Determined to Stand and Fight
THE BATTLE OF MONOCACY
JULY 9, 1864
by Ryan T. Quint
Chris Mackowski, series editor Kristopher D. White, chief historian
Also part of the Emerging Civil War Series:
The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead by Meg Groeling
Bloody Autumn: The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt
Bushwhacking on a Grand Scale: The Battle of Chickamauga, September 18-20, 1863 by William Lee White
Calamity in Carolina: The Battles of Averasboro and Bentonville, March 1865 by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt
Dawn of Victory: Breakthrough at Petersburg, March 25-April 2, 1865 by Edward S. Alexander
Fight Like the Devil: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863 by Chris Mackowski, Kristopher D. White, and Daniel T. Davis
Grant’s Last Battle: The Story Behind the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant by Chris Mackowski
Hell Itself: The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-7, 1864 by Chris Mackowski
Hurricane from the Heavens: The Battle of Cold Harbor, May 26-June 5, 1864 by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt
The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson: The Mortal Wounding of the Confederacy’s Greatest Icon by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White
No Turning Back: A Guide to the 1864 Overland Campaign by Robert M. Dunkerly, Donald C. Pfanz, and David R. Ruth
Out Flew the Sabres: The Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863 by Eric J. Wittenberg and Daniel T. Davis
A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, May 8-21, 1864 by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White
Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862 by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White
Strike Them a Blow: Battle Along the North Anna River, May 21-25, 1864 by Chris Mackowski
That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy, May 1-4, 1863 by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White
To the Bitter End: Appomattox, Bennett Place, and the Surrenders of the Confederacy by Robert M. Dunkerly
A Want of Vigilance: The Bristoe Station Campaign, October 9-19, 1863 by Bill Backus and Rob Orrison
Determined to Stand and Fight
THE BATTLE OF MONOCACY
JULY 9, 1864
by Ryan T. Quint
Savas Beatie
California
© 2016 by Ryan T. Quint
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
First edition, first printing
ISBN-13 (paperback): 978-1-61121-346-1
ISBN-13 (ebook): 978-1-61121-347-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Quint, Ryan T., author.
Title: Determined to stand and fight : the Battle of Monocacy,
July 9, 1864 /
by Ryan T. Quint.
Description: First edition. | El Dorado Hills, California : Savas
Beatie, 2016. | Series: Emerging Civil War series | Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016042428| ISBN 9781611213461 (pbk) | ISBN 9781611213478 (ebk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Monocacy, Battle of, Md., 1864.
Classification: LCC E476.66 .Q85 2016 | DDC 973.7/37--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016042428
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For Joanna
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD by Ted Alexander
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE: The Shenandoah Valley
CHAPTER TWO: The March North
CHAPTER THREE: Lew Wallace
CHAPTER FOUR: Sigel Delays at Harpers Ferry
CHAPTER FIVE: First Contact
CHAPTER SIX: The Battle’s First Shots
CHAPTER SEVEN: McCausland’s First Attack
CHAPTER EIGHT: McCausland’s Second Attack
CHAPTER NINE: Gordon’s Attack
CHAPTER TEN: The Federal Retreat
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Fort Stevens
CHAPTER TWELVE: Conclusion
APPENDIX A: The Civilians’ Experience at the Battle of Monocacy by Ryan T. Quint
APPENDIX B: The Ransom of Frederick by Ryan T. Quint
APPENDIX C: Medical Care and the Battle of Monocacy by Jake Wynn
APPENDIX D: “Utterly Impossible for Man or Horse to Accomplish”: The Johnson-Gilmor Raid by Phillip S. Greenwalt
APPENDIX E: McCausland’s Raid and the Burning of Chambersburg by Avery C. Lentz
APPENDIX F: The Literary Legacy of Lew Wallace by Ryan T. Quint
TOURING THE BATTLEFIELD
ORDER OF BATTLE
SUGGESTED READING
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Footnotes for this volume are available at http://emergingcivilwar.com/publications/the-emerging-civil-war-series/footnotes
List of Maps
Maps by Hal Jespersen
Eastern Theater
Troop Dispositions
Georgetown Pike
Stone Bridge and Baltimore Pike
Georgetown Pike
Johnson-Gilmor Raid
Driving Tour
Acknowledgments
I would first like to express my love and appreciation to my family, who have always been supportive of my endeavors and journey. The week I graduated from college, my entire family came from Maine to Fredericksburg, Virginia, and then stuck around for a few days. While they were down, on one abysmally hot day we drove up to Monocacy to walk around the battlefield, and one of my of fondest experiences was next to the Worthington Farm, going through the motions of loading a 12-pounder Napoleon Cannon while my pre-teen nephews were all-too-happy to provide the accompanying sound effects.
