Existing comment:
Final Stand
Monocacy National Battlefield
The Union troops held the Confederates at bay for most of the day. Around 4:30 p.m. the Union front collapsed and fell back to the Georgetown Pike, where they used the protection of the road bank in their final stand. The Union soldiers fronted Thomas Farm and spread to the right toward the river. The Confederates turned the right end to the Union line where their defense was weakest. The battle was lost and the Union army retreated.
"So profuse was the flow of blood from the wounded of both forces, that it reddened the stream for more than one hundred yards below."
- -- Confederate Major General John B. Gordon
"The rebels attacked charging in several close lines on our single line. They were repulsed twice with very heavy loss...the road and yard were literally filled with them."
- -- Sergeant James Read, 10th Vermont Infantry |