- 09 Jul 2022 13:53
#15237731
July 9, Saturday
As the fierce sun rises on the Federal dispositions along the Monocacy, and the heat regains its grip on the countryside, the waiting begins. Six thousand worried men scan the sky to the west, where dust clouds raised by the approaching Confederates are gathering. They believe they are greatly outnumbered.
Jubal Early still isn’t sure what awaits him along the Monocacy this morning. He can see that it is a sizable Federal force, and although Johnson has reported that the troops are raw militia and not a serious threat, Early cannot afford to make a mistake deep in enemy territory; his approach is cautious. He orders McCausland’s cavalry to move south to sever the railroad and telegraph lines to Washington; then McCausland is to cross the river and if at all possible seize the railroad bridge at Monocacy Junction. Meanwhile, Johnson is to take his cavalry around Frederick to the north, cut the railroads to Baltimore, threaten that city, and hold himself ready to undertake a possible secondary mission: releasing the 17,000 Confederates being held at Point Lookout, seventy miles southeast of Washington. General Lee, in his anguish over the dwindling size of his army, has become enthralled with the idea of freeing the prisoners, and he has encouraged Early to accomplish it somehow. Ramseur’s division quickly drives the Federal skirmishers out of Frederick and heads southeast along the Georgetown pike while Rodes takes his men east on the Baltimore pike. Early keeps Breckinridge’s two divisions with him near Frederick and waits to see what develops. The debt incurred by General Hunter is never far from Early’s mind; when he reaches Frederick at 8 am, the Confederate commander informs the mayor that the citizens must hand over $200,000 (2020 ~$3,296,960, McCausland had settled for a tenth of that amount at Hagerstown) or see their town burned. The residents beg for time to raise the cash—and, no doubt, to see how the impending battle comes out. Early gives them a few hours.
At midmorning Rodes encounters Tyler’s entrenched skirmishers, six companies of an Ohio regiment, two miles southeast of Frederick in front of the Jug Bridge. And Ramseur comes up against the similarly thin line across the road Early really wants—the Georgetown pike to Washington—more than two miles to the southeast. Rodes and Ramseur form lines of battle and begin to test the Federals’ strength with skirmishers and artillery. About 200 men of a Maryland Home Brigade militia regiment hold a portion of the line that includes a log blockhouse guarding the approaches to the B & O bridge and the nearby covered bridge. The Marylanders are joined by a company from a New York Heavy Artillery infantry regiment and by 75 men of the veteran Vermont regiment. George E. Davis, first lieutenant of the Vermonters, is in command; he places most of his skirmishers behind the railroad cut at the entrance to the bridges. His roughly triangular defense is covered by a 24-pounder howitzer mounted across the river on the bluff overlooking the bridges. The position is a strong one and the men have been ordered to “hold the bridges at all hazards.” Confederates of Colonel Charles C. Blacknall’s North Carolina regiment, from Brigadier General Robert D. Johnston’s brigade, rush the blockhouse, which is the key to the Federal defense. They push to within twenty feet of the structure before point-blank fire drives the survivors back. Colonel Blacknall narrowly escapes death as a bullet glances off his head, leaving him unconscious but alive. His men carry him to the rear as they retreat.
The respite for the Federals is brief. Brigadier General Armistead L. Long, Early’s chief of artillery, soon brings sixteen guns to bear on the Federals east of the river. The six Parrott rifles of Alexander’s battery, though severely outgunned, manage temporarily to keep the Confederates at bay. Early now realizes he is facing more than militia. The enemy’s position is too strong, and the difficulties of crossing the Monocacy under fire too great, to attack in front without greater loss than he is willing to incur. He rides south along the river instead, seeking a way to get across the Monocacy and at the Federal left. He spots McCausland’s cavalry, intent on its second assignment—taking the bridges if possible. McCausland’s troopers have found the ford for which Early has been searching. They splash across the river, drive away a company of Illinois cavalry, and canter into the yard of the Worthington family farm, which occupies the northern end of Brook’s Hill, a ridge overlooking Rickett’s line. From there they can see the blueclad ranks on either side of the Thomas house, and beyond them, the road to Washington. Presuming the enemy to be only militia, McCausland has his men dismount, send their horses to the rear, and advance through a field of waist-high corn.
General Wallace sees all this from his command on a hill overlooking the railroad and the covered highway bridge. He sits his horse, listening and watching. In response to the threat to his left, Wallace orders the covered bridge burned to keep Ramseur’s men on the other side of the river. Then he instructs Ricketts to change front to the southwest and face McCausland instead of Ramseur. Colonel McClennan’s five regiments hold Ricketts’ right, Colonel Truex’s five regiments the left. Their shift is made difficult by the enfilade fire of a section of Captain John L. Massie’s Virginia artillery, on a hill less than 800 yards away. Barely in time, one of Truex’s regiments, from Pennsylvania, gets into position behind a fence dividing the Thomas and Worthington farms and lies down, out of sight of the advancing Virginians. Without their horse-holders, the Confederates are only about 700 strong—and they are advancing against three times their number, “in perfect order, all the while shouting their ominous, defiant battle cry.” Suddenly the fence comes alive as the Federals leap to their feet and fire a murderous volley into the astonished Virginians, whose battle line all but disappears. The row of corn shelters from sight not only the dead and wounded but the crouched, running men as well. Shouting that they have been led into an ambush, the survivors reel back through the Worthington yard and keep going until they reach the edge of the river.