Next I want to send along my ultimate gratitude to Chris Mackowski, editor of the Emerging Civil War Series and co-founder of the Emerging Civil War blog. In 2013, I was a summer intern for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, and on days when the two of us were stationed at the Wilderness Exhibit Shelter, between tours or on slow days, we just talked history. One day I brought an especially dog-eared and beaten-up copy of Glenn Worthington’s Fighting for Time, and Chris was naturally curious enough to talk about the battle of Monocacy for a couple of hours—he served as my first sound board, bouncing ideas back and forth and playing devil’s advocate.
The professors in the History Department at the University of Mary Washington and my colleagues at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park have made me a much better historian.
This book would not have been possible without the help and support of the staff and volunteers at the Monocacy National Battlefield. They were always willing to go the extra mile on all of my research trips to their excellent arc
Jake Wynn, Phil Greenwalt, and Avery Lentz all wrote excellent appendixes that make this a better book. Sean Redmiles and Sarah Bierle both allowed me to use some of their personal photographs of sites I couldn’t personally make it to.
Ted Alexander, well-known and respected in the Civil War community, graciously agreed to write the book’s foreword and reminds us that, while Monocacy may not have the fame of Gettysburg or Antietam, its human element is just as strong.
Kris White read the manuscript of this book with a sharp eye and offered many edits and suggestions that make it a better-finished book.
Hal Jespersen created the excellent maps that any book about a military campaign needs. He managed to take my chicken-scratch ideas and contortions and make them into maps that clearly show the battle’s progression along the banks of the Monocacy River.
Finally, Joanna. She has been there with me, quite literally, every step of the way on this project. From helping research and making copies, to walking the battlefield and reading every word of this manuscript, I could not possibly thank her enough. Joanna, I love you, and this book is for you.
PHOTO CREDITS:
W.F. Beyer and O.F. Keydel, Deeds of Valor: Volume I (wfb/ofk); Sarah Bierle (sb); Charles M. Blackford, “Thomas Jellis Kirkpatrick,” Virginia Law Register, 1903 (cb); W. Asbury Christian, Lynchburg and Its People (wac); Confederate Veteran Magazine (cv); Department of Defense (dod); Jubal Early, Lieutenant General Jubal Anderson Early, C.S.A., Autobiographical Sketch and Narrative of the War Between the States (je); Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper (fl); Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park (fsnmp); Phillip S. Greenwalt (pg); Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (hfnhp); Nathan Harris, Autobiography: The Story of an Old Man’s Life with Reminiscences of Seventy-Five Years (nh); James H. Hawley, History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains: Volume II (jh); E.M. Haynes, A History of the Tenth Regiment, VT. Vols (emh); Historical Society of Frederick County (hsfc); Joseph Warren Keifer, Slavery and Four Years of War A Political History of Slavery in the United States (jwk); Osceola Lewis, History of the One Hundred and Thirty-Eighth Regiment (ol); Library of Congress (loc); Lovettsville Historical Society (lhs); Chris Mackowski (cm); Francis T. Miller, editor, The Photographic History of the Civil War: Volume Three (fm); Monmouth County Library (mcl); Monocacy National Battlefield (mnb); National Archives and Records Administration (na); National Museum of Civil War Medicine (nmcwm); The National Tribune, March 18, 1897 (nt); Naval History and Heritage Command (nhhc); New-York Illustrated News, July 30, 1864 (nyin); George Nichols, A Soldier’s Story of His Regiment (gn); George Perkins, A Summer in Maryland and Virginia or Campaigning with the 149th O.V.I. (gp); Ryan T. Quint (rq); Sean Redmiles (sr); Alfred S. Roe, The Ninth New York Heavy Artillery (ar); Thomas Scharf, History of Western Maryland: Volume I (ts); Samuel Ward Stanton, American Steam Vessels (sws); Heber S. Thompson, The First Defenders (ht); U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (usahec); Vermont Historical Society (VThs); Lew Wallace Autobiography, Vol. I (lw); Lew Wallace, “The Story of a Flag,” The Story of American Heroism, 1897 (lw); War of the Rebellion Atlas, Plate 82 (wra); Frederick Wild, Memoirs and History of Capt. F.W. Alexander’s Baltimore Battery (fw); John H. Worsham, One of Jackson’s Foot Cavalry (jw); Jake Wynn (jw).
For the Emerging Civil War Series
Theodore P. Savas, publisher
Chris Mackowski, series editor
Kristopher D. White, chief historian
Sarah Keeney, editorial consultant
Maps by Hal Jespersen
Design and layout by H.R. Gordon
Publication supervision by Chris Mackowski
The familiar arrowhead of the National Park Service welcomes visitors at the entrance of the Monocacy National Battlefield. Behind the sign are arranged almost 2,200 flags—one for each casualty of the battle—that are laid out every Memorial Day weekend. (cm)
Foreword
BY TED ALEXANDER
When the subject of Monocacy comes up, I’m reminded of a trip my family took in the 1950s from the Pennsylvania border town of Greencastle to Frederick, Maryland. I was in elementary school but had already been bitten with the Civil War bug since a visit to Gettysburg in first grade. Our family’s maternal roots were in Frederick County, Maryland, and this trip was to visit some cousins in Frederick, the county seat. Before meeting with them, we stopped in a local drug store. Back then it was the custom to sell picture postcards at such establishments. I noticed one postcard on the rack that featured a monument and cannon. Looking closer, I saw it was identified as Monocacy Battlefield. When we met with the cousins, I brought up the subject of Monocacy. My one cousin explained that it was not much to see: “Not like Gettysburg.”
