Who writes his memoir 40 years after the fact, writes it in a flowery 19th century flowery style. When wallace says they arrived here in the morning and lit their camp fires, hell Say Something like, you know, the ste ste steely ska gave way to the orange sun and which was great. You have to balance what wallace says in his memoir with his telegrams from the battlefield. His after reaction report two weeks later because wallace had a way of making himself sound really good. And, you know, he did a very brave thing here. Cant get away from that. And as i say in the book, i believe and i think the judgment of history is that what wallace did here did safe washington, d. C. So this battle took place on july 9th, 1864 and right now its november 2nd, 2007. Its a beautiful day. But one thing to keep in mind about this battle is it was very, very hot. They didnt have thermometers, at least no one referred to a thermometer in their memoirs, but it had to have been in the upper 90s and very, very humid. Wallace set up on the east bank of the river in high ground so he could over look the entire battlefield and he was on the other side of the river which made it difficult to be attacked. It was a good defensive position. He had 2800 men that had joined just for 100 days. None of them had ever fired a weapon in anger before. It was a pretty gutsy thing, if you think about it. A corps of troops is heading their way and he sets up 2800 insurance experienced troops and hes begging washington to send him more troops and thats finally what happened when grant sent him the troops. So those troops got here at 1 00 in the morning on july 9th and now wallace had about 6500 troops, included experienced six corps men. He knew what to do with them. I think were going to go down to the banks of the river and well talk about what happened when the battle started. Were at the very edge of the battlefield and this monument was dedicated to honor the confederates who died here. Route 355 today runs through the battlefield as it did then. It was northern as the georgetown pike. But what didnt go through the battlefield back then, of course, was interstate 270, which i think you can see it right over the edge of the horizon. This is where the confederate was during the battle. Its just an unfortunate thing that the interstate highway runs through this entire battlefield. I think theyve done a terrific job interpret prettying it. They have a lot of the fields where it took place but its a difficult battle to envision. One reason being it took place in several different places at one time and the interstate highway goes right through it. This is the actual junction itself. You can see it down there. And the bridge on route 355 was the old Covered Bridge over the junction this is where some of the most brutal fighting of the battle took place later on in the day when a group of vermont soldiers took a stand against some of earlys top troops. They were in a very good Strategic Point down there. I dont know if its that easy to see. But the confederates came this way and the vermont soldiers, there werent many of them. There was like a company of them. And they held off a regiment of earlys troops for hours before they finally had to flee. And they had to flee back up the Railroad Track and then over the old railroad bridge which we cant see from here. The railroad bridge did not have a bed. It had just Railroad Ties. The vermont soldiers were being fired upon by the confederates had to run across the Railroad Ties over the river with the water 40 feet below. It was a dramatic point of the battle. Two vermont soldiers received a medal of honor for their actions that day. Right where were standing now is where the men put up their stand against the confederate troops that came straight down that a way from where the tracks are. This is where they held them. This is known as the monocacy junction men. The old train station was was right blind us over here. And, in fact, these are the tracks that the troops came down from baltimore. After the vermonters couldnt take it anymore, they fled down the tracks, around the bend and the old railroad bridge that they had to use to flee for their lives while they were being shot at by the confederates. The farm that you see behind me has been restored by the National Park service to the way it looked the day of the battle, july 9th, 1864. This was the full field battle of monocacy. And what youre hearing is interstate 270 in the background. But what was here then was corn fields and wheat fields and they were crisscrossed by farm fences. It was not an ideal place to have a battle, especially if you were attacking, which the southerners were. Behind me, general mccausland, they came right behind me and they got off their horse. Because, i guess, of the conditions in the field here. So there was a dismounted calvary and they charged the union through the farm fields over here. They didnt know it was the sixth corps men. The sixth corps men experienced Union Soldiers who war waiting for them and it was carnage. The southerners got chopped down and had to retreat. And they went back that way again. Now, most of gordons brigade was way back at the best farm where we first started here, where the artillery was here. They didnt think they were going to get into battle. Jubal early did not want to fight a battle here. We wanted to invade washington. Hes only 40 miles away from it now. But wallace forced him, he blocked him along the river. Early held as many troops back here as he could. Early wasnt even here when the battle started. He was in the city of frederic extorting money from the fathers. Mccauslands charge does not work, they flee back here, they charge again, they get repulsed again and then gordon brings all of his troops here and this is where the most fighting of the battle took place. Gordon called it the sharpest fight he was in in the civil war. And he was in antietam and he was in the wilderness. The river ran red with blood. When it was over there were about 