Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War Union Gen. Lew Wallaces

Comedian by the name of tim sample and he has this great bit where he talks about getting directions and he says you cant get there from here. Ryan is a fell mainer and he has proven that you can get there from here. Ryan comes to you from the great state of maine. He began working here at the Military Park as an San Bernardino then as a seasonal. Hes also a tour guide at ken moore, an Historic House in downtown fredericksburg. The thing im most excited about with ryan and there are many things because he is an absolute rising rock star in the vein of kevin pollak. He said i love this story of monocracy and he started writing about lew wallace and monocracy and he was fascinated by it. And the emerging civil war gave him the opportunity to explore that passion and you could absolutely see it in the way that his research came together, in the way that he told the story and story and hes opened up what is essentially a littleknown bat until a fresh, exciting and especially relevant way so i would urge you to check out his book, determined to stand and fight the battle of monocracy because ryan clint is determined to tell this story and make you understand why it is one of the pivotal moments of 1864. Ladies and gentlemen, ryan quint. Ryan listen and then there was one. It was the last one of the day. I thank you all for coming out. Ive been getting texts all day from my parents and family in maine. They say stand in front of the camera and wave. Hi, mom. Here we are. With that out of the way. I want to reiterate a question that chris asks this morning about the civil war and monocracy. Whos been to monocracy before . Im excited to see that number of people because most people dont know about monocracy and thats a strange question to ask of a kivel civil war seminar. Its only 45 minutes south of gettysburg and most people hism right back. The story starts in march of 864. The battle is in july. Because that is when ulysses s. Grant comes east to take command of United States army. He is going to plan out his campaign. He has decided to headquarter himself with the army of the potomac, take on robert e. Lee straight on. There are going to be a number of other operations in the field. William sherman operates against atlanta, more campaigns in louisiana, more in southwestern virginia. Benjamin butler. Then there is the shenandoah valley, which had been this nuisance to the union army since the very beginning. Stonewall jacksons Valley Campaign made a name for himself, constantly union armies being repulsed. Grant wants to stop that once and for all. What hes going to do is plan one offensive under sigel, who will operate in conjunction with the other armies. So while mead and grant and lee fight in the wilderness, sigel will move up the valley. Of course with the sen doha valley, the geography is a little bit weird when youre going up the valley, moving north going down the valley. Sigel is moving south of the valley, and he will be defeated at the battle of newmarket, may 18, 1864, most famous for the involvement of the Virginia Military institute cadets who had been marched to the battlefield to take part. The reinforcements used to defeat siegal go and help robert e. Lee around richmond, which would become important because sigel is replaced by this man, david hunter, black david hunter. Hunter is a radical republican in the sense of the word that he does not just want to beat this out, he wants to punish the south. He is going to be given command after the defeat and now it is his objective to neutralize the shenandoah valley. He had celebrated his 59th birthday by getting shot in the face. E has been involved in South Carolina by raising black soldiers, so Jefferson Davis has declared him a felon, declaring him to be executed or captured on site. It is his objective to take the Valley Campaign to the enemy. He is going to move up the shenandoah valley, moving through the valley. He is going to win a crucial battle on june 5, the battle of piedmont, which opened the road to the valley, and continuing moving. As he moves, hes introducing something different. Hes starting to burn. Homes go down in flames. Looting is rampant. That is especially pertinent when he gets to lexington, where the Virginia Military institute is. Hunter orders the barracks of the m. I. To be burned. He also orders the home of the governor to be burned. This is a different kind of war in the valley. As word is getting back to robert e. Lee around richmond that hunter is doing this, lee is getting increasingly worried, because the city of lynchburg towards the bottom of the map is crucial. Its a railroad hub. You have multiple railroads converging and heading off to the southern part of the state where you have salt mines and other resources the confederacy needs. In lees words, hunter infested the valley, so like a bug he had to be crushed. On june 12, 1864, he issues orders to jubal early, commanding a second army corps. Those orders are to strike under his force in the rear and if possible, destroy it. Early get those orders on june 12 and will soon start to march and moved by rail to the west and towards lynchburg, as hunter gets closer and closer and closer. Arly moved away from petersburg with about 8,000 men. Healing set with other Confederate Forces in the valley, so by the time he gets the lynchburg, he has got 15,000 men are so under his command. Over the course of june 17june 18, early will win the battle of lynchburg, send hunter reeling back into the valley of west virginia. Then jubal early has a decision to make. He goes to stanton to keep an eye on david hunter to see what he is going to do. From stanton, early has a ouple different choices. One, he can stay in the valley and bane be baby sit it, make sure no other union forces move nto attack those resources. He can return to the army of northern virginia, which is getting really engaged around petersburg. Or three, he can move north. He can move down the shenandoah valley. So on june 28 from stanton, early will make his decision. He will write to robert e. Lee, saying, i decided to turn down the valley and proceed according to your instruction to threaten washington, and if i find an opportunity, to take it. That is his objective, hes admitting his objective is to march on washington and take the capital city. He starts to move north, starts to move down the shenandoah valley. There is no opposition because avid hunter has retreated, frans sigel has retreated. He gets all the way to winchester in the lower valley on july 2 before he meets resistance. He has moved all this way without any opposition. His men are looking forward to an opportunity to bring the war once more to an enemy, because t is july of 1864. 