The Battle of Monocacy

By Steve Bailey

In the American Civil War, rivers were impediments to troops moving over land, and bridges were often of strategic value. This is true of the three bridges spanning the Monocacy River, where a little-known but significant battle occurred in Frederick County, Maryland, in the summer of 1864. 

By then, Union General Ulysses S. Grant had pushed Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s army to Petersburg, Virginia, where it would hold out in trenches for nine months. The Union had an army in the Shenandoah Valley that would threaten Confederate supply lines and trap Lee’s army. He ordered Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early to remove those forces, move down (north) the valley, and attack Washington, D.C. 

Jubal Early had been with Lee’s army since the first major land battle at Manassas Junction, Virginia. West Point-trained, he joined the Confederate army in April 1861 and participated in several battles, including Gettysburg and The Wilderness. Early’s army succeeded in pushing Union troops out of the valley, and by early July, he was ready to move on Washington, D.C.

Major General Lewis Wallace commanded the Union’s VIII Corp, based in Baltimore. The corps was composed mostly of men with short enlistments and little combat experience. Like Early, Wallace had been in the war since April 1861. He had participated in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh in Tennessee. Wallace learned of the approaching Confederate army from John W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and since the VIII Corp’s primary responsibility was protecting that railroad, General Wallace acted. 

Of concern were the iron railroad bridge over the Monocacy River and two road bridges, one leading to Baltimore and the other a covered bridge with a road that led to the capital. The Confederate Army could use both of those, and the destruction of the railroad bridge would disrupt critical Union supply lines. Wallace immediately ordered two Maryland regiments to Monocacy Junction, then rode out to join them. The rest of his Corp followed. As Early closed in on Monocacy, Grant sent 3,400 men to bolster Wallace’s strength.

Still, Confederate forces outnumbered the Union troops positioned around the Monocacy bridges by more than two to one. Jubal Early had the advantage of numbers and some of the Confederates’ most experienced soldiers. Furthermore, he had artillery superiority. 

On July 9, 1864, the battle lasted over 10 hours, during which Confederates gained the advantage. Wallace ordered a retreat to Baltimore, but not before ordering the covered bridge burned to deny the Confederates access. 

At the Battle of Monocacy, Lewis Wallace delayed the Confederates long enough for reinforcements to arrive from Petersburg to bolster the capital’s defenses. For this reason, history refers to it as “The Battle that Saved Washington.” 

Lewis Wallace went on to serve on the commission for the trials of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. He presided over the first war crimes trial in American history: that of Henry Wirz, the Confederate commandant of the Andersonville prison camp. He wrote the bestselling novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. 

Jubal Early escaped to Cuba and then to Canada until President Andrew Johnson pardoned the former Confederates. He returned to his home in Lynchburg, where he promoted the Southern ideology of the lost cause and white supremacy until he died in 1894.

Today, Monocacy Battlefield is part of the National Park Service. It is open seven days a week from 7:30 a.m. to sunset and closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. It is about an hour from Baltimore. Visit https://www.nps.gov/mono/index.htm to learn more.

Steve Bailey grew up in the Panama Canal Zone, was educated in Minnesota, and taught middle school for thirty-two years in Virginia. He can be contacted at vamarcopolo.com.