1300 Union Casualties killed, wounded and captured and about 800 confederate killed and wounded. And most of it took place here and then on the thomas farm, which is the next farm over. A young the family hid in the basement during the fight, and a young 6yearold boy glenn worthing ton saw everything that happened, as did his father and family, and he wrote a book about it later. Its one of our best descriptions of what happened on this battle. And later in Glenn Worthington was one of the people that influenced congress to set aside this land to be a national battlefield. Back to the battle itself, of course early prevailed, he outnumbered 14,000 to 6500. Wallace about 4 00 retreated, went up towards baltimore. It was very hot. Early let his men rest on the battlefield that night. They buried their dead, took care of the wounded, took prisoners toward frederic and then south. On the next morning, july 10th, 1864, they started their march towards washington, d. C. It only took us about an hour to get here. But well pick up the story. Early they spent that night on the battlefield, july 9th. July 10th they march as far as rockville, which is about 10 or 15 miles, maybe 20 at the most. Dont forget, i was really very hot and they were tired and they had been marching since june 13th. So they camped in rockville and gaithersburg. Those are busy suburbs now. Rockville was a little town and early tried to get some money from the city fathers of rockville. Some units from washington came out to. The next morning he made it out here to the outskirts of ft. Stevens. If you can picture washington, d. C. , shaped like a diamond. We are right at the top of the diamond in northwest portion of washington, d. C. Early at about noontime was at the gates, out of the gates of ft. Stevens right out here. We had the capitol dome in his sights at noontime. What did he see . He saw this fort and was connected to several other forts around here. It looked impregnable. And he saw troops there. Now, early did not know that these were hundred days men and the call went out for civilians to come out and help man the barricades. And so you had clerks from the state department, men from the Quarter Master corps, people who had never fired a weapon in their life. When you read about descriptions of who was at the forts, the word motley comes up more than once. But early did not know this. His men were strung out way along back on the georgetown pike sorry, the 7th street pike. They had cut off the georgetown pike, what is now wheaten, maryland, and they cut over here to 7th street pike which is Georgia Avenue. So early, uncharacteristically for him decided not to invade. But early did cause trouble. They had their artillery and there were fighting that went on with artillery that day, july 11th and into that night. This was all we are now in the city of washington, d. C. Its not urban washington, d. C. , but its definitely city. And but back then this was all farms out here. This is hardly considered part of washington, d. C. , because washington was down there where the white house is and downtown and georgetown and so on. They had cleared trees out for firing along the outside of fort steven stevent stevent steven. Stevens. But this was all farmland. And people from washington came out to see what all of the excitement was about, including president lincoln. Fort stevens was one of it might have been the most extensive of the defenses of washington. Now, there were 67 of them. Not all of them were as extensive as this one. There was a magazine. There was barracks. It was enclosed on all four sides. Some of them werent even enclosed. Some of them were pointing out towards the defenses. Kind of rudimentary. But they were built up very heavily and they were all connected. But ft. Stevens it was at the gate of washington, d. C. , at the very tip of the northern diamond, if you think of washington as shaped like a diamond. It was heavily defended or heavily fortified and wasnt heavily defended until the sixth corps got up here late in the afternoon on july 11th. This is, more or less, been reconstructed but its more or less what it looked like on july 11th, 1864, with earlys artillery out there, the Union Artillery here, and skirm mishing going on and the citizens of washington coming up to see what it was all about. And that included president lincoln. And the plaque that you see says lincoln under fire, ft. Stevens. Now, that also happened on july 11th. July 11th, lincoln was here and this represents the only time in American History when a sitting u. S. President came under fire in a shooting war. Right here on this very spot. And this confederate Sharp Shooters were out there. Dont forget, this was all farm land. It was cleared. And back there, trust me, is walter reid army medical center. And on the grounds at walter reid theres a tree with a plaque on it that supposedly says that this is where the confederate sharp shooter shot at lincoln. The same thing happened on the second day, on july 12th. Thats what that plaque represents, a Union Surgeon by the name of crawford was standing next to lincoln, probably right here. And was shot in the leg. Thats when lincoln was ordered down from the pit at ft. Stevens. Lincoln, 64 and the stovepipe hat made a pretty tempting target. The legend has been that someone yelled, get down you damn fool and i have a whole chapter in the book about that incident. Basically, well, i came to the conclusion that thats a story. It didnt come out until 1928. It was published in an article in Atlantic Monthly in 1928. Supposedly holmes had been telling it privately. You have to be suspicious of something that comes out after the fact. So i looked into it and i have a little chapter in the book and im going back to letters that were written at the time, memoirs that were written shortly after the war. Yes, lincoln did stand here and, yes, someone did yell at him to come down. More than likely, it was general horati wright who said this in 1866. He didnt say, get down you