1864 is of course, an election year. Every day, every week the Confederate Army delays defeat, every day, every week they embarrass union armies, abraham lincolns chances for reelection get dimmer and dimmer. Especially pertinent. If we can get to washington, embarrassed the lincoln administration, maybe those from the northern peace party and the cries will get louder and louder and maybe in november of 1864, lincoln will be defeated. So they start to move further and further. The alarm is not going to be raised by union soldiers, but theyre going to be raised instead by the president of a railroad company. John garrett is president of the baltimore ohio railroad. T the beginning of the war, he is a se sessionist, kind of county supervisor, but above all, garrett likes money. When he sees confederate threats moving closer to the maryland border, he realizes his railroad is in jeopardy, which means his funds are in jeopardy and he is going to start ringing the alarm bell. Hes going to write on june 29 of 1864, i find from various quarters statements of large forces in the valley. Im satisfied the operations and designs of the enemy in the valley demand the greatest vigilance and attention. Garrett is ringing that fire bell saying what do you have . What are you going to do to defend this railroad . This is the redline. This is winchester, north toward Harpers Ferry, martinsburg, and often to ohio. He needs somebody to defend that railroad. He was raising that alarm. And that alarm goes to the union high command, goes to ulysses s. Grant and goes to his chief subordinate, who is working in washington as chief of staff, Henry Halleck. Both of them dismiss garretts concerns, because as the news and worry of garretts movements come, grant will respond on july 3, earlys corps is now here. Meaning petersburg. There are no troops that can be threatened in hunters department. Telling garrett, dont worry about it, they are probably just marauders. If so, we can deal with them. And if it gets too bad, we can call on david hunter to come east and take command here. David hunter is still in the valley a week away, so time is of the essence as the days tick by as grant and Henry Halleck continue to dismiss those concerns. I think ulysses s. Grant is one of the best generals produced by the civil war. He drops the ball in the early days of 1864. His laissezfaire attitude comes perilously close to embarrassing the union work war cause. Frustrated and denied, garrett decides to go see somebody else. That somebody else is, of course, lew wallace. Lew wallace is 37 years old in 864. His headquarters is on utah street, not far from damn camden yards there where the Baltimore Orioles play. Ew wallace is bored. Not far from camden yards there where the Baltimore Orioles play. Lew wallace is bored. He has been put in the middle of the department in baltimore in administrative capacity. He has got political connections and is there to keep baltimore in check. Baltimore, since the beginning of the war, has been a nuisance, a thorn in the union war effort. You have the famous riots in 1861 and this kind of dissonance that simmers from the top. Wallace had been sent to baltimore in march of 1864 to keep a lid on that dissonance. But he is bored, like i said. He writes to his wife as the Campaign Season gets underway, soon will be heard the thunder of captains, the sound of the trumpets, and the shout, and i will not be there. Almost like this guy writes ben hur 15 years later. Ryan so he is bored. And in that mindset is when john garrett arrived and knocks on his front door at the headquarters of the hotel and explains the situation. This is wallaces chance to come to the front. But wallace has got some problems. He has got some emotional baggage that hes bringing with him, because grant and halleck pretty much hate this man. We dont have a lot of time to get into it, but wallace had been part of grants army in the spring of 1862. In the battle of shihloh. To this day, controversy rages, but on the first day of the battle of shiloh, wallace had been given orders to come to grant aid as Confederate Forces attacked the confederate camps. And grant will insist that wallace is lost. Wallace will insist you have the right idea by marching around the landscape around pittsburgh landing. Henry halleck hates lew wallace because he is not from west point. Henry halleck basically has one condition to like you or not are you a west point graduate . If not, you are not worth the time of day. When wallace had been given command in baltimore, purely administrative, Henry Halleck had written, it seems little better than murder to give important commands to such men as lew wallace, yet seems impossible to prevent it. Halleck is wringing his hands over these perceived political connections. With john garrett coming to baltimore and saying, i need help on my railroad, lew wallace is it. If he asks grant or Henry Halleck for help, what are they going to say . Dont worry about it, it is not our job. Wallace will try and return that nolove lost kind of situation. He writes about Henry Halleck that he had no genius except as a marplot, at which he was incomparable. I had to look up marplot. A marplot is someone who ruins a plan by being meddlesome. He is basically calling him a busybody. You have got these barbs going back and forth, writing back and forth and in that type of kind of political topsyturvy attitude, that is when garrett comes into play. You have the same man complaining about thunder and shouts and his not being there, garrett is his opportunity to go to the front. So he promises garrett that he is going to defend that railroad. And especially he is going to defend the railroad at the crossing of the monocacy river. The western boundary is the monocacy river. He cannot officially go across that river. Monocacy is his boundary. He is going to say to garrett, im going to go to monocacy, im going to defend your Iron Railroad bridge. And im going to do that. So at midnight on july 5, without telling anybody, wallace grabs one staff officer, hops