexperienced in Lew Wallace’s ragtag force have succeeded in holding Jubal Early at bay for an entire, very long and critical, day. This delay permits Union siege troops from Petersburg to reach Washington, D.C. and fully man the capital’s immensely strong defenses. Due to the blood shed by Lew Wallace and his men, Early will never be able to take Washington D.C.

Jubal Early later wrote:

Some of the Northern papers stated that, between Saturday and Monday, I could have entered the city; but on Saturday I was fighting at Monocacy, thirty-five miles from Washington, a force which I could not leave in my rear; and after disposing of that force and moving as rapidly as it was possible for me to move, I did not arrive in front of the fortifications until after noon on Monday, and then my troops were exhausted . . .”

General Grant wrote of Monocacy:

If Early had been but one day earlier, he might have entered the capital before the arrival of the reinforcements I had sent . . . General Wallace contributed on this occasion by the defeat of the troops under him, a greater benefit to the cause than often falls to the lot of a commander of an equal force to render by means of a victory.  

July 8, 1864---"Lookit what them Yankees is doin’! What sort a critters be they anyway?”

JULY 8, 1864:              

Skirmishes erupt all around central Maryland as Jubal Early’s forces continue to move northward toward the District of Columbia. Minor engagements are fought at Antietam, near Frederick, and near Sandy Hook. Although the Confederates take losses they continue to move toward Washington. 

Washington D.C. is a fortress, but a thinly-manned one. Most of the garrison troops have recently been pulled out of position to fight in the Overland Campaign, or even more recently, been sent to Petersburg to invest that Confederate city. It is a calculated risk, but General Grant feels a justifiable one, given that the Union is on Richmond’s doorstep. Now Grant must rush troops back to his own doorstep.

General David Hunter U.S.A.’s decision to flee away from the Eastern Theatre when threatened by Early in the Shenandoah Valley on June 13th is having unforeseen consequences. The Valley might as well have been a modern interstate, and the small battles in Maryland, defeats or not, may have delayed but have not disheartened the Confederates in their move on the U.S. capital. 

Jubal Early, their commander, is a mulish man, a trait he showed even as a young cadet at West Point when Lewis “Lo” Armistead (later a C.S. General killed at Gettysburg) broke a plate over Early’s head in an argument. According to witnesses, this did not even distract Early. And although he lacks any of Robert E. Lee’s panache, Early was, like Lee, deeply conflicted by secession but a proud Virginian. He was an effective, if stubborn, leader of men.   If the Union was expecting Early to break off and return to Virginia, they badly misread their man.

Union forces in Georgia ford the Chattahoochee River and flank Joseph E. Johnston’s positions.  Some of the Union troopers strip naked in an effort to keep their clothing dry, and capture several surprised Confederate pickets that way, clad in nothing but their rifles. Others discover that the Spencer repeating carbine can be fired underwater; they shoot as they swim submerged. Although nobody is hit, several amazed Confederates surrender to the armed mermen: “Lookit what them Yankees is doin’! What sort a critters be they anyway?”

July 7, 1864---The Battle of West Frederick, Maryland

JULY 7, 1864: 

The Battle of West Frederick. This little-known battle took place on farmland just west of Frederick, Maryland (today within the city limits). Union troops drove off part of Jubal Early’s force slated to occupy the city of Frederick. Had the Confederates been able to take Frederick this day, they could have built up a reserve force large enough to tip the balance and overrun the Union troops engaged in the upcoming Battle of Monocacy. It is said that the residents of Frederick sat on their rooftops for a good view of the battle.

The Battle of Braddock’s Gap. Nearby to West Frederick, other Union forces move quickly over Catoctin Mountain, blocking the Confederate advance. After four hours, the stymied Confederates withdraw, moving toward South Mountain and, again, away from Frederick. 

President Lincoln issues Proclamation 114, announcing a “day for humiliation and prayer by the people of the United States.” He asks: 

 . . . his constitutional advisers at the head of the Executive Departments to unite with him as Chief Magistrate of the nation, at the city of Washington, and the members of Congress, and all magistrates, all civil, military, and naval officers, all soldiers, sailors, and marines, with all loyal and law-abiding people, to convene at their usual places of worship, or wherever they may be, to confess and to repent of their manifold sins; to implore the compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty, that, if consistent with His will, the existing rebellion may be speedily suppressed and the supremacy of the Constitution and taws of the United States may be established throughout all the States; to implore Him, as the Supreme Ruler of the World, not to destroy us as a people, nor suffer us to be destroyed by the hostility or connivance of other nations or by obstinate adhesion to our own counsels, which may be in conflict with His eternal purposes, and to implore Him to enlighten the mind of the nation to know and do His will, humbly believing that it is in accordance with His will that our place should be maintained as a united people among the family of nations; to implore Him to grant to our armed defenders and the masses of the people that courage, power of resistance, and endurance necessary to secure that result; to implore Him in His infinite goodness to soften the hearts, enlighten the minds. and quicken the consciences of those in rebellion, that they may lay down their arms and speedily return to their allegiance to the United States, that they may not be utterly destroyed, that the effusion of blood may be stayed, and that unity and fraternity may be restored and peace established throughout all our borders . . .

July 6, 1864---"On to Washington City!"

JULY 6, 1864:            

After couping $20,000 from Hagerstown, Maryland, Jubal Early C.S.A.’s forces turn toward Washington D.C. 

Further east, in Virginia, Colonel John Singleton Mosby and his Rangers raid the town of Aldie, after attacking Point o’ Rocks, Maryland earlier in the day. The Union forces facing Mosby take relatively heavy casualties, with 12 dead, 37 wounded and 57 captured. Mosby’s Rangers suffer one man killed.

The Battle of Benton: In Arkansas, Union troops raid a gathering Confederate force near the town of Benton. 

July 5, 1864---Greeley Grimly Greets His Guests; Early Holds Hagerstown Hostage

JULY 5, 1864:              

W.C. Jewett, a Southern “Peace Commissioner” operating out of Canada, contacts the eminent Republican publisher Horace Greeley with an offer to meet with President Lincoln to discuss peace terms. Greeley, who, after Cold Harbor, has become convinced that the Union cause has become hopeless, has been secretly working with “Peace Democrats,” and immediately writes Lincoln a fulsome letter about these peace talks, enclosing his own suggested peace terms. Lincoln’s own sources tell him that Jewett is the leader of a group of Southern agitators promoting anti-war sentiment in the North, but Lincoln agrees to talks based upon two non-negotiable points: (1) Restoration of the Union; and (2) Emancipation. The South rejects Lincoln’s terms.  

Jubal Early C.S.A.’s cavalry enters Hagerstown, Maryland. Early threatens to sack the town if he does not receive $250,000 from the city fathers as compensation for damages in the Shenandoah Valley. The city quickly raises $20,000, which Early accepts.