In terms of scale, loss of life and overall importance, the Battle of Monocacy was much smaller than, say, Gettysburg or Antietam. Yet it was no doubt important to the more than 2,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were killed, wounded, captured or went missing there.

Monocacy is often referred to as "the battle that saved Washington, D.C.," and historians say that's no exaggeration.

A Confederate force of 15,000 troops, led by Lt. Gen. Jubal Early, was on a mission to attack and capture Washington in order to divert part of the main body of the Union army from Virginia.

The Confederate leadership saw the potential capture of Washington as a political gambit as much as a military ploy. It would dampen the already-sagging public support for the war in the North, increasing pressure on the Lincoln administration to enter peace negotiations with the Confederacy.

The considerably smaller force of less than 6,000 Union troops led by Major General Lew Wallace had no hopes of defeating Early's much larger force at Monocacy.

But ultimately, Wallace did delay the Confederates in reaching Washington by a day. This gave the Union commander, Lt. General Ulysses Grant, time to rush two divisions north to bolster Washington's defenses and ultimately repulse Early's force.

-- Bob Allen

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