In the summer of 1864, John W. Garrett, President of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad came to see General Lew Wallace. Mr. Garrett expressed concern for the safety of Washington (as well as his railroad). His personnel were reporting detachments of Confederate troops in the Shenandoah Valley and, according to him, such appearances were precursors of trouble. General Wallace decided to go to the western limit of his command, the Monocacy River, southwest of Frederick, Maryland. Upon his arrival at the blockhouse guarding the rail junction (Monocacy Junction) he found the country alive with rumor. A Confederate army, reported to be between 5,000 and 35,000 men strong, was thought to have crossed the Potomac River on the 2nd or 3rd of July. Its exact whereabouts and destination were both unknown. The civilians that General Wallace sent to gather information were turned back by rebel cavalry at every pass in the mountains west of Frederick. Wallace believed this cavalry was screening a larger army.
Two miles north of the junction, a stone bridge called the Jug Bridge crossed the Monocacy carrying the National Road that led to Baltimore. At the junction there was an iron railroad bridge and a few hundred yards southwest of it the wooden covered bridge of the Georgetown Pike, the road to Washington. Any invading army intent on Washington or Baltimore would have to come this way. After brief consideration, General Wallace believed that Washington was the objective and he began putting the men he had in place.
On July 9, 1864, 6,500 troops under the command of General Wallace met 14,000 battle –hardened veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Jubal Early, on the farm fields near Monocacy Junction. Confederate troops held the field at day’s end, but Wallace and his men had delayed them long enough that reinforcements sent by Union general-in-chief Ulysses Grant would reach the lightly-defended U.S. capital just in time. Early’s plans to capture Washington were quashed. The battle of Monocacy is now known as the “battle that saved Washington.” General Grant later wrote that Wallace had done more for the cause by losing this battle than many generals had accomplished by winning.
Many years later General Wallace encountered one of the Confederate commanders, J. B. Gordon at a White House reception. Gordon told Wallace he was the only Yankee who ever whipped him. Wallace replied that, in the end, his men ran from the field. “In that sense you are right,” Gordon countered, “but you snatched Washington out of our hands.” It was the only Confederate victory on Union soil during the war.
As the Battle of Monocacy loomed, the city of Washington panicked. One of the men in Wallace’s small army was Colonel William Seward, son of Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Henry Seward, and the commander of the hard-fighting Ninth New York Heavy Artillery. Seward’s regiment was in the middle of the Moncacy battle and according to Wallace’s official report the Ninth New York had 102 killed and wounded with 99 missing for a total of 201 casualties. Seward’s family, in Washington, received continuing reports from the battlefield and was well aware of Wallace’s valiant defense but ultimate defeat.
The Secretary of State stayed at the War Department reading telegrams coming in from the battle until almost midnight. He had just returned home when Secretary of War Edwin Stanton arrived at the Seward residence to tell the family that there were reports that young William was wounded and taken prisoner. Colonel Seward’s brother, Augustus, left early the next day to go to Baltimore in an effort to ascertain the truth of the rumors. Based on reports he could gather, Augustus determined that his brother had been wounded, but not captured—although his whereabouts were unknown in the panic and chaos that was gripping both Washington and Baltimore.
By that evening there was a telegram at the Seward home from General Wallace: “I have the pleasure of contradicting my statement of last night. Colonel Seward is not a prisoner, and I am now told he is unhurt. He behaved with rare gallantry.” While Colonel Seward was reported safe on July 10, Washington definitely was not—Jubal Early’s veterans were marching on the city. On July 11, Early’s army arrived in front of Ft. Stevens, the northernmost fort in Washington’s defensive chain. Early could see the flag flying on the dome of the U.S. Capitol.
The city was in real jeopardy because Grant’s reinforcements had not yet arrived, but luck was on the Union side because Early delayed his attack. Grant’s reinforcements arrived on the night of the 11th and battled with Early’s men on July 12. During this fighting, Lincoln arrived at Ft. Stevens and insisted on watching the action from the ramparts. He was thus completely exposed to Confederate sharpshooters, who shot an officer standing nearby, whereupon the President was convinced to move off the walls.