Indeed, it was and is “not like Gettysburg.” In the 1890s, Gettysburg, Antietam, and other battle sites were being preserved by the United States War Department. But somehow Monocacy did not make the cut even though both Union and Confederate veterans pushed to have the site in rural Frederick County a “memorial park.” When Congress finally got around to appropriating money for Monocacy, the funds were slashed drastically due to the Depression. Accordingly, the Congressional bill that was passed in 1934 established a battlefield with virtually no funding and no land.
Fast-forward to the 1980s. The National Park Service had taken over by the late 1970s and funds had been made available to purchase more than 1,500 acres of battlefield land. By the mid 80s, the site was being developed for visitation. This effort included a visitor center featuring exhibits, a small electric map, and a book store.
The major thing missing was a book about the battle. At the time, I was serving as a consultant for a small book publisher in Pennsylvania. One of their goals was to reprint Civil War classics. In conversations with the noted historian, the late Brian Pohanka, he suggested we reprint Fighting for Time by Glenn H. Worthington. Originally published in 1932, Worthington was a local judge who, as a child, had witnessed the battle from his home on the battlefield. It was the only book-length study of Monocacy. The 1985 edition we published featured a new introduction by Pohanka along with additional battle accounts in the appendixes.
Since then, a number of books have been written about the bloody battle in July that probably saved the nation’s capital. But I am proud to write the foreword to this new study by Ryan Quint in the popular Emerging Civil War Series. Ryan is an interpretive park ranger at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. His skills as an interpreter translate to the well-written narrative of this book.
Ryan has a particularly good eye for incorporating both the strategic and operational aspects of what happened before and after the battle itself. He clearly points out the desperation of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who faced enormous odds before Richmond and eventually Petersburg, requiring him to send Gen. Jubal A. Early with a force of more than 10,000 men across the Potomac River into Maryland. There, in the last major Confederate incursion north of the river, the Confederates threatened the important logistics center of Harpers Ferry, and ultimately Washington, D.C., itself.
Like a scene out of an action movie, Early’s advance was blunted just south of Frederick on July 9 along the Monocacy River. It was there that Union Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace gathered together a “pick up team” of troops of assorted combat efficiency. Augmented by veterans of the Army of the Potomac’s VI Corps, they set forth to stop the Rebel juggernaut before it reached Washington.
For Wallace and his men, this was indeed an extreme challenge. Wallace was never able to muster more than 6,000 for the fight. Conversely, Early had around 15,000 veterans and more than 30 cannon, as opposed to the Union’s seven guns. Yet, in a moment of high drama, the smaller Yankee force was able to buy time for the protection of the capital. That one-day delay along the Monocacy River was the critical moment of the campaign. For the numbers engaged and duration of the battle, it was a blood bath just as brutal as Antiet
am, Gettysburg, and other Civil War battles. After more than eight hours of combat, nearly 1,300 Union soldiers and around 1,000 Confederates became casualties.
So the question may be asked, “Why another book on Monocacy?” In Determined to Stand and Fight, Ryan Quint has provided us a good intro-level account of the battle. However, for the battlefield visitor who desires a quick understanding of why Monocacy was so important, Ryan’s book is an excellent, concise study. Featuring more than 150 illustrations, the book is augmented with a number of appendixes covering medical care at the battle, the battle’s impact on the civilian population, the ransom of Frederick, and the Johnson-Gilmor Raid on Baltimore. The latter event is an often-overlooked affair that really stands as one of the most spectacular mounted raids of the war. Two final appendixes examine the burning of Chambersburg on July 30, 1864, and the literary legacy of Lew Wallace, perhaps more famous as an author than a general for his book Ben-Hur. A driving tour of key battlefield sites and an overview of essential published studies on the campaign and battle round out this publication.
In retrospect, as my cousin pointed out on that warm day in Frederick almost 60 years ago, Monocacy was “not like Gettysburg.” Indeed, the battle carries its own legacy that stands alone and equals Gettysburg in the ferocity of its combat and in its strategic importance in relation to the rest of the war.
Congratulations to Ryan Quint for providing us with an excellent study of an important and sometimes ignored campaign and battle of the American Civil War. Also, many thanks to the Emerging Civil War group for publishing another fine volume in their battle and campaign series.