fool or say that he said that. But i go over that in the book. Its an interesting story and is not true. Early is at the gates over here outside ft. Stevens with the capitol dome in his sight. At that moment grant, the day before they had finally ascended and the rest of the sixth corps along with 19th the 19th corps went down in new orleans. They were going to the outskirts of richmond. Instead they stayed on the train, went up to city point with the rest of the sixth carps, got on ships, went out james river, up the Potomac River, got off at sixth street. Visits were there to greet them, including president lincoln. Gave them ice water and sandwiches. They cheered we have been saved. The sixth corps was here. Because people were panicking when they heard that the confederates were out at the gates. The sixth corps marched up georgia salve, went by the places we know, the smithsonian and government buildings out here. They took part in the fighting that happened on july 11th and that fighting went on into the night. After that, early held a council of war out in Silver Springs which is a couple of miles from here, at the mansion of blair its not the blair mansion. Its called silver spring. It was the blair mansion. The blair family, they owned blair house down by the white house. They were out of town. They had gone fishing in pennsylvania. Now early held a counsel of war that night with his generals, rhodes, gordon and breckenridge. John c. Breckenridge was the former Vice President of the United States under buchanan. He was a confederate general. He had been in that house before and knew where the wine cellar was some so early and the men drank up the blairs wine that night and decided on the next morning, july 12th they would come here bright and early and decide whether or not to attack. They did that. He this time early could see that the sixth corps was here. They had a distinctive patch. He again did not invade. However, there was more fighting, there was squirmishing, artillery exchanges. Men were killed. There were 300 Union Casualties. Were going to Union Cemetery a little later. We dont know officially how many confederate dead and wounded. But it had to be that many or if not more. When the union troops got up on the morning of july 13th, they looked out here and earlys army was gone. He retraced his steps, went through Montgomery County and crossed the potomac at whites ford. Theres a ferry boat now that goes across the potomac and the name of that ferry boat is called jubal early. Thats really where my story ends, on july 13th, 1864, a month after early june 13th had left richmond to go on this fourpart mission. This is Georgia Avenue that you just looked at which is the route that early came down. And two years after the war this cemetery was built. Its the second smallest National Cemetery. 40 Union Soldiers are buried in graves behind me there in the circle. And these are monuments to some of the units that served at the battle of fort stevens. But its a place that i would easily estimate that hundreds of thousands of people drive by every year and do not even know is here. I mean were just off of george ga avenue. Theres only a small sign. And its the final resting place for 40 Union Soldiers killed at fight here in washington, d. C. In a battle that people just dont know about. If youre stuck at the traffic light where 16th street hits georgia and youre in the righthand lane and you turn to your right, you can read the inscription on this monument to the confederate soldiers that were killed. Its a monument to a mass grave of confederate soldiers who were killed outside of ft. Stevens. It was moved there when the church was moved in the earlier 20th century, i believe. And it also stands right off of Georgia Avenue, which is a heavily traveled commuter road in and out of washington, d. C. Consider what could have happened with an entire corps of troops let loose in washington, d. C. , lean and hungry confederate troops. The treasury was there for the looting. The treasury department. They could have burned the capitol. You know, the navy department, which lincoln did not know, had a ship waiting provision for him in the potomac to take him out of the town. Think about what could have happened to the union cause had there been confederates running loose in the streets of washington, d. C. Dont forget, lincoln was fighting for his political life ed it at this time. The president ial election of 1864 was just a few months away. He had to choose a democrat for his running mate, Andrew Johnson of tennessee. No one thought he was going to win that election. This really would have killed any chances that lincoln could and think about this, too, the english and the french were sort of looking for an excuse to come in on the side of the confederacy. They didnt have cnn or cspan back then but they had newspapers and this guy wouldnt have been good for the union cause had headlines splashed around the country and around the world that confederates were loose in the streets of washington, d. C. Number one, i do believe that what lew wallace did at monocacy stopped this from happening. He was released from his command after this battle but grant within two weeks reinstated him and grant writes in his memoirs, had wallace not on his own come down and blocked early for the day, early very, very well could have caused havoc in washington, d. C. So this is the battle that saved washington and changed the course of American History. You know, think about it, lees fourth objective and probably his most important in his mind was to try to force grant to take troops out from around richmond and petersburg. Grand didnt want to do it and waited until the last minute and finally did it and the number of troops went down drastically from like 137,000 at the end of june to almost like 70,000 two months later. This was grants grand plan to end the war. Yes, it did work but it didnt work until april of 65. If lee had not forced grant to do this, i really believe that the war