452 EARLY'S RAID. [1864. and Petersburg, Lee sent Early's corps into the valley. Hunter, being out of ammunition, was obliged to retire before the Confederates, and Early marched down to the Potomac unopposed, and threatened the national capital. Serious fears were entertained that he would actually enter the city, and all sorts of hurried preparations were made to prevent him, Department clerks being under arms and every available man pressed into the service. General Lew Wallace, in command at Baltimore, gathered a body of recruits and went out to meet Early, not with the hope of defeating him, but only of delaying him till a sufficient force could be sent from the Army of the Potomac. Ricketts's division of the Sixth Corps had already set out for Baltimore, and on arriving there immediately followed Wallace. They met the enemy at the Monocacy, thirty-five miles from Washington, July 9, and took up a position on the left bank of the stream, covering the roads to the capital. Wallace had six field guns and a small force of cavalry, and disposed his line so as to hold the bridges and fords as long as possible. The Confederates attacked at first in front, with a strong skirmish line and sixteen guns, and there was bloody fighting at one of the bridges. Then they changed their tactics, marched a heavy force down stream, crossed at a ford out of range of the National artillery, and then marched up stream again to strike Wallace's left flank. That part of the line was held by Ricketts, who changed front 1864.] BATTLE OF THE MONOCACY. 453 to meet the attack, and was promptly reënforced from Wallace's scanty resources. Two assaults in line of battle were repelled, after some destructive fighting, and Wallace determined still to hold his ground, as he was hourly expecting three additional regiments. But the afternoon wore away without any appearance of assistance, and when he saw preparations for another and heavier assault he determined to retreat. While the left was being withdrawn, the right, under General Tyler, was ordered to prevent the remaining Confederate force from crossing at the bridges. The wooden bridge was burned, and the stone bridge was held to the last possible moment, when Tyler also retreated. The missing regiments were met on the road, and there was no pursuit. This action was not important from its magnitude; but in that it probably saved the city of Washington from pillage and destruction, it was of the first importance. Wallace has received high praise for his promptness and energy in fighting a battle of great strategic value when he knew that the immediate result must be the defeat of his own force. He lost about fourteen hundred men, half of whom were prisoners. The Confederates admitted a loss of six hundred. Early now marched on Washington, and on the 12th was within half a dozen miles of it, where some heavy skirmishing took place with a force sent out by General Christopher C. Augur. But by this time veteran troops were pouring into the defences of the city, and the Confederate leader 454 BURNING OF CHAMBERSBURG. [1864. wisely retreated, carrying considerable plunder that he had gathered in his advance. A part of his force was struck at Winchester, July 12, by one under General Averell, and defeated, losing four guns and three or four hundred men. Three days later, Early defeated a force under General George Crook, and drove it across the Potomac, after which he sent his cavalry, under Generals McCausland and Bradley T. Johnson, to make a rapid raid through Maryland into Pennsylvania. McCausland visited Chambersburg, and demanded of the citizens the immediate payment of one hundred thousand dollars in gold, or five hundred thousand dollars in United States currency, with a threat of burning the town. The money was not forthcoming, the torch was promptly applied, about two thirds of the buildings were destroyed, and three hundred families found themselves shelterless. Early, who ordered the burning and assumes all responsibility, justifies it on the ground that it was in retaliation for the burning of the houses of well-known secessionists in Virginia. This raid created a panic among the inhabitants of western Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, many of whom fled from their homes, driving off their cattle and carrying whatever they could. There was no lack of troops to send against Early, the difficulty was to find him or get accurate information as to his movements. The pursuit began to be effective only when Grant sent Sheridan, in August, to command in that department. CHAPTER XXVIII. SHERIDAN IN THE SHENANDOAH. The IT had become plainly evident that something must be done to cancel the whole Shenandoah Valley from the map of the theatre of war. mountains that flanked it made it a secure lane down which a Confederate force could be sent at almost any time to the very door of Washington; while the crops that were harvested in its fertile fields were a constant temptation to those who had to provide for the necessities of an army. General Grant took the matter in hand in earnest after Early's raid and the burning of Chambersburg. His first care was to have the separate military departments in that section consolidated, his next to find a suitable commander, and finally to send an adequate force. He would have been satisfied with General Hunter, who was already the ranking officer there; but Hunter had been badly hampered in his movements by constant interference from Washington, and knowing that he had not the confidence of General Halleck, he asked to be relieved, since he did not wish to embarrass the cause. In this, Grant says, Hunter "showed a patriotism that was none too common in the army. There were not many major-generals who would voluntarily have asked to have the command of a 456 SHERIDAN IN COMMAND. [1864. department taken from them on the supposition that for some particular reason, or for any reason, the service would be better performed." Grant accepted his offer, and telegraphed for General Sheridan to come and take command of the new department. Sheridan was on hand promptly, and was placed at the head of about thirty thousand troops, including eight thousand cavalry, who were named the Army of the Shenandoah. Sheridan was now in his thirty-fourth year; and Secretary Stanton, with a wise caution, made some objection, on the ground that he was very young for a command so important. He had not stood remarkably high at West Point, being ranked thirty-fourth in his class when the whole number was fifty-two; but he had already made a brilliant record in the war, winning his brigadier-generalship by a victory at Booneville, Mo., and being conspicuous for his gallantry and skill at Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Mission Ridge, and for his bold riding around Lee's army in the spring campaign of 1864. Under him and Custer, Crook, Merritt, and Kilpatrick, the cavalry arm of the National service, weak and inefficient at the opening of the war, had become a swift and sure weapon against the now declining but still defiant Confederacy. It had been noted by everybody that Grant exhibited an almost unerring judgment in the choice of his lieutenants. In his instructions, which were at first written out for Hunter and afterward transferred to Sheridan, Grant said: "In pushing up the Shenandoah |