As it turned out, Wallace’s information relayed to the Seward family was still not correct. Colonel Seward had, in fact, been injured. He suffered a slight wound to his arm and received a broken leg when his horse was shot and fell on him during the battle. Seward was unable to walk off the battlefield and only escaped capture when he found a mule and using his silk handkerchief as a bridle, was able to ride off the field ahead of the Confederates. Within eight weeks, Seward was promoted to brigadier general and served throughout the remainder of the war. A banker before the war, General Seward returned to a successful career in banking after his time in the military. He followed politics, supported charitable causes, served as a director for a number of corporations, and was involved in historical and patriotic societies until his death in 1920, over 50 years after Lew Wallace’s battle that saved Washington—a battle that directly affected the outcome of the Civil War and likely changed the history of the nation.
The Battle of Monocacy also affected Susan Wallace. In various letters she related her experiences as the battle raged. In one of her longer accounts, she wrote to long-time friend, Mrs. Benson Lossing. This letter offers an immediacy of the engagement.
July 20, 1864 Susan Wallace, Baltimore, to Helen Lossing
My Dear Helen,
Here I am yet, in all the perishing heat & drought of midsummer having (word unknown) my country feet on grass but once since I left home. As I begin to feel as if I must see Henry soon (nearly three months since I left home) I will not go without sending you a chapter on the battle of Monocacy. The day after the 4th Lew buckled on his sword saying he would go down to Point of Rocks (the extreme limit of his Department) and look after a gang guerrillas there, would be back day after tomorrow. Once there he found things more serious than he expected. The papers have told you of the occupation & evacuation of Frederick. Meantime I was at the Eutaw House [hotel where the Wallaces stayed in Baltimore]. Sunday morning the bells rang at daylight for the arming of militia. Cavalry dashed through the streets, drums beat, men collected in crowds and terrified women looked from windows on the crowded streets. About noon Sunday it was supposed the rebels were advancing on the city, in which case it would have to be surrendered. Col. Wooley (Provost-Marshall) came and told me Lew had been defeated (the battle was still going on – this was false) and he expected to surrender the city. Make every thing ready for flight. I sat a moment and deliberated. I was a thousand miles from home & child, among strangers, my husband in battle against fearful odds. What ever might come I must not break down. This done I calmly packed everything, had bonnet, gloves, all at hand for instant flight on the boat. The excitement in the City grew more intense, the very air seemed full of rumors, and all knew this place was defenceless as Lew had taken all the reliable troops with him.
I sat a long, long time, waiting, expecting to hear the rattle of musketry every moment. A message was handed me – from Lew – I had hardly strength to read “I will see you tonight.” A load was off my heart – there was no need of further fortitude so I gave way and cried heartily, which was a great relief.
About midnight Lew came in – as one from the dead – I cannot tell you how I suffered that day & all through my poor distracted mind went the thought of how sister Helen was spending Sunday with husband and child and how I was spending mine.
The point Lew attempted to defend was where the roads from Baltimore & Washington meet. After fighting five hours the enemy brought out four fresh lines of battle and information was brought of a large body of troops bivouacked nearby, so he said nothing remained but for him to get off his little army as well as he was able. He says all the poetry and prose composition on war were more than realised to him that day. The country was a blaze of burning barns and bridges, and the fighting terrific. He had two Divisions of Burnside’s Corps who fought without shelter of woods and hills, and looked death in the face as if they loved it. They had been in the Wilderness and said they were never before so tried in battle.
Papers have been full of the thing so I will not tell you further. Lew feels as if he has done his whole duty and saved Washington, which might have been taken Sunday night by five hundred men. Then too he has wiped out the foolish lie told after Shiloh.
This city is rebel to the core. The small Union party is divided into radicals, led by Winter Davis, & conservatives, headed by Reverdy Johnson. The result is they do not pull together at all. The authorities at Washington constantly interfere with all Lew does & he really is so harassed and walled in by political influence the poor man is nearly ready to throw up the whole thing. There is no reason why the rebels should not come up as easily next week as last. There are very few soldiers here and the rebels know it. All this while the slow butchery goes on before Petersburg. The hospitals are full, and the graveyard crowded. Not a soldier in reserve & very doubtful about the enforcement of the draft. I believe there is but one worse place than this – that of General Dix. He has a copperhead Governor to work against and that such an old soldier should be arrested is a national shame. Really I see but little to cheer us now.
But let the war alone. We are all well, that is a great comfort. I have my live husband, unhurt, and I hope to see Henry next week.
In haste truly yours, S.E.W.
Sources: Shadow of Shiloh, Gail Stephens, Indiana Historical Society Press, 2010
Seward, Lincoln’s Indispensable Man, Walter Stahr, Simon & Schuster, 2012
“My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune,” Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861-1862. Charles G. Beemer, The Kent State University Press, 2015.
