Monocacy National Battlefield
Encyclopedia
Monocacy National Battlefield is a unit of the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

, the site of the Battle of Monocacy Junction in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 fought on July 9, 1864. The battlefield straddles the Monocacy River
Monocacy River
The Monocacy River is a free-flowing tributary of the Potomac River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean via the Chesapeake Bay. The river is long, with a drainage area of about...

 southwest of the city of Frederick, Maryland
Frederick, Maryland
Frederick is a city in north-central Maryland. It is the county seat of Frederick County, the largest county by area in the state of Maryland. Frederick is an outlying community of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of a greater...

. The battle, labeled "The Battle That Saved Washington," was one of the last the Confederates
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 would carry out in Union territory. The two opposing leaders were General Jubal Early
Jubal Anderson Early
Jubal Anderson Early was a lawyer and Confederate general in the American Civil War. He served under Stonewall Jackson and then Robert E. Lee for almost the entire war, rising from regimental command to lieutenant general and the command of an infantry corps in the Army of Northern Virginia...

, fighting for the South, and General Lew Wallace
Lew Wallace
Lewis "Lew" Wallace was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, territorial governor and statesman, politician and author...

, fighting for the North.
Monacacy National Battlefield is located in the center of a region with a number of other Civil War battlefields and sites. It is located on Maryland State Highway 355 (Urbana Road) a few miles southeast of the city of Frederick. Nearby Interstate 70
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 is an Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a Park and Ride near Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first Interstate Highway project in the United States. I-70 approximately traces the path of U.S. Route 40 east of the Rocky...

 leads westward to Antietam National Battlefield
Antietam National Battlefield
Antietam National Battlefield is a National Park Service protected area along Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland which commemorates the American Civil War Battle of Antietam that occurred on September 17, 1862...

 and U.S. Route 15
U.S. Route 15
U.S. Route 15 is a -long United States highway, designated along South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. The route is signed north–south, from U.S. Route 17 Alternate in Walterboro, South Carolina to Interstate 86 and NY 17 in Painted Post, New York.US...

 leads northward to the Gettysburg Battlefield
Gettysburg Battlefield
The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4 acre site of the first shot & at on the west of the borough, to East...

. To the south on U.S. 15 is the battlefield of Balls Bluff. Monacacy National Battlefield is 50 miles (80 km) west of Baltimore and 44 miles (71 km) northwest of Washington D.C..

Much of the Monocacy battlefield remained in private hands for over 100 years after the Civil War. In 1928, Glenn Worthington, the owner of a large portion of the northern segment of the battlefield, petitioned Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 to create a National Military Park
National Military Park
National Military Park, National Battlefield, National Battlefield Park, and National Battlefield Site are four designations for 24 battle sites preserved by the United States federal government because of their national importance...

 at Monocacy. Though the bill passed in 1934, the battlefield languished for nearly 50 years before Congress appropriated funds for land acquisition. Once funds were secured, 1587 acres (6 km²) of the battlefield were acquired in the late 1970s and turned over to the National Park Service for maintenance and interpretation. The historic Thomas Farm, scene of some of the most intense fighting, was acquired by the National Park Service in 2001, and is currently subject to a life estate. Preservationists lost fights in the 1960s and 1980s when Interstate 270
Interstate 270 (Maryland)
Interstate 270 is a auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Maryland that travels between Interstate 495 just north of Bethesda, Montgomery County and Interstate 70 in the city of Frederick in Frederick County. It consists of the mainline as well as a spur that provides access to and...

 was constructed and later widened, bisecting a portion of the battlefield.

In the decades following the battle, a few veterans organizations placed commemorative markers to specific units on the battlefield, including the 14th New Jersey
14th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry monument
The 14th New Jersey monument is a memorial monument located on the Monocacy battlefield in Frederick, Maryland that stands to honor the men of the volunteer force that protected the Monocacy Junction during the crucial winter of 1863-1864...

 (dedicated in 1907), 87th Pennsylvania Infantry
87th Pennsylvania Infantry
The 87th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 87th Pennsylvania Infantry was organized at York, Pennsylvania and mustered in for a three year enlistment in September 1861 under the command of Colonel George...

, and Vermont markers. In the years that have followed, other monuments have been added, including the Confederate Monument and Maryland Centennial Monument near the Best farm (the site where Union soldiers discovered Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....

's lost Special Order 191
Special Order 191
Special Order 191 was a general movement order issued by Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee in the Maryland Campaign of the American Civil War...

 during the 1862 Maryland Campaign
Maryland Campaign
The Maryland Campaign, or the Antietam Campaign is widely considered one of the major turning points of the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North was repulsed by Maj. Gen. George B...

). The National Park Service has since added wayside interpretive markers throughout the park.

The visitor center has been relocated from the historic Gambrill Mill to a new facility on the west side of the Monocacy River. It offers an electric map orientation program, an interactive computer program, interpretive displays, and artifacts of the battle. The visitor center is the starting point for a self-guided four-mile (6 km) auto tour and 1/2 mile (800 m) loop walking trail. National Park Service rangers and volunteers host battle walks, special programs, an auto tour and special events throughout the summer season. The interpretive Worthington Farm Trail, a pair of loops (one nearly two miles (3 km) long, the other 1.6 miles (2 km)) on the northern portion of the battlefield, allows the visitor to walk parts of the battlefield and explore the native flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

 of the region.

The National Park Service has recently established a General Management Plan to further interpret the area and acquire additional land if funding can be secured.

See also

  • L'Hermitage Slave Village Archeological Site
    L'Hermitage Slave Village Archeological Site
    L'Hermitage Slave Village Archeological Site is an archaeological site near Frederick in Frederick County, Maryland. The location, within the boundaries of Monocacy National Battlefield, was the site of l'Hermitage Plantation, founded about 1793 by the Vincendière family...

     at the Best Farm, a pre-Civil War plantation founded by immigrants from Haiti
    Haiti
    Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...


External links

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