It takes almost two hours to re-form the line, but at 2 pm, incredibly, the Virginians attack again. This time they veer to the right, keeping cover between themselves and the deadly fence, feeling for the Federal flank. In response, the Pennsylvanians begin extending to the left on the run, trying to stay between the enemy and the Georgetown Turnpike; but the Federal line begins to bend back toward the yard of the Thomas house. Running, loading, and firing in the stifling heat, the Virginians push the thinned-out Federals from the Thomas house and cling there, on a slight rise of ground, under heavy fire. Wallace orders the Pennsylvanians and a New Jersey regiment to charge across the fields and retake the Thomas house. Just as the Federals begin to move, the Rebels come in force from behind the house. They advance over the crest on a line with the house before the firing grows heavy. The Federals also come under bombardment from the Confederate batteries across the river but fight hard, mowing down the first two lines of Confederates. Then the Federals at Thomas’ gate charge across his field right up to his house, and drive the Rebels around the corners, behind the barn. McCausland at last realizes the precariousness of his position and pulls his troops back.
General Early has ordered Breckinridge to move Gordon’s division across the river where the cavalry crossed and launch a flank attack to drive Wallace from his position. By the time Gordon can get his men in place it is midafternoon, and Gordon finds himself facing a confident enemy posted behind cover on high ground. His support, General Echol’s division, is marching from Frederick but won’t be up for some time. Worse, Gordon’s men must advance over fields laced with stout fences and, on the Thomas farm, studded with large shocks of grain. Nevertheless, Gordon orders an assault in echelon, with each brigade following the one to its right into action. Brigadier General Clement A. Evans’ Georgians will be in the lead; Brigadier General Zebulon York will commit his Louisiana brigade next; and Brigadier General William Terry’s Virginians will follow York’s troops in reserve. Gordon hopes to overlap the Federal left and roll it up toward the river with sequential thrusts.
About 3 pm, while Gordon’s division forms for the attack, General Wallace assesses the Federal situation. Ricketts’ division is in place in front of Gordon, but it is overextended and in the air on the left. To the north, Tyler’s men still hold the Jug Bridge, although they are being pressed hard by Rodes. Wallace has decided that it is time to get away. But he can’t safely disengage in the face of an attack, and now Evans’ Georgia brigade comes into view, crossing the fence on the crest of Brooks’ Hill and charging the left of Truex’s line. As the Federal skirmishers fall back, one of them fires from the dubious cover of a shock of wheat into the oncoming ranks of the Georgians—and dies with eighteen bullets in his body. Then the Georgians come to the second of the many obstacles in their way—a high, stout rail fence more than 100 yards from the Federal line. As the attackers clamber over this fence, they are met by a tempest of bullets. General Evans is struck down with a Minié ball in his side, and command of the brigade passes to Colonel E.M. Atkinson. Yet despite the heavy fire they make it across the field. With the shocks of wheat preventing them from closing their ranks or returning fire effectively, and with their comrades dropping around them with fearful frequency, the Georgians press on. Vermonter Major Edwin Dillingham stands in the partial cover of the Worthington’s sunken access road, “swinging his saber and yelling, ‘Give it to them boys! We have them on the flank! Pitch it into them! This is fun!’ ” The Confederate advance becomes disorganized; little semblance remains of brigade or regimental battle lines. The Georgians at last come to a standstill and General Gordon sends a message to Breckinridge, who is back at the Worthington house, asking that reinforcements be sent up.
Fortunately for the Confederates, several guns from Major William McLaughlin’s artillery battalion have been sent across the river already. Lieutenant Colonel J. Floyd King, second-in-command of Early’s artillery, has quickly positioned them on high ground overlooking the Federal line. One of the guns opens fire on the Thomas house, sending shot and shells crashing through its brick walls and dislodging the Federal riflemen there. Now General York brings his Louisianans into action to the left of Evans’ brigade. He deploys his men from column into line of battle in the face of the enemy and dashes forward, clearing the Worthington cornfield of Federal skirmishers. They drive Ricketts’ men from their front, then rush ahead and slam into the New Jersieyans. That regiment has already lost its commanding officer and his successor to the fire of Evans’ Georgians. In the renewed attack, more than 140 Federal soldiers are shot down. The regiment’s line sags in the center but holds; the attack rolls on into the Ohio regiments of the second Federal line. Ricketts has rushed so many of his men to bolster the hardpressed Federal left that his right is no longer anchored on the river. This is precisely what Gordon had hoped his attack would achieve, and he loses no time sending Terry’s Virginia brigade to thrust at Ricketts’ right flank.
