Monocacy and More

After a little time back at our hotel to recover from our Appalachian Trail adventures, we took a short drive to the Monocacy National Battlefield. When we had first been creating our itinerary for this trip and I mentioned this battlefield to my history nerd husband, he was perplexed. He had never heard of this battle, and was surprised that there was one this far north so late in the Civil War. While this battle may not get the fame and attention of others such as Gettysburg and Antietam, it is actually known as “The Battle that Saved Washington, DC.”

From the NPS website:

In the summer of 1864, the American Civil War was still a long way from conclusion. Union and Confederate armies were still spread out across the country, with battles and campaigns still racking up casualties by the thousands. With Union forces under Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant deep in Virginia at Petersburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee devised a bold plan. Lee ordered General Jubal Early to take the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia and link up with General John C. Breckenridge to clear the Shenandoah Valley. After securing the Valley, Early was to invade Maryland, putting pressure on the Federal capital, Washington, DC. By the first week of July, Confederates had entered Maryland and caught Union forces largely off guard. As the Federals scrambled to gather a defensive force, Major General Lew Wallace and roughly 3,200 inexperienced troops of the Middle Department, headed west from Baltimore, MD and took up a position just south of Frederick, MD at Monocacy Junction along the Monocacy River. Grant ordered the third division of the Sixth Corps north, hoping they would reach Maryland in time to slow Early’s advance. By the morning of July 9^th, nearly 6,600 Union troops had gathered near Monocacy Junction, with Wallace in command. Early’s 15,000 Confederates were to the north in Frederick. The stage for battle was set.

While the Confederates had won the Battle of Monocacy, Lew Wallace was ultimately successful. His efforts had delayed Jubal Early’s advance long enough for additional Union reinforcements to reach Washington D.C. By the time Early’s men reached the capital on July 11, help had arrived in the Federal capital. Some fighting and skirmishing occurred near Fort Stevens on the city’s outskirts, but Early was unable to take Washington. Early and his men withdrew back into Maryland and eventually crossed the Potomac River back into Virginia. Their campaign was over.

Monocacy was not one of the largest battles of the Civil War, but it had an impact much larger than many know. Early had successfully reached Washington, forcing Grant to send reinforcements northward, but his campaign was ultimately foiled by the delaying tactics of Lew Wallace and his men at Monocacy on July 9. Because of this, the Battle of Monocacy has forever been known as “The Battle That Saved Washington.”

A visit to Monocacy can easily be squeezed in among some of the other National Park units in the area. The Visitor Center is small, but it has quite a nice display area upstairs. My favorite part was the big map (fourth picture) that had a narration of the entire battle, along with lights that indicated where on the battlefield the action was taking place. There is a driving tour around the battlefield area which we did, but didn’t really spend a lot of time on. But there were some cool old houses to be seen.

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After Monocacy, we headed to Catoctin Mountain Park. This was not on our original itinerary, but we kept seeing signs for it and we had a little time in our schedule, so we decided to check it out.

Catoctin Mountain is mostly a lovely place to camp and hike and be outdoorsy. There is a small museum in the Visitor Center, in which you learn about the history of the area and the involvement of the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps in its development.

There are a whole bunch of trails available for hiking at Catoctin. After tackling the A.T. earlier in the day, we weren’t even sure we wanted to get out of the car as we drove through the park. I found three very short hikes (about a half mile round trip) that looked cool. First was the Blue Blazes Whiskey Still Trail, which has trailside signs which explain the history of whiskey production on Catoctin Mountain, and ends with an actual whiskey still. Another interesting trail was the Charcoal Trail, which contains several exhibits and displays that tell the story of the charcoal making industry on the mountain. In the end, we chose the Blue Ridge Summit Vista trail, which led us to this beautiful view.

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Completely hiked out for the day, we made one last unplanned side trip to the Williamsport Visitor Center area of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. The Visitor Center was closed by the time we arrived, but we did jump out of the car for a few minutes to view the canal and compare it to our Erie Canal back home.

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Info for other National Park geeks:

Monocacy National Battlefield:

Cancellations available:

• Monocacy National Battlefield
• Journey Through Hallowed Ground NHA
• Underground Railroad Freedom Network

Junior Ranger: yes
B.A.R.K. Ranger: no

Catoctin Mountain Park:

Cancellations available:

• Catoctin Mountain Park
• Journey Through Hallowed Ground NHA
• Camp Misty Mount

Junior Ranger: yes
B.A.R.K. Ranger: no