ECW Weekender: Living History at Monocacy

This Saturday, July 10, 2021, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monocacy National Battlefield in Frederick County, Maryland, is hosting special events to commemorate the 157th anniversary of the battle that saved Washington. Programs throughout the day include Civil War music, artillery demonstrations, history talks, and living history interpreters, sharing the stories of Union and Confederates soldiers and civilians.

The event is free and registration is not required. Please visit the event’s webpage for additional details: https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/event-details.htm?id=4364AABC-CC59-723D-4C8C88C03BE8E3DF

Monocacy National Battlefield Visitor Center: 5201 Urbana Pike Frederick, MD 21704

To learn more about the Battle of Monocacy, check out Ryan Quint’s book in the ECW Series “Determined to Stand & Fight” or explore these blog posts…



2 Responses to ECW Weekender: Living History at Monocacy

  1. I enjoy this battle because it possibly prevented the catastrophic fall, however briefly, of Washington City, the firing of Grant and the failed reelection of Lincoln. But I wish more attention were paid to the performances of the Confederate commanders, Wallace gets the lion’s share of attention because of his redemption following Grant’s annoyance at Shiloh. However, he lost the Battle, and in pretty thorough fashion at the end of the day, as could be expected.

    1. Just about the only Confederate commander who did well was John B. Gordon, and his division suffered the most casualties because of it. The Confederate command at Monocacy was a comedy of errors. Jubal Early spent most of the day haggling with town leaders over a ransom, instead of commanding and controlling. He only arrived in the late afternoon. John McCausland got his brigade ambushed by walking into a trap without reconnaissance. John C. Breckinridge failed to get half of his command involved in the battle. Stephen Ramseur and Robert Rodes were lackadaisical at best, showing no personal iniatiative— preferring to simply lazily potshot and skirmish with the forces in front of them. Part of that is because Early had not given them any further direction (again, see Early being too busy with the ransom). It’s difficult too to get a read on Rodes and Ramseur since they were killed later and never had time to submit reports or any other kind of writings. Monocacy should have been a quick skirmish where Early used overwhelming odds of infantry an artillery to brush aside Wallace— instead he lost the better part of a day and a half along the banks of the Monocacy River. Wallace just used whatever time Early was willing to give him.

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