Just as Gordon’s Confederates begin their drive against Ricketts’ right, the situation for the Federal skirmishers across the Monocacy reaches a crisis point. The men have successfully withstood a Confederate attempt to cut them off from the railroad bridge; but as pressure mounts, the Maryland militia melt away across the bridge. Lieutenant Davis and his handful of Vermonters now face an entire Confederate division alone. When Gordon’s attack reaches its peak, a Carolina regiment charges the blockhouse. As the attackers surge forward, Davis can see the beginning of a Federal retreat across the river. The division headquarters flag is crossing the track in his rear, they have to leave now or never. Davis orders his men to cross the bridge. The retreating soldiers have to hop from tie to tie, exposed to enemy rifle fire. One poor fellow falls through the bridge to the river, forty feet below, and several are taken prisoners, thanks to the Confedferates being close on their heels all the way. But most of the Vermonters escape to rejoin their regiment, and Lieutenant Davis is later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Swarming Confederates soon drive the Federal skirmishers from the western end of the ridge that runs parallel to the Monocacy. General Terry sends Colonel J.H. Funk’s Consolidated Regiment—fragments of the old Stonewall Brigade—advancing to the left down the riverbank. Funk’s Virginians are hidden from the Federals by the ridge until they open fire at close range against an Ohio regiment, which is sheltering in the sunken access road. Terry’s other regiment, commanded by Colonel Robert H. Dungan, pushes down the center of the ridge through a cornfield. They’ve only gone a few steps when they come in view of Ohioans lying behind a post-and-rail fence, about 125 yards in their front. The Virginians start at them at the double quick only to be slowed to a walk by General Taylor, so they’ll still be able to fight when they reach the enemy. They walk to the fence, under fire all the way, stick their guns between the fence rails, and put a volley into the Federals. By this time Terry’s Virginians have brought Ricketts’ right flank under a galling enfilade fire that even the VI Corps veterans can’t withstand for long. The Ohioans fall back down the hill toward the Georgetown pike, but not before inflicting 59 casualties on Dungan’s regiment alone.
Terry’s men re-form and push farther along the river. The Ohio regiment Terry’s men have been pushing back and a New York Heavy Artillery regiment, in line as infantry near the river, catch the worst of the impromptu charge. The Virginians’ assault line is long enough to wrap around the Federal line almost in a semicircle, and the Federals break and flee. Among the wounded is the New York regiment’s commander, young Colonel William Henry Seward Jr., son and namesake of Lincoln’s secretary of state. Ricketts’ line is caving in, and he begins a difficult disengagement under fire. Thanks to the discipline of the VI Corps veterans, he is able to make a retrograde movement that is just measurably slower than a rout, along the river to the Baltimore pike. Tyler’s militiamen hold the Jug Bridge long enough for the remaining Federals to get past and away; by the time the firing sputters to a stop, it is too late in the day for Early to push on. There are dead to bury, wounded to tend, and scattered units to pull together. And there is the matter of that $200,000 ransom, which the city fathers of Frederick now hand over. The march to Washington will have to be postponed until tomorrow.
Wallace heads for Baltimore, having garnered 24 precious hours for the lashing together of a defense of the Federal capital. He has paid a price of 1,294 casualties. Confederate losses probably number close to 700—men Early can’t replace. Wallace’s achievement isn’t appreciated at first; he is relieved temporarily as Middle Department commander, but he is soon restored to the post by General Grant, who eventually concludes that Wallace has contributed more to the Federal cause by losing at Monocacy “than often falls to the lot of a commander of equal force to render by means of a victory.”
In Georgia, when General Johnston is alerted to the danger posed by Schofield’s mile-deep bridgehead eight miles upriver, he is compelled to abandon his fortifications on the north bank of the Chattahoochee. After nightfall another enactment of the now-familiar rituals take place: the tramp across bridges strewn with green cornstalks to muffle the sounds of retreat, the burning of the railroad trestle, the dismantling of pontoons. Severe skirmishing occurs during the day along the river and at Vining’s Station and Nickajack Creek. Sherman, with Schofield’s whole force already across the Chattahoochee to the north, builds up supplies and prepares for a full press forward.
Desperate to be apprised of Johnston’s intentions, President Davis dispatches to Atlanta a personal emissary, Braxton Bragg, the former commander of the Army of Tennessee and now the Confederate President’s chief military adviser. The choice of Bragg for such a delicate mission is hardly politic, because Joseph Johnston holds his predecessor and the President in equal scorn. Johnston has recently remarked of Davis: “He tried to do what God failed to do. He tried to make a soldier of Braxton Bragg, and you know the result. It couldn’t be done.”
Still mindful of his instructions to “punish Forrest and the people,” A.J. Smith presses on across the Tallahatchie and through New Albany, trailed by a swath of desolation ten miles wide. Ahead lies Pontotoc, and beyond it Okolona, where Sooy Smith came to grief five months ago, checked almost as disastrously as Sturgis had been at nearby Brice’s Crossroads, a month ago tomorrow.
On John’s Island in Charleston Harbor there is action on Burden’s Causeway. Federals also operate around Wellington, Missouri.
CSS Florida takes four prizes only 35 miles off the the eastern coast of Maryland.
In Washington, the President tells Horace Greeley that if anyone has a peace proposition in writing that includes the restoration of the Union and the ending of slavery, he should come to Lincoln.
Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without.
—Edmund Burke