Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-12

ly to the fact that the leader Lee sent was
rot equal to the task. He was too tinlid
Every man had been sent from the city to
Gen. Grant, except a few in the defenses
south of the Potomac. and the Secretary
then calling for To-day men to help
Grant in what was then hoped to be his
final and overwhelming battle with Lee.
which he had then set for the 10th of that
month There was hope. and what 1t was
based upon no person could know, or see.
tell. that Washington would not be at
tackled, and as to its possible capture, that
was only realized when it seemed inevita-
bic. One of the Strangest things about
this is that Gen. Grant did not seem to
know, and was not advised of, the defense
less condition of the capital unit, the great
est danger had actually passed: notwith-
fact the power of thesnatiCn was it's capt.
tai ard not the army of the Potomac.
The army, under Gen. Sisel. had sought
safety at Harper's Ferry and the army
Under Gen. Hunter lad retreated away
over the mountains into West Virginia. so
that there was not a single body of veteran
troops within hundreds of miles of the city
The Battle Of the Monocncy.
For the protection of Baltimore Gen. Lew
Wallace (of Ben Hur fame) had at Freder-
lex force of about 5000 Maryland militia
which, with less than 5000 veterans of the
sixth corps. under Gen. Ricketts,. formed
the army that saved Washington. These
veterans arrived in Baltimore from Peters
burg, almost at the very moment of Earlys
arrival at the Monocacy. on the Washing
ton pike, and Wallace, having summoned
Ricketts, to that place, moved out from
Frederick to give battle. At the Monocacy
he fought Early's veterans and their bril-
liant leaders on Saturday, the 9th of July,
from o'clock in the morning until <
safety for Washington. 1t had so crippled
Early that he could not continue his march
upon Washington until the next day-Sun-
day-at noon. This battle was reckless on
the part of Wallace, but it was heroic. He
had marched his men to be slaughtered
that one day might be gained for the re-
lief of Washington.
When the magnitude of Wallaces defeat
had been realized in the War Department
the Secretary spoke of it as having saved
the city from capture. Considering that
Wallace's home guards had never been In
battle, and looking at the bravery and
patriotism that animated him and the sons
of Maryland he led, 1 feel like repeating
1.-The Charge of the Light Brigade
Half league. half a league
Half a league onward.
All in the valley of death
Rode the six hundred
When can their glory fade?
., the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble SIX hundred.
AS history tells that gallant band of
Maryland young men saved the colonial
army at the battle of Long Island in the
struggle for liberty, so will history tell of
the heroic bravery of the Maryland militia
under Wallace. in saving the capital of the
nation at time when its capture was
easy and its destruction certain. On that
battlefield Is q monument telling: "These
men died to save the national capital, and
they did save it,
Al the close of the day. on Saturday, Sec
rotary Stanton was advised of WallaceS
defeat, but 1t was not then known whether
Early was moving upon Washington or up
on Baltimore
Dread in WashinStOn
In the departments there was feeling of
dread, and expressions of surprise were
common among the clerks and officers that
the city had no troops for defense and it
seemed to me then that Mr.. anton felt
that he had. made a great mistake, when
he knew that Hunter and Sigel could afford
no protection to the city, in not then adj
vtsing Gen. Grant, and at once calling upon
him for troops. But the Shenandoah val
ley had been such source of trouble dis
asters and mistakes, attributed to the War
Department, that the Secretary was deter
mined not to interfere with Gen. Grant,
but to give him every man he could get 1t
was not known In the city that Washing
ton was without defense until the defeat of
Wallace, and then the alarm spread like a
prairie blaze. Scouts were sent in every
direction into Maryland and Virginia and
finding no enemy on the south side of the
Potomac, a portion of the troops were hur-
riedly taken from the forts on that side
and sent to the forts on the Mary and
side. The Secretary called upon the gov
errors of a number Of states for men for
the defense of the city, but got none His
only hope was in the one-hundred-day men
he had little while before Early came
called for to help Grant. These-only
few thousand-and some clerks were the
only men in the forts when Early came on
Monday, the 18th, in the afternoon, with
his whole army before the defenses on the
7th street and Georgetown pixies. 1t would
have been an easy matter then for him to
have come into the city by both pixies; and
the Bladensburg pike, just north of the
Capitol, had no defense whatever. The
Secretary had on Saturday sent for Quar-
termaster General Meigs, and told him to
arm and send to the front all the clerks
In the departments. and especially his own
Business in the departments was quite
suspended, and nearly the whole civil force
was sent to man the intrenchments or to
do guard duty in the city to relieve
wounded soldiers, who were sent to the
front. For fifteen miles the intrenchments
on the north side of the city, extending
from Benning, east Of the Capitol, to the