on a train, and rides out to be monocacy junction. It is important he does not tell Henry Halleck because he is worried he is going to be told no. So he does it anyway. Hes going to do first, ask permission later kind of attitude. It is ok to have an attitude about getting ready for a fight. It is another thing to be ready and prepared for a fight. Wallaces department is connected to the eighth army corps. The corps was being increasingly generous. Wallace only has about 2,500 men at his disposal. These are not hardline veteran soldiers, they are a 100 day militia unit raised in maryland, raised in ohio, brought to baltimore to hold those fourthdown while everybody else is stripped increment to grant for the overland campaign. The good news is, wallace has a pretty good secondincommander, bernard tyler, who is also not west point trained, so they have a mutual distrust for west point. Tyler also has political baggage. Andrew humphries hates this man, brought him up for courtmartial at fredericksburg. So here you have a shunned commander and a hated commander and in their hands lies the defense of the monocacy, the defense of washington. Tyler will be sent to monocacy with those 2,500 men with wallace joining him soon after. You can see the railroad bridge between the hills. You can see the federal soldiers starting to build block houses and rifle pits because they are waiting for the confederate force. As of yet, theyre not really sure whats coming. Then some help arrives. On july 6 of 1864, this man David Clendenin arrives with the eighth illinois calvary. You have got veteran troopers arriving to help out lew wallace. David clendenin does not report to wallace, but when he arrives on the field, wallace explains the situation and hes does, you got it, tell me where you need me. So now wallace has experienced troops troopers to add to that campaign. He has also got more help because finally by july 6, almost a week after garrett first raised the alarm, grant and Henry Halleck are starting to realize that maybe there is omething going on as reports of the confederate buildup continues, grant and Henry Halleck finally decide something has to be done. So on july 6, they order one division of the sixth army corps to leave the trenches of petersburg. That division is James Ricketts, pretty good veteran, shot in the chest, recovers, and goes on. So if you need one man to do the job. He is a pretty good choice. His men will leave petersburg, go to city point, load onto steamers, and make their way to baltimore. But halleck continues to hesitate. Send an army ot corps until there is a greater necessity. If you ask me, there is a necessity because there is nobody but these 2500 men, hodgepodge, at the monocacy. And Henry Halleck is still doing the bean counting. Here is a union regimen, here is a union division. That will continue to delay the union response. Uly 7 of 1864, wallace has broken the middle department barrier. He has decided he is not going to be at the monocacy river, which is on the righthand side of the map. He goes into frederick, which is technically franz sigels reserve department, and he decides, we are going to fight here. On july 7, he sends an irregular cavalry unit, loudoun angers, up to the mountain passes to hold the passage. What is going to be interesting what is going to be interesting is that the vanguard of the Confederate Army is Bradley Johnsons brigade of maryland cavalry. What you have are unionist virginians fighting against secessionist maryland. So they flip. Fighting will begin around middletown between the passes of South Mountain and the catoctin. The rangers are not ready to fight these confederate veterans, so they fall back. Bradley johnson will fall with them. So the fighting will continue around the fields outside frederick, becomes known as the battle of west frederick on july 7. Wallace will deploy other units and together, they will help drive back Bradley Johnson by the evening of july 7. What is happening here is wallace is continuing to delay. He realizes, if we can hold on for a little while, we might get reinforcements. He has already been aided by franz sigel, who saves the day. It is not a situation you get to say very often. Franz sigel saves the day. Franz sigel, after newmarket, he is put in command of Harpers Ferry. As jubal early moved his man up, he first wanted to use Harpers Ferry as a stepping off point, use the Potomac River and head for the god of washington. If you have ever been to Harpers Ferry, you know the key position as maryland heights. Whoever controls maryland heights, controls Harpers Ferry. In the early days of july 1864, franz sigel controls maryland heights. The Confederate Forces have to march around through sharpsburg where they see the graves of the dead from september 18, 1862 battle. They march through the passes of Military Park<\/a> as an San Bernardino<\/a> then as a seasonal. Hes also a tour guide at ken moore, an Historic House<\/a> in downtown fredericksburg. The thing im most excited about with ryan and there are many things because he is an absolute rising rock star in the vein of kevin pollak. He said i love this story of monocracy and he started writing about lew wallace and monocracy and he was fascinated by it. And the emerging civil war gave him the opportunity to explore that passion and you could absolutely see it in the way that his research came together, in the way that he told the story and story and hes opened up what is essentially a littleknown bat until a fresh, exciting and especially relevant way so i would urge you to check out his book, determined to stand and fight the battle of monocracy because ryan clint is determined to tell this story and make you understand why it is one of the pivotal moments of 1864. Ladies and gentlemen, ryan quint. Ryan listen and then there was one. It was the last one of the day. I thank you all for coming out. Ive been getting texts all day from my parents and family in maine. They say stand in front of the camera and wave. Hi, mom. Here we are. With that out of the way. I want to reiterate a question that chris asks this morning about the civil war and monocracy. Whos been to monocracy before . Im excited to see that number of people because most people dont know about monocracy and thats a strange question to ask of a kivel civil war seminar. Its only 45 minutes south of gettysburg and most people hism right back. The story starts in