Existing comment:
Washington In View:
The approach of the Confederates caused near panic in Washington. The government prepared to evacuate President Lincoln and his cabinet.
On July 11 -- just hours before Early's planned attack on the capital -- thousands of Union troops arrived from Petersburg. Instead of fleeing, President Lincoln ventured out to Fort Stevens to see the Confederates. Early and his troops withdrew, never to threaten Washington again.
The hours gained for the Union by the stand of 5,800 troops on the Monocacy River had proven decisive.
"I haven't any doubt that Early could have captured and burned the whole city if he had made an energetic assault when he first came before it."
-- Sergeant JD Bloodgood -- 141st Pennsylvania
Outside the Gates of the Capitol:
"... while blustering in the eastern suburbs of the city, our undisciplined army created a great many depredations, and some stragglers burned several houses... Had our army entered Washington, I fear they would have yielded to the temptation to plunder, and that city would have been a scene of ruin... therefore, it was best it was not captured."
-- John Opie, 5th Virginia Infantry |