Park Archives: Monocacy National Battlefield

Monocacy National Battlefield preserves the site of a Civil War battle, July 9, 1864, south of Frederick, MD, during the third and final Confederate invasion of the North. The Battle of Monocacy is less famous and smaller in scale than the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg—during the first and second invasions—but it also proved crucial. The Battle of Monocacy delayed Confederate forces sent to capture the Nation's Capital and ultimately forced them to withdraw to Virginia.

By mid-I864 the tide of war had turned against the Confederacy. In the West its army was being beaten back toward Atlanta, GA. In the East, Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was forced to establish battle lines around Richmond and Petersburg, VA. To bolster Union forces besieging the cities, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant removed thousands of troops from the defensive ring of forts around Washington, DC, leaving the city lightly defended and a tempting target.

To relieve pressure on his beleaguered army, Lee sent 15,000 troops under Lt. Gen. Jubal Early to secure the Shenandoah Valley and then invade Maryland. Lee hoped to force Grant to divert troops to protect the North by threatening—and possibly capturing—Washington. Early headed west to the Shenandoah Valley, then swept north into Maryland. His goal was to threaten or capture the Nation's Capital. Lee also hoped that this third invasion of the war-weary North would further erode public support for the war there.

Early's army reached Harpers Ferry, WV, on July 4. Crossing the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, MD, they headed east toward Frederick and the road to Washington. Seeing their movements, railroad agents alerted Baltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett, who notified Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace, the Union commander in Baltimore. Wallace quickly assembled 3,200 troops, mostly new or short-term recruits without experience.

Unsure of Early's strength or whether the Confederates were headed to Baltimore or Washington, Wallace rushed his troops by railroad to Monocacy Junction, an important trade and transportation center. There, the Georgetown Pike to Washington and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crossed the Monocacy, as did the nearby National Road to Baltimore. Guarding the three bridges and several fords, Wallace hoped to delay Early until Washington could be reinforced.

By dawn on July 9, the last of the 3,400 Union veterans that Grant had sent reached Monocacy Junction, more than doubling Wallace's force to 6,600. Early's army—in Frederick now—still outnumbered Wallace more than two to one, although Early had sent some cavalry to raid the Union prison at Point Lookout and free the thousands of Confederates held there.

Wallace determined that Early was headed toward Washington. He concentrated his veterans on the east side of the river at Monocacy Junction, where the road to Washington crossed. He also placed a line of skirmishers along the railroad tracks on the west side. On the morning of July 9, advancing Confederates attacked Union troops defending the Monocacy River bridges.

The Confederates brought up artillery and heavy fighting ensued around the Best Farm as they tested the Union defense. Early decided a direct frontal assault would be too costly. Instead, his cavalry found a place downstream to ford the river and attack the Union left flank. Alerted to the movement, Wallace shifted troops onto the Thomas Farm to meet the assault.

Early's cavalry crossed the river at the Worthington Ford, dismounted, formed ranks, and advanced across the Worthington Farm fields. Instead of springing a surprise attack, they marched into a line of soldiers concealed along a fence on the Thomas Farm. Union rifle fire raked the Confederates, forcing them to fall back. Meanwhile, Wallace ordered his men to

Meanwhile, Wallace ordered his men to burn the wooden covered bridge on the Georgetown Pike to keep Confederates on his right from storming across the river. By doing so, he also cut off the best route of retreat for his skirmishers, still stubbornly holding their ground near the junction. Wallace bolstered his left flank and shifted more troops to the Thomas Farm, preparing for a second Confederate assault.

A mid-afternoon Confederate cavalry attack pushed the Union soldiers back and captured the Thomas House. Then a Union counterattack recaptured the house. On the Worthington Farm, a full Confederate division forded the river in late afternoon and launched a three-pronged assault against the Union line.

The day's heaviest fighting raged across the wheat and corn fields of the Thomas Farm, as the Confederates again pushed the Union soldiers back. At the junction they also dislodged the Union skirmishers and forced them to flee under fire across the railroad bridge.

Wallace could hold his position no longer. He ordered what was left of his small army to fall back past Gambrill Mill and retreat toward Baltimore. He left behind some 1,300 men—dead, wounded, missing, or captured.

The exhausted Confederates encamped on the battlefield that night before resuming their march toward Washington. The battle had cost them as many as 900 men killed, wounded, missing, or captured, as well as a precious day of time. On July 11, two days after the Battle of Monocacy, Early's army reached Fort Stevens in northwest Washington. By the time his army arrived, the two divisions Grant rushed to Washington from Petersburg were moving into Fort Stevens and other city defenses.

Early's and Grant's troops battled on July 12, with President Lincoln watching the action, but any opportunity to capture the city had been lost. The Confederate cavalry sent to liberate prisoners at Point Lookout was recalled before they could reach their destination, and on July 12, under the cover of darkness, Early started to withdraw his army back into Virginia, ending the last Confederate invasion of the North.

At Monocacy, Wallace's small improvised army had held its ground against repeated assaults by a much larger; battle-hardened Confederate force, delaying their advance for one critical day. His troops had lost the battle, but they had saved Washington.

Two Other Significant Civil War Events took place on the Monocacy battlefield before and after the battle:

On September 13, 1862, Union soldiers made a surprising find—they discovered an envelope containing two cigars and a copy of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Special Orders No. 191. The orders, detailing movements of the Confederate army September 1O-12, were written a few days before as the army was camped at the Best Farm. This information enabled Union Gen. George B. McClellan to determine Lee's movements and intentions, and to move his army quicker and with more confidence. His clash with Lee at Antietam on September 17, the bloodiest day of the war, ended in a draw—a missed opportunity to destroy the Confederate army. A historical marker on the Monocacy battlefield identifies Lee's headquarters site where Special Orders No. 191 was prepared.

