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The last time Secesh marched on DC? July, 1864. Grant was slugging it out in front of Petersburg, and Lee tried to draw his attention away by sending 14,000 men under Jubal Early (Lost Cause architect) to attack the capital, as Abe looked on. Sounds like it’s time for a
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Yes, this was one of Robert E. Lee’s Famous Gambles That Didn’t Actually Pay Off Except In Terms Of Shelby Foote’s Book Sales(™). Could a raid on DC turn the tide of the war? Probably not. Would it scare the hell out of the Northern Press and make Abe’s life miserable? You bet!
Early headed down the Shenandoah Valley, taking many of the soldiers who fought in the valley with Stonewall in 1862. (BTW, going “down” the valley means he went North; I know, I know, it’s confusing -- I’m convinced the locals get a kick out of sending tourists the wrong way.)
After brushing aside the Union's Valley forces, Early arrived at Frederick, MD, where he demanded a ransom of 500 barrels of flour, 6,000 pounds of sugar, 3,000 pounds of coffee, 20,000 pounds of bacon, and 3,000 pounds of salt.
And you thought Supermarket Sweep was high drama.
And you thought Supermarket Sweep was high drama.
Meanwhile, Grant and Halleck were scrambling to meet Early’s unexpected thrust. The only troops in the vicinity were a few thousand untested recruits under Lew Wallace, the future author of “Ben Hur.”
Cuz when the Republic is under siege, GET ME A GUY WHO KNOWS TOGAS.
Cuz when the Republic is under siege, GET ME A GUY WHO KNOWS TOGAS.
Wallace wrote of his “instantaneous hardening of purpose,” haunted by “an apparition of President Lincoln, cloaked and hooded, stealing like a malefactor from the back door of the White House just as some gray-garbed Confederate brigadier burst in the front door.” #NotOnLewsWatch
But the best scene in a war movie is when the ragtag group making a desperate stand is scanning the horizon and a body of troops appears, and for a minute you think “Oh, no, we’re doomed,” but then it turns out the troops are Grizzled Veterans Who Are Coming To Join You. #Huzzah
James Ricketts brought two brigades and one VERY pointed beard to stiffen the Union defenses; the Rebels hit the hastily thrown up Union lines 5 times, eventually forcing a retreat. But the ragged attacks cost Early 1,000 men and -- more importantly -- a full day’s march.
A couple days later, when Early stumbled into range of the forts ringing D.C., his men were worn out. And many were hungover -- they’d found whiskey barrels in Postmaster General Montgomery Blair’s house, which they looted. Meanwhile, Union reinforcements were streaming in.
Famously, an excited Lincoln came out to watch the skirmishing; the Union general manning Fort Stevens, Horatio Wright, asked him if he wanted a closer look from the parapet. As Wright puts it in his memoirs, “A moment after I would have given much to have recalled my words.”
I mean, after all the shit he’d been through, you can’t deny Abe his “French Taunter from Monty Python and the Holy Grail" moment, but the fact that his trademark piece of attire was a TALL TOP HAT that made an EXCELLENT target for Rebel sharpshooters escaped no one.
Shots began whizzing a little too close to Abe (I might be wrong, but I think it’s the only time a sitting president has been “in combat”) and a captain snapped, “Get down, you damn fool, before you get shot.”
That captain? Future SC Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
#History
That captain? Future SC Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
#History
Grant wrote: “If Early had been but one day earlier, he might have entered the capital before the arrival of the reinforcements I sent.”
And Monocacy, where Lew made his stand, became “The Battle That Saved Washington.”
(Not quite “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh,” but close.)
And Monocacy, where Lew made his stand, became “The Battle That Saved Washington.”
(Not quite “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh,” but close.)
