Sigel was now holding Maryland Heights. Early, therefore, on the 8th of July crossed the Potomac higher up the river, and reached Frederick City, Maryland, the morning of the 9th.( 9)
Hunter's command was obliged to descend the Kanawha by boats, then ascend the Ohio to Parkersburg, and from there move by rail to Cumberland and points on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Hunter did not leave Charleston until July 3d, nor Parkersburg until the 8th, and did not reach Cumberland with any part of his army until the 9th. He was then too remote to be available in an effort to resist Early's invasion.(10)
Early's movements in the Valley caused loud calls for troops, and Grant ordered Ricketts' division (Sixth Corps) to Maryland. The division left its camp in front of the Williams house on the 6th of July, and the same day embarked at City Point for Baltimore. It disembarked at Locust Point, near Baltimore, on the morning of the 8th, and took cars for Monocacy Junction, where, on the same day, parts of two brigades of the division joined General Lew Wallace, then in command of the department.
Prior to Ricketts' arrival Wallace had only been able to gather together, under General E. B. Tyler, two regiments of the Potomac Home Brigade, the 11th Maryland Infantry, two Ohio one hundred day regiments (144th and 149th), the 8th Illinois Cavalry, and a detachment of the 159th Ohio (one hundred day regiment), serving as mounted infantry, all new or inexperienced troops.(11) He had only one battery of artillery. Sigel, still at Maryland Heights, was therefore unavailable as against Early. Only the First Brigade, numbering 1750 men, under Colonel Truax, and a part of the Second Brigade (138th Pennsylvania, 9th New York Heavy Artillery, 110th and 126th Ohio), 1600 strong, Colonel McClennan commanding, of Ricketts' veteran troops reached the battle-field. Tyler went into position on the right, covering the stone bridge, and Ricketts on the left. The position chosen by Wallace was good, strategically, and also strong to resist a front attack by a superior force. It was behind the Monocacy River, covering the railroad bridge and the public highway and another bridge, and also had for lines of retreat the turnpikes to Baltimore and Washington. If the position were held, communication could be kept up with these cities, also with Sigel at the Heights. It was Early's purpose to destroy Wallace or brush him aside and move on Washington. Early moved from Frederick at 8 A.M., the 9th of July, and after demonstrating on Wallace's front, marched Gordon's troops around by a ford to fall on Ricketts' left. The latter changed front to the left to meet Gordon. The battle opened in earnest at 10.30 A.M. The enemy's superiority in artillery gave him a great advantage, and most of the day Ricketts' troops held their position under an enfilading fire from Early's batteries. The enemy's front was so great that Ricketts, to meet it, had to put his entire command into one line. Gordon's first and second lines were beaten back, and his third and fourth lines were, later, brought into action on the Union left. Early put in his reserves there, and still Ricketts' troops were unbroken and undismayed. It was, however, evident the unequal contest must result in defeat, hence Wallace ordered a retreat on the Baltimore pike. Ricketts did not commence to retire until 4 P.M., and then in good order. Tyler's troops fought well, and held the stone bridge until Ricketts had passed off the field. Early was so seriously hurt that he did not or could not make a vigorous or immediate pursuit. Save some detachments of cavalry, he halted his army at the stone bridge. The Union loss was 10 officers and 113 men killed and 36 officers and 567 men wounded, total, 726, besides captured or missing.(12) Colonel Wm. H. Seward (9th N. Y. H. A.) was slightly wounded and had an ankle broken by the fall of his horse on its being shot.
The veteran Third Division lost 656 of the killed and wounded, and the troops under Tyler 70. My former assistant adjutant-general, Captain Wm. A. Hathaway, was killed in this action. The total killed and wounded in the Second Brigade, from May 5th to July 9th, inclusive, was 2033,(13) more than half the number lost under Scott and Taylor in the Mexican War.
No report of the Confederate loss has been found, but from the strong Union position, the character of the Confederate attacks, and the number of wounded (400) left in hospital, it must have largely exceeded that of the loyal army. Early says in his report, written immediately after the battle, that his loss "was between 600 and 700."(14)
On the morning of the 10th, Early marched via Rockville towards Washington, and arrived in front of the fortifications on the Seventh Street pike late the next day. He met no resistance on the way. Wallace, with Ricketts, had retired towards Baltimore. Great consternation reigned at the Capital, and the volunteer militia of the District of Columbia were called out.
The defences were, however, feebly manned. The First and Second Divisions of the Sixth Corps embarked at City Point on the 10th, and a portion of the Second reached Fort Stevens on the 11th, about the time Early reached its front, and the First Division, with the remainder of the Second, arrived next morning. Some skirmishing took place in front of the fort, witnessed by President Lincoln. Many government employees and citizens were put in the trenches. Early retreated across the Potomac to Leesburg, somewhat precipitately, commencing after nightfall on the 12th. He again reached the Valley on the 15th. The Sixth Corps under Wright pursued Early on the 13th, but did not come up with him. Ricketts' division rejoined its corps on the 17th. Portions of Hunter and Crook's commands also joined Wright, who moved via Snicker's Gap into the Valley at Berryville. Wright alternately retired and advanced his army, crossing and recrossing the Potomac, until August 5th, when he was at Monocacy Junction, Maryland.
It should be stated in this connection that Early sent General Bradley Johnson with his brigade of cavalry to cut the Northern Central and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads; he succeeded in doing this, and also in destroying some bridges and two passenger trains. One bridge on the railroad between Washington and Baltimore was destroyed by Johnson while on his way to Point Lookout, Maryland, to release Confederate prisoners. One of the principal objects Lee had in ordering Early into Maryland was to release these prisoners.(15) When Early retired from Washington he recalled Johnson.
The most remarkable thing connected with the campaign just described was the utter dispersion of the thousands of troops in West Virginia and the Valley under Hunter, Sigel, Crook, Averell, and B. F. Kelley, so that none of them participated in the battle of Monocacy or the defence of Washington.