The
Battle That Saved Washington
Page 3
By late afternoon the Federals were retreating toward Baltimore, leaving behind over 1,294 dead, wounded, and captured. Later, General Wallace gave orders to collect the bodies of the dead in a burial ground on the battlefield where he proposed a monument to read:
"These men died to save the National Capital, and they did save it."
The way lay open to Washington. Early's army had won the field at Monocacy, but at the expense of 700 to 900 killed and wounded and a day lost. The next morning the Confederates marched on, and by midday Monday, Early stood inside the District of Columbia, looking at the earthworks of Fort Stevens.
But even as Early watched, the blue-coated veterans of Wright's corps marched toward Fort Stevens. That night, Wright pushed back the rebels. Early had succeeded in drawing some of Grant's forces away from Lee, but taking Washington no longer seemed possible. The rebel army withdrew across the Potomac at White's Ford, and returned to friendly Virginia.
General Early wrote in a report of the 1864 campaign:
"Some of the Northern papers stated that, between Saturday and Monday, I could have entered the city; but on Saturday I was fighting at Monocacy, thirty-five miles from Washington, a force which I could not leave in my rear; and after disposing of that force and moving as rapidly as it was possible for me to move, I did not arrive in front of the fortifications until after noon on Monday, and then my troops were exhausted ...."
General Grant also assessed Wallace's delaying tactics at Monocacy:
"If Early had been but one day earlier, he might have entered the capital before the arrival of the reenforcements I had sent .... General Wallace contributed on this occasion by the defeat of the troops under him, a greater benefit to the cause than often falls to the lot of a commander of an equal force to render by means of a victory."