march of 864. The battle is in july. Because that is when ulysses s. Grant comes east to take command of United States<\/a> army. He is going to plan out his campaign. He has decided to headquarter himself with the army of the potomac, take on robert e. Lee straight on. There are going to be a number of other operations in the field. William sherman operates against atlanta, more campaigns in louisiana, more in southwestern virginia. Benjamin butler. Then there is the shenandoah valley, which had been this nuisance to the union army since the very beginning. Stonewall jacksons Valley Campaign<\/a> made a name for himself, constantly union armies being repulsed. Grant wants to stop that once and for all. What hes going to do is plan one offensive under sigel, who will operate in conjunction with the other armies. So while mead and grant and lee fight in the wilderness, sigel will move up the valley. Of course with the sen doha valley, the geography is a little bit weird when youre going up the valley, moving north going down the valley. Sigel is moving south of the valley, and he will be defeated at the battle of newmarket, may 18, 1864, most famous for the involvement of the Virginia Military<\/a> institute cadets who had been marched to the battlefield to take part. The reinforcements used to defeat siegal go and help robert e. Lee around richmond, which would become important because sigel is replaced by this man, david hunter, black david hunter. Hunter is a radical republican in the sense of the word that he does not just want to beat this out, he wants to punish the south. He is going to be given command after the defeat and now it is his objective to neutralize the shenandoah valley. He had celebrated his 59th birthday by getting shot in the face. E has been involved in South Carolina<\/a> by raising black soldiers, so Jefferson Davis<\/a> has declared him a felon, declaring him to be executed or captured on site. It is his objective to take the Valley Campaign<\/a> to the enemy. He is going to move up the shenandoah valley, moving through the valley. He is going to win a crucial battle on june 5, the battle of piedmont, which opened the road to the valley, and continuing moving. As he moves, hes introducing something different. Hes starting to burn. Homes go down in flames. Looting is rampant. That is especially pertinent when he gets to lexington, where the Virginia Military<\/a> institute is. Hunter orders the barracks of the m. I. To be burned. He also orders the home of the governor to be burned. This is a different kind of war in the valley. As word is getting back to robert e. Lee around richmond that hunter is doing this, lee is getting increasingly worried, because the city of lynchburg towards the bottom of the map is crucial. Its a railroad hub. You have multiple railroads converging and heading off to the southern part of the state where you have salt mines and other resources the confederacy needs. In lees words, hunter infested the valley, so like a bug he had to be crushed. On june 12, 1864, he issues orders to jubal early, commanding a second army corps. Those orders are to strike under his force in the rear and if possible, destroy it. Early get those orders on june 12 and will soon start to march and moved by rail to the west and towards lynchburg, as hunter gets closer and closer and closer. Arly moved away from petersburg with about 8,000 men. Healing set with other Confederate Forces<\/a> in the valley, so by the time he gets the lynchburg, he has got 15,000 men are so under his command. Over the course of june 17june 18, early will win the battle of lynchburg, send hunter reeling back into the valley of west virginia. Then jubal early has a decision to make. He goes to stanton to keep an eye on david hunter to see what he is going to do. From stanton, early has a ouple different choices. One, he can stay in the valley and bane be baby sit it, make sure no other union forces move nto attack those resources. He can return to the army of northern virginia, which is getting really engaged around petersburg. Or three, he can move north. He can move down the shenandoah valley. So on june 28 from stanton, early will make his decision. He will write to robert e. Lee, saying, i decided to turn down the valley and proceed according to your instruction to threaten washington, and if i find an opportunity, to take it. That is his objective, hes admitting his objective is to march on washington and take the capital city. He starts to move north, starts to move down the shenandoah valley. There is no opposition because avid hunter has retreated, frans sigel has retreated. He gets all the way to winchester in the lower valley on july 2 before he meets resistance. He has moved all this way without any opposition. His men are looking forward to an opportunity to bring the war once more to an enemy, because t is july of 1864. 1864 is of course, an election year. Every day, every week the Confederate Army<\/a> delays defeat, every day, every week they embarrass union armies, abraham lincolns chances for reelection get dimmer and dimmer. Especially pertinent. If we can get to washington, embarrassed the lincoln administration, maybe those from the northern peace party and the cries will get louder and louder and maybe in november of 1864, lincoln will be defeated. So they start to move further and further. The alarm is not going to be raised by union soldiers, but theyre going to be raised instead by the president of a railroad company. John garrett is president of the baltimore ohio railroad. T the beginning of the war, he is a se sessionist, kind of county supervisor, but above all, garrett likes money. When he sees confederate threats moving closer to the maryland border, he realizes his railroad is in jeopardy, which means his funds are in jeopardy and he is going to start ringing the alarm bell. Hes going to write on june 29 of 1864, i find from various quarters statements of large forces in the valley. Im satisfied the operations and designs of the enemy in the valley demand the greatest vigilance and attention. Garrett is ringing that fire bell saying what do you have . What are you going to do to defend this railroad . This is the redline. This is winchester, north toward Harpers Ferry<\/a>, martinsburg, and often to ohio. He needs somebody to defend that railroad. He was raising that alarm. And that alarm goes to the union high command, goes to ulysses