We had to run but we saved the army: With the Ohio National Guardsmen at Monocacy

“It seldom falls to the lot of veterans to be more tried than was the Ohio National Guard at the stone bridge, and none ever carried our trying and hazardous orders betters or with a more determined spirit than did the 149th Ohio and the men associated with it.” ~ Brigadier General Erastus B. Tyler on the Battle of Monocacy

          Little was expected of the ten companies of recently federalized Ohio National Guardsmen when they went into action at the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864. General Lew Wallace tasked the Buckeyes with holding the Jug Bridge east of Frederick. This bridge carried the National Road over the Monocacy River, constituting the army’s retreat route to Baltimore. Wallace expected his opponent, General Jubal Early, to push south of Frederick to head for the nation’s capital, which meant that the Buckeyes should have a quiet assignment, but it didn’t turn out that way.

While the main fighting would take place far to the south near Monocacy Junction, the 660 Buckeyes under the command of Colonel Allison L. Brown spent the morning and afternoon skirmishing with two brigades of Confederate troops. But by 4 o’clock that afternoon, Wallace’s two brigades of Sixth Corps veterans were scrambling off the field and Wallace tasked the Ohioans with covering the retreat of the army.

Recently, a hitherto untapped account of the fighting at Jug Bridge was discovered residing within the pages of the Clinton Republican newspaper from Wilmington, Ohio. Written by an unknown member of Co. G of the 149th Ohio, this letter provides some interesting details of the fight and the retreat at Monocacy.

 

This turn-of-the-century postcard view depicts the grounds over which the Ohio National Guardsmen fought during the Battle of Monocacy. The Jug Bridge in the foreground carries the National Road over Monocacy River while Reich's Ridge rises in the background. On the right of the road in the dim distance is Reich House where Co. G of the 149th deployed across the road and built a barricade of rails for defense while the balance of the 149th deployed to their right. The three companies of the 144th Ohio took position in the open fields to the left of the National Road. At the close of the fight, the Ohioans retreated over the bridge and many were captured along the National Road right where this image was made. The Jug Bridge collapsed into the Monocacy in March 1942 and today, only the crumbling abutments of the bridge still exist at the site, the span being replaced by a modern structure which carries US-40 over the river. The "jug" itself was also preserved, but has been moved out by the Frederick Municipal Airport. 

          We left Camp Parole [Annapolis, Maryland] on July 7th and arrived at Monocacy Junction July 7th at noon. We then marched to Frederick City and that night we passed through the city and on Friday morning to the north side we formed a line of battle about one-half mile from the city and remained there till about 2 o’clock. Our force consisted of seven companies of the 149th Ohio and three companies of the 144th Ohio. We then retreated to the south side of the city and took up a position on the Baltimore Pike on the south side of the Monocacy River with orders to hold the stone bridge across aid river.

          The balance of General Wallace’s forces marched to the Junction, three miles to our left rear early Saturday. Captain Joshua Hussey’s company was sent down to the bridge on guard and also advanced a squad of pickets upon the ridge between the ridge and the city. In about an hour the pickets were fired on by the Johnnies. Our company immediately advanced and deployed as skirmishers. The Johnnies also advanced. Colonel [Allison] Brown ordered up from companies to our support until our whole force was engaged.

Colonel Allison L. Brown, 149th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Our company made breastworks of rails across the turnpike while the other companies deployed to our right and left. By this time, the action had become general at the Junction, our army contending against four times our numbers. The fight continued till 4 o’clock in the evening, when General Wallace retreated from the Junction, at the same time sending orders to our regiment to hold the bridge at all hazards.

 “We fought them and kept them back two hours after the main body of our men had retreated. They beat our men back at the Junction, came round, flanked us on the left, and tried to cut us off from the bridge. But we gained it by hard running. They poured a volley crossfire upon us as we went across the bridge. They did not hit many but I tell you the balls flew like hail around us.” ~ Private Henry C. Johnson, Co. K, 149th Ohio

 

“Company E covered the retreat. We had not got to the river when the Rebels had crossed the bridge and got on our flank and rear, firing on us from every direction. We held them for a few minutes until most of the regiment crossed the bridge and passed us. We started on the double quick, the Rebs still pouring it into us from every point. When the Rebel crew charged on us, we broke for a wheat field where I laid until dark when I started for Baltimore. The adjutant told us that if it hadn’t been for Co. E, the whole regiment would have been lost.” ~ Private John Earl, Co. E, 149th Ohio

We continued to fight the whole Rebel army for two hours longer until the whole of the army was safe, except our regiment. At 6 o’clock the Rebels had gotten in our rear and on both flanks, very heavy on our left but light on the right. We then retreated under a galling fire in front and on the left, and after we crossed the bridge, a severe fire opened for half a mile along the left of the pike. We ran the gauntlet with very little loss save our prisoners, our company only losing two men wounded. All day, the regiment lost only 7 killed and 10 wounded, but we lost about 100 prisoners, our company losing about 17 of them. So, we had to run, but we saved the army and all the regiment save what is named above.

 

For more about Monocacy, please check out the following posts:

“The 144th and 149th Ohio at the Battle of Monocacy”

“Buckeyes Along the Monocacy”

“Taking a Bullet and Finding a Wife at Monocacy”

 

Sources:

Letter from unknown member of Co. G, 149th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Clinton Republican (Ohio), August 12, 1864, pg. 2

Letter from Private John Earl, Co. E, 149th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Weekly Scioto Gazette (Ohio), July 19, 1864, pg. 2

Letter from Private Henry C. Johnson, Co. K, 149th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Johnson Family Papers, 1861-1864, VFM 4832, Ohio History Connection

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on t...
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true ...
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of h...
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Ma...
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on se...
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my ...
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more