On August 5, 1864, Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant met with several of his generals in an upper room at the Thomas House (known as "Araby") to devise a plan to drive Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's army from the Shenandoah Valley and then systematically lay waste to this "breadbasket of the Confederacy," therefore denying Lee's army a dependable source of food and forage. The next day he placed Gen. Philip Sheridan in command of the Union army in the Valley. Sheridan's assignment: destroy Early's forces and render the Valley so desolate that "even a crow flying over the place would have to take his rations with him."

The self-guiding auto tour begins at the visitor center and covers about six miles.

Best Farm
Turn left on 535 and take the first right.
As Early's troops advanced south toward Washington on the morning of July 9, 1864, along the Georgetown Pike (now MD 355). they met stiff resistance from Union skirmishers waiting along the railroad at Monocacy Junction a half mile away. The Confederates set up artillery at the Best Farm and opened fire on the junction. Union artillery across the river responded, eventually igniting a fire in the Best barn.

Monocacy Junction
Turn right on 355 and take the first right.
About 350 soldiers guarded Monocacy Junction, where two B&O Railroad tracks converged and an iron railroad bridge and wooden covered bridge crossed the Monocacy River. As the battle unfolded, these skirmishers faced the main Confederate line. The main Union line lay across the river behind them.

Early decided to redirect his attack downstream rather than risk a direct frontal assault against the well-positioned Federals. Later in the morning, Wallace shifted most of his force to the left to counter that move and ordered the wooden covered bridge burned in case the Confederates broke through the skirmish line. Although the burning bridge cut off their best avenue of retreat, the Union skirmishers held their ground throughout the day. They repulsed a second attack before a third and final assault forced them to flee across the open trestles of the railroad bridge.

Worthington Farm
Turn right on 355 and take the first right on Araby Church Rd. Turn right on Baker Valley Rd. and proceed under the I-270 overpass and make an immediate right on the Worthington Farm lane.
Confederate cavalry crossed the Monocacy in mid-morning at the Worthington Ford, then dismounted and formed for attack on the fields behind the Worthington House. As they marched toward the Thomas Farm, they ran into a well-concealed Union line positioned behind a fence on the Thomas Farm. The Federals opened fire, driving the Confederates back. The Confederates launched a second attack and took the Thomas House. The outflanked Federals fell back, attacked, and drove the Confederates back to the Worthington Farm. The Worthington House and yard were used as a field hospital.

Thomas Farm
Turn left on Baker Valley Rd. and take the first left.
Caught between the two armies, the Thomas House became the focal point of the battle, as Confederates on the Worthington Farm and Federals on the Thomas Farm faced off in the most furious fighting of the day. Confederate artillery pummeled the house with shells to drive off the Union sharpshooters. Throughout the afternoon, the house was captured and recaptured as the battle line moved back and forth across the Thomas Farm.

Late in the day, a division of Confederate infantry, supported by a battery of artillery at the Worthington House, attacked and drove the Federals from the field. Wallace's force fell back past Gambrill Mill and retreated toward Baltimore. The Confederates had won the battle, but they had lost a precious day in their advance on Washington.

Gambrill Mill
Turn left on Baker Valley Rd. then left on Araby Church Rd. At the stop sign proceed straight across 355.
Built in 1830, Gambrill Mill was run by an interior undershot water wheel. The mill could produce 60 barrels of flour a day and kept two coopers busy producing barrels for its products. During the battle Union troops used the mill as a field hospital. Wallace later noted, "The place appeared well selected for the purpose, its one inconvenience being that it was under fire."

Hours and Admission
The battlefield is open from 7 a.m. to 20 minutes after sunset. The visitor center is open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; closed on Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1. Admission is free.

Visitor Center
The visitor center offers an information desk, interpretive exhibits, and museum store. It is wheelchair-accessible. Water and restrooms are available only at the visitor center, which is also where you start the self-guiding auto tour of the battlefield.

Ask for trail brochures at the visitor center—or you can print them from our park website. Part of the Gambrill Mill Trail is wheelchair-accessible.

Safety and Regulations
Railroad tracks, agricultural fields, private property, and designated administrative areas are not open to the public. Please be respectful and stay on established trails.

The following are prohibited in the park: bicycles on park trails; relic hunting; metal detectors; pets off leash; littering; hunting or harassing wildlife; possession of cultural resources (bottles, ceramics, etc.); and possession of natural resources (flowers, rocks, etc.).

Beware of wildlife and poisonous plants. For firearms regulations, visit the park website. In an emergency, call 911.

The contents of brochures, site bulletins and trading cards (denoted with a colored caption) can be viewed by clicking on the cover. Most modern-day brochures, however, are cover only (denoted by a white caption) due to photograph copyrights. These items are historical in scope and are intended for educational purposes only; they are not meant as an aid for travel planning. The dates under each brochure do not reflect the complete range of years that a particular brochure was issued.

Date Unknown, ca.1970s	Date Unknown, ca.1990s
1989-1996		2010-2017	2018-2019

cover only Auto Tour Date Unknown		Battlefield Trails Battle of Monocacy Walking Tours Date Unknown	Date Unknown	Middle Ford Ferry Loop Trail Date Unknown
cover only Worthington Farm Trail Date Unknown		Worthington Farm Trails Date Unknown	Worthington Farm Brooks Hill Loop Trail Date Unknown
Thomas Farm Trail Date Unknown		Thomas Farm Trail Date Unknown	Special Events 2016
The Battle That Saved Washington, D.C. Date Unknown		cover only African American Experiences at Monocacy Date Unknown
Trading Cards