s. Grant and goes to his chief subordinate, who is working in washington as chief of staff, Henry Halleck<\/a>. Both of them dismiss garretts concerns, because as the news and worry of garretts movements come, grant will respond on july 3, earlys corps is now here. Meaning petersburg. There are no troops that can be threatened in hunters department. Telling garrett, dont worry about it, they are probably just marauders. If so, we can deal with them. And if it gets too bad, we can call on david hunter to come east and take command here. David hunter is still in the valley a week away, so time is of the essence as the days tick by as grant and Henry Halleck<\/a> continue to dismiss those concerns. I think ulysses s. Grant is one of the best generals produced by the civil war. He drops the ball in the early days of 1864. His laissezfaire attitude comes perilously close to embarrassing the union work war cause. Frustrated and denied, garrett decides to go see somebody else. That somebody else is, of course, lew wallace. Lew wallace is 37 years old in 864. His headquarters is on utah street, not far from damn camden yards there where the Baltimore Orioles<\/a> play. Ew wallace is bored. Not far from camden yards there where the Baltimore Orioles<\/a> play. Lew wallace is bored. He has been put in the middle of the department in baltimore in administrative capacity. He has got political connections and is there to keep baltimore in check. Baltimore, since the beginning of the war, has been a nuisance, a thorn in the union war effort. You have the famous riots in 1861 and this kind of dissonance that simmers from the top. Wallace had been sent to baltimore in march of 1864 to keep a lid on that dissonance. But he is bored, like i said. He writes to his wife as the Campaign Season<\/a> gets underway, soon will be heard the thunder of captains, the sound of the trumpets, and the shout, and i will not be there. Almost like this guy writes ben hur 15 years later. Ryan so he is bored. And in that mindset is when john garrett arrived and knocks on his front door at the headquarters of the hotel and explains the situation. This is wallaces chance to come to the front. But wallace has got some problems. He has got some emotional baggage that hes bringing with him, because grant and halleck pretty much hate this man. We dont have a lot of time to get into it, but wallace had been part of grants army in the spring of 1862. In the battle of shihloh. To this day, controversy rages, but on the first day of the battle of shiloh, wallace had been given orders to come to grant aid as Confederate Forces<\/a> attacked the confederate camps. And grant will insist that wallace is lost. Wallace will insist you have the right idea by marching around the landscape around pittsburgh landing. Henry halleck hates lew wallace because he is not from west point. Henry halleck basically has one condition to like you or not are you a west point graduate . If not, you are not worth the time of day. When wallace had been given command in baltimore, purely administrative, Henry Halleck<\/a> had written, it seems little better than murder to give important commands to such men as lew wallace, yet seems impossible to prevent it. Halleck is wringing his hands over these perceived political connections. With john garrett coming to baltimore and saying, i need help on my railroad, lew wallace is it. If he asks grant or Henry Halleck<\/a> for help, what are they going to say . Dont worry about it, it is not our job. Wallace will try and return that nolove lost kind of situation. He writes about Henry Halleck<\/a> that he had no genius except as a marplot, at which he was incomparable. I had to look up marplot. A marplot is someone who ruins a plan by being meddlesome. He is basically calling him a busybody. You have got these barbs going back and forth, writing back and forth and in that type of kind of political topsyturvy attitude, that is when garrett comes into play. You have the same man complaining about thunder and shouts and his not being there, garrett is his opportunity to go to the front. So he promises garrett that he is going to defend that railroad. And especially he is going to defend the railroad at the crossing of the monocacy river. The western boundary is the monocacy river. He cannot officially go across that river. Monocacy is his boundary. He is going to say to garrett, im going to go to monocacy, im going to defend your Iron Railroad<\/a> bridge. And im going to do that. So at midnight on july 5, without telling anybody, wallace grabs one staff officer, hops on a train, and rides out to be monocacy junction. It is important he does not tell Henry Halleck<\/a> because he is worried he is going to be told no. So he does it anyway. Hes going to do first, ask permission later kind of attitude. It is ok to have an attitude about getting ready for a fight. It is another thing to be ready and prepared for a fight. Wallaces department is connected to the eighth army corps. The corps was being increasingly generous. Wallace only has about 2,500 men at his disposal. These are not hardline veteran soldiers, they are a 100 day militia unit raised in maryland, raised in ohio, brought to baltimore to hold those fourthdown while everybody else is stripped increment to grant for the overland campaign. The good news is, wallace has a pretty good secondincommander, bernard tyler, who is also not west point trained, so they have a mutual distrust for west point. Tyler also has political baggage. Andrew humphries hates this man, brought him up for courtmartial at fredericksburg. So here you have a shunned commander and a hated commander and in their hands lies the defense of the monocacy, the defense of washington. Tyler will be sent to monocacy with those 2,500 men with wallace joining him soon after. You can see the railroad bridge between the hills. You can see the federal soldiers starting to build block houses and rifle pits because they are waiting for the confederate force. As of yet, theyre not really sure whats coming. Then some help arrives. On july 6 of 1864, this man David Clendenin<\/a> arrives with the eighth illinois calvary. You have got veteran troopers arriving to help out lew wallace. David clendenin does not report to wallace, but when he arrives on the field, wallace explains the situation and hes does, you got it, tell me where you need me. So now wallace has experienced troops troopers to add to that campaign. He has also got more help because finally by july 6, almost a week after garrett first raised the alarm, grant and Henry Halleck<\/a> are starting to realize that maybe there is omething going on as reports of the confederate buildup continues, grant and Henry Halleck<\/a> finally decide something has to be done. So on july 6, they order one division of the sixth army corps to leave the trenches of petersburg. That division is James Ricketts<\/a>, pretty good veteran, shot in the chest, recovers, and goes on. So if you need one man to do the job. He is a pretty good choice. His men will leave petersburg, go to city point, load onto steamers, and make their way to baltimore. But halleck continues to hesitate. Send an army ot corps until there is a greater necessity. If you ask me, there is a necessity because there is nobody but these 2500 men, hodgepodge, at the monocacy. And Henry Halleck<\/a> is still doing the bean counting. Here is a union regimen, here is a union division. That will continue to delay the union response. Uly 7 of 1864, wallace has broken the middle department barrier. He has decided he is not going to be at the monocacy river, which is on the righthand side of the map. He goes into frederick, which is technically franz sigels reserve department, and he decides, we are going to fight here. On july 7, he sends an irregular cavalry unit, loudoun angers, up to the mountain passes to hold the passage. What is going to be interesting what is going to be interesting is that the vanguard of the Confederate Army<\/a> is Bradley Johnson<\/a>s brigade of maryland cavalry. What you have are unionist virginians fighting against secessionist maryland. So they flip. Fighting will begin around middletown between the passes of South Mountain<\/a> and the catoctin. The rangers are not ready to fight these confederate veterans, so they fall back. Bradley johnson will fall with them. So the fighting will continue around the fields outside frederick, becomes known as the battle of west frederick on july 7. Wallace will deploy other units and together, they will help drive back Bradley Johnson<\/a> by the evening of july 7. What is happening here is wallace is continuing to delay. He realizes, if we can hold on for a little while, we might get reinforcements. He has already been aided by franz sigel, who saves the day. It is not a situation you get to say very often. Franz sigel saves the day. Franz sigel, after newmarket, he is put in command of Harpers Ferry<\/a>. As jubal early moved his man up, he first wanted to use Harpers Ferry<\/a> as a stepping off point, use the Potomac River<\/a> and head for the god of washington. If you have ever been to Harpers Ferry<\/a>, you know the key position as maryland heights. Whoever controls maryland heights, controls Harpers Ferry<\/a>. In the early days of july 1864, franz sigel controls maryland heights. The Confederate Forces<\/a> have to march around through sharpsburg where they see the graves of the dead from september 18, 1862 battle. They march through the passes of South Mountain<\/a>, where they see the graves of the fighting that dr. Jordan talked about last night. Then they come down the passes. As more soldiers continue to build up in South Mountain<\/a>, wallace is starting to get reinforcements. On july 8, those first soldiers of ricketts command arrive. An interesting thing about this is the fact that they were not ordered to help wallace. Their objective was the land in baltimore, get on trains, and go to Harpers Ferry<\/a>. To go to Harpers Ferry<\/a>, you have to go through monocacy. Wallace will wave down the first train. A man named William Henry<\/a> will come off the train and demand, who stopped this strain, on Whose Authority<\/a> . Wallace says, my authority. He will explain the situation and henry will agree, i am needed more here than Harpers Ferry<\/a>. Other Subsequent Union<\/a> arrivals will also offload epimonocacy junction. Through the evening of july 8 into the morning of july 9, ricketts two rates set to arrive on the field and was is getting ready. Already reported back to washington on july 7 from the fighting around west frederick, ive had the best little fight of the war. His adrenaline is pretty up. He is feeling good about delaying the Confederate Forces<\/a>. His reinforcements continued to come. Confederate reinforcements continued to come, both sides building themselves up. Wallaces feelgood attitude starts to slip away a little bit. In the mountain passes of South Mountain<\/a>, you can see the dust buildup. More and more of jubal earlys forces are coming down from sharpsburg up the southbound passes and down towards frederick. Those 15,000 confederates with 35 to 45 cannons. Wallaces force, 6500 men, six to seven cannons. He realizes the frederick side of the monopoly river is not the place to fight the battle. So what he will do is move back on the evening of july 8, he will write breckenridge, jubal earlys secondincommand, breckenridge is moving down the washington pike toward urbana within six miles of that point. I will withdraw from frederick, put myself in a position to cover the road to washington if necessary. On the night of july 8 under the cover of a massive rainstorm, he falls back across the monocacy river, because he knows that the get to washington or baltimore, jubal early needs to cross the monopoly. Wallace can hold the monocacy ford long enough to get reinforcements to both of those cities. By the morning of saturday, july 9, wallaces 6500 men have fallen back to their position. He has tyler covering what is called the stonebridge over the Baltimore National<\/a> turnpike. The majority of ricketts men covering the georgetown pike approach to washington. All wallace needs to do now is wait. Kevin talked earlier about a strike, find the advantage to attack. Wallace is not doing that, he is going to wait for the confederates to come. As wallace explained in his memoir, he says, now there is nobody between early and washington but us. If we can maintain ourselves here and by hook or crook get 36 or 40 hours on early, that added to the marching required of him will give general grant ample time to get a corps or two into washington. Every second he can hold the ford is another hour to allow reinforcements to washington. As the story that Benjamin Franklin<\/a> cooling rights, the abiding theme about monocacy remains that of time. Every minute, every second, every hour comes into play. The battle will begin. The battle will begin early in the morning of saturday, july 9, as battles mostly due. It will continue into 9 00 and 10 00 a. M. Around 10 00, confederate cavalry discover the fort on the south side of battlefield that allows them a chance to get across the river and maybe wrap up the union mine. Two things about that. One, confederate soldiers do not know that you have Union Veterans<\/a> from the potomac on the field. Two, jubal early is not on the field either. I criticized ulysses s. Grant earlier. Now i will criticize jubal early. He basically plays no part in the battle of monocacy, loses sight of the bigger picture. He stays in frederick, jubal early does, and haggles with the town leaders. There is nobody at the front calling the larger shots for the first few hours of the fight. The confederate cavalry brigade that crosses around 10 00 a. M. At the ford is playing a game of blind mans bluff. They are riding without anybody calling the shots. They expect militia they can wipe off the map pretty easily. Theyre going to run into our James Ricketts<\/a> two brigades from the infantry of the potomac. As those virginia troopers advanced towards what is called the worthington and thomas farms on monocacy battlefield, ricketts men will rate and wait for the men to get to an 50 yards away, 100 yards away, then opened fire. A witness, a sixyearold Glenn Worthington<\/a> watching from his family farm, says he watched from a distance the whole rebel line disappear as it was called up from the earth. Except several riderless horses galloping about, the attacking force had vanished. The virginians will reel back in confusion and retreat toward the worthington farm where they started their attack, then start to reform and tried again. At 2 00 p. M. Every second, every minute, every hour. They will attack for the thomas farm this time, fighting handtohand, union reinforcements being rushed up from the georgetown pike. A Union Officer<\/a> will say, with a heavy loss of the brick house especially on our left, when the road and yard were filled with dead and dying. They will push back one more time around 2 30. By that time, the fighting has also spread to the north side of battlefield. Eric wittenberg made sure i mentioned the Ohio National<\/a> guard. They do work on the northern side the battlefield. Tyler on the 144th, 149th ohio mounted infantry. Skirmish heavily in the field outside of frederick. Tugting then came the of war. Wallace stays inn. Warren the defensive. To what will become the climax. F the battle of menache infantryconfederate crossing. It is the division of John Brown Gordon<\/a> who commands the remnants once was mighty stonewall brigade. Brigades, 3500 men, the heartiest of the hearty. At 3 30 p. M. , they attack. Describe,k, i like to is a standup knockdown fight. Out. Ave veterans duking it game is the name of the entrenchment. There is no time at my nokia monocacy. Yorker will talk about that fight. The bullets flew like hailstone. Gordons own brother is wounded in front of the georgetown pike. As the confederates continue to back toward fall the georgetown pike. Over years of travel, it has sunken down. This is their final position. Gordons men attack and again, they trade shots. The flag goes down, flag goes up. 5 00, gordons men continue to attack. By now, they are starting to gain ground. Out. Ammunition is running 5 00, they break back towards the baltimore pike. Himself pulls out. An cover the retreat for those experienced veterans. 1200 unionbout losses and a thousand confederate losses. The battlefield is left scarred and bloodied. Soldiers talk about how it is a tremendous experience for in horrendous experience. Thing lewe last wallace ever wrote. His memoirs were unfinished when he died. His wife tells us where he was in the manuscript when he died. He was willing himself to tell about the battle of monocacy before he died. Defeated, talkis about a great defense. Every second, every minute, every hour counts. The rest of the union loads up on those steamers and make their way toward washington. Their objective is change. The legitimate threat is washington, d. C. He comes toward the tail end of the campaign. Forced to clean it up on the night of july 9, july 10. Making a beeline to the outer limits of washington, d. C. It is extremely hot on july 10. The soldiers drop out from heat stroke. Stop on july 10. 11, he reached the outskirts of washington, what was called 7th avenue today is called georgia avenue. Of 68gton has a string forts but those sports do not mean anything but those sports dont mean anything if they are empty forts dont mean anything if they are empty. Know how to load a musket. Starts to skirmish outside the outskirts of washington. Fighting stiffens because as early arrives on the fields looking at his binoculars, he the flag starting to mount the ramparts have greek crosses on them. They arrive on july 11 and start offloading. Lincoln is there personally waiting for them. You cannot be late if you want to get early. What lincoln doesnt know is nearby is a steamer called baltimore waiting in the wings. Baltimore sole objective is to get lincoln on it and whisk him off. He is angry when he finds out the baltimore is waiting for him. One soldier writes, we never washington, an hour before, was in panic. Subsided andt confidence prevailed. The union soldiers, veterans of. He wilderness and petersburg that night, early will have a conference with his manders and he explodes commanders and he explodes at them. You have ruined our whole campaign. He is frustrated. By july 12, now those forts were isly manned and the position sealed shut. On the night of july 12, the morning of july 13, early will start to fall back. July 14, the campaign for ends. Ngton a july 14 is one year since the battle of falling waters. Talk about gettysburg as the last invasion of the north. Not quite. There is this massive attack coming forward. What about lew wallace . Goes back to baltimore. They did not take part in the battle of fort stevens. He will lose his job in the aftermath of the battle. Henry halleck uses this as an opportunity to fire him. You fought a battle without instructions. You lost a battle without instructions. For about two weeks, before the realization sets in that monocacy is a big deal and he gets the job done. The preservation is coming back. It is a defense for his reputation, a reputation that had been shattered and torn and beaten up by Henry Halleck<\/a> and it is suddenly restored. Haveis continues, you people start to blame others. Will focus inlite on who is to blame. And he blames Henry Halleck<\/a>. How can stanton have any confidence in Henry Halleck<\/a> . Lew wallaces star will rise. I will give ulysses s. Grant the last word. He was finishing his memoirs. No tellingthere is how much this result was contributed to by general lew wallace. If early had been one day earlier, they mightve been to the capital before the reinforcements. Benefitefeat, a greater to the cause to render by means of a victory. We talk about great defenses. A great defense does not have to be a victory. Worthington, who had watched the booke, titles his fighting for time. Lew wallace rides into the sunset. You will become a territorial governor. Selling american novel. Monocacy will be his legacy. I want to thank you so much. We are all set. [applause] lets give ryan a couple of questions. What do you say . You know the routine by now. Idea why have any lew and lou rollas wallace retreat eastward . Is hisaltimore responsibility. He cannot just leave the city. As gordon will attack, it is a matter of, you have to. They will almost seal off the georgetown pike. By the time the order is given, they cannot retreat because they retreat back toward baltimore crosscountry. They will ride into the eight illinois. They are the only ones to go down the georgetown pike. Everyone else is forced to. I am jim from williamsburg. I just loved your presentation. Can you tell us some of the details in that twoweek period when he was relieved of command . What back orders took over . Ryan right. Is going to get relieved of command for the eighth army corps. Administrative capacity but we will take your soldiers. That will take that will strike a low blow because he loves combat. Lk a little whilettl in baltimore. For that twoweek period, he found himself in command of a city with no soldiers trying to figure out his place in this post defeat. By the spring of 1865, his star begins to shoot up. He will be secondincommand for the lincoln assassination trial. His star goes down after monocacy and then goes back up and continues to rise up. That twoweek period is kind of awkward. One final question. I am from richmond. Betweens a dispute wallace and grant because what . Appened at shiloh did history ever determine you was right and who was wrong . Ryan 155 years later, you still have camp a and camp b. Spent the last years of his life trying to clear his name. It will continue to this day. History has started to swing toward wallace. My greatest fortune. Th grant will kind of admit that he was right. Grant when lew wallace used t thought he wasma thoug moving in the wrong direction. By 1885, when grant is writing his memoirs, some of these chapters are cutouts of his articles. Notes. Es end read footnotes. To this day, you will have historians who go back and forth. Toward s swinging the pendulum is swinging toward lew wallace. [applause] you are watching american 40 eight hours of programming on American History<\/a> every weekend on cspan 3. Follow us on twitter for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. He was wearing military camouflage. On his hip, he had a semi automatic handgun. He came in and was followed by the grand dragon. He had a dark blue suit and tie. When he turned the corner and saw me, he froze. Mr. Kelly bumped into his back. They stumbled and regained their balance. I knew what they were thinking. This was an ambush. I went like this and i approached him. For the past 30 years, Darrell Davis<\/a> has befriended ku klux klan members to understand their hatred and convince them they are wrong. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on q a on cspan. American history tv is on cspan 3 every weekend featuring archival films and programs on the presidency. Here is a clip from a recent program. Calls spanish inquisition i will tell you everything i know about myself. I would for if you would allow me not to mention other peoples names. Dont present to me with this choice of either being in contempt of this khamenei or going to jail of this committee or going to jail. Or forcing me to crawl through informer. D be an i do not think this is american. It is more a can to what happened a kin to what happened under hiller. [inaudible] about 1945. This is what i have been talking about. Longer fighting for myself. I am probably the most completely ruined man u have ever seen. Ruined man you have ever seen. This is what i have been talking about. I do not believe it benefits this committee to force me to do this. I do not believe it benefits this committee or its purposes to force me to do this. It, iest feeling about dont think this is fair play. I dont think it is in the spirit of real americanism. These are not people that are a danger to this country, gentlemen. They are people that i knew. They are people like myself. I direct the witness to answer the question. I do not refuse to answer the question but i feel the committee is doing a dreadful thing that i dont believe the American People<\/a> will look at kindly. This is my opinion. I do not think they will consider this an honest and in the spirit of fair play. If you would just answer the question, please. You can watch this and other programs on our website for all of our video is archived. Cspan. Org history. Patricia limerick of the university of colorado boulder teaches a class to educators about westward expansion and the closing of the American West<\/a> in the 20th century. She talks about how the west has been per trade as wild and describes how the government totched from doling out land him brawling it to preserving it under the umbrella of different federal departments. Exploration of progressive era responses to what was understood to be the end of the front tier. If we have time, we will get to a massive adventure and applied history where i got to go to hardee county","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia800403.us.archive.org\/35\/items\/CSPAN3_20171119_001000_The_Civil_War_Union_Gen._Lew_Wallaces_Monocacy_Defense\/CSPAN3_20171119_001000_The_Civil_War_Union_Gen._Lew_Wallaces_Monocacy_Defense.thumbs\/CSPAN3_20171119_001000_The_Civil_War_Union_Gen._Lew_Wallaces_Monocacy_Defense_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240630T12:35:10+00:00"}