Pennsylvania Monument
Frederick County, Frederick County, Maryland
Marker Inscription
Erected by the Commonwealth of Penna in commemoration of the bravery, sacrifices, and patriotism of the 67th, 87th, and 138th regiments that fought on this battlefield July 9, 1864.
The Story
On July 9, 1864, the fields along the Monocacy River in Frederick County became the site of a desperate delaying action as a Union force under General Lew Wallace met Confederate General Jubal Early's army marching north toward Washington. Outnumbered, the defenders — including the Pennsylvania regiments this monument honors — were pushed from the field, but the hours they cost Early proved decisive. That single day's delay let Union reinforcements reach the capital's defenses before the Confederates arrived, earning Monocacy its name as 'the Battle That Saved Washington.'
Why it matters
Monocacy shows how a tactical defeat can be a strategic victory: the sacrifice of these outmatched regiments bought the time that kept the nation's capital out of Confederate hands in the war's final year.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
By the summer of 1864, the Civil War had ground on for three brutal years, and the fighting had settled into the exhausting campaigns of its final phase. Yet the North's capital was never entirely safe. Washington sat close to Confederate territory, and a bold thrust up through the Maryland countryside could put an enemy army within reach of the city's forts.
Frederick County, with its rolling farmland and the crossings of the Monocacy River, lay squarely on the roads an army would use to march north toward the capital. On July 9, 1864, that quiet agricultural landscape became the ground where such a threat had to be met.
The stakes were larger than the size of the fight suggests. A Confederate column driving toward Washington in the war's fourth summer raised the alarming prospect of the enemy at the gates of the Union's own seat of government — and someone had to buy the time to stop it.
People & events
That someone was Union General Lew Wallace, who gathered an outmatched force to stand along the Monocacy against the advancing army of Confederate General Jubal Early. Wallace knew he could not win outright. What he could do was make Early fight — and every hour spent fighting was an hour the Confederates were not marching on the capital.
Among the troops who held that line were the Pennsylvania regiments this monument names: the 67th, the 87th, and the 138th. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania raised the memorial to commemorate the bravery, sacrifice, and patriotism of these men who fought on this field that July day.
The defenders were driven from the ground by day's end — a defeat, plainly. But the cost they exacted was the whole point. By the time Early's army was free to resume its advance, the crucial hours were gone, and with them his best chance of catching Washington unprepared.
Its place in the American story
Monocacy is the classic case of a battle lost on the field but won in its consequences. The delay these regiments helped impose gave Union reinforcements time to reach the capital's defenses before the Confederates arrived. When Early finally came within sight of Washington, the forts were manned and the moment had passed.
For that reason the fight earned a lasting nickname: the battle that saved Washington. It is a reminder that in war, time itself can be the objective, and that troops willing to be beaten slowly can accomplish what a victory elsewhere could not.
The monument frames this in the language of sacrifice, and rightly so. The men honored here gained no ground and won no laurels on the day, yet what they bought with their stand — the security of the national capital in a dangerous summer — was as consequential as many a triumph.
If you visit
Come to this field expecting quiet. Like much of the Monocacy battleground, it is pastoral and open, the kind of gentle river-country farmland that makes it hard, at first, to imagine as a place of desperate fighting. That contrast is part of the experience — let the peacefulness settle before you picture the day it honors.
Stand near the monument and read the ground the way soldiers had to: the river as an obstacle, the crossings as prizes, the open fields as dangerous space to hold or cross. Knowing that the defenders here were fighting to lose slowly rather than to win outright changes how the whole landscape reads.
It fits well into a Civil War touring route through the Maryland and Virginia countryside, where battlefields lie within an easy drive of one another. Give yourself time to walk a little and take in the setting — the significance of this place is measured not in acres gained but in the hours won, and that is a thing you feel best standing still on the field itself.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- South Mountain Heritage Society13.1 mi away · 3 East Main Street, Burkittsville, MD
- Gathland State Park Museum13.8 mi away · 900 Arnoldstown Road, Jefferson
- Lovettsville Museum14.7 mi away · 6 East Pennsylvania Avenue, Lovettsville, VA
Attractions
- Lock 299.9 mi away
- Lock 2810.2 mi away
- Catoctin Aqueduct10.3 mi away
- Caboose13.3 mi away
- Lock 3013.4 mi away
- Temple Hall Farm14.5 mi away · 15855 Limestone School Road, Leesburg, VA
Food & drink
- Papa John's13.6 mi away · 1201 Dutchmans Creek Drive, Brunswick, MD
- Asia Star13.6 mi away · 1201 Dutchmans Creek Drive, Brunswick
- McDonald's13.6 mi away · 854 Jefferson Pike, Knoxville, MD
Places to stay
- Travelodge Brunswick12.5 mi away · 620 Souder Road, Brunswick, MD
- Little Rock Motel13.5 mi away · 14880 James Monroe Highway, Leesburg, VA
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites13.7 mi away · 1501 Village Green Way, Brunswick, MD
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Lew Wallace
- · Jubal Early
Related events
- · Battle of Monocacy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
10th Vermont Monument
Frederick County, MD
In the summer heat of the Civil War, Confederate forces pushed north through Maryland in a bold drive aimed at the lightly defended Union capital. Along the Monocacy River outside Frederick, outnumbered Union troops—among them the 10th Vermont Infantry—made a hard stand to slow that advance. Though the defenders were eventually forced from the field, the day they bought gave Washington time to rush reinforcements into its fortifications. Vermont later raised this monument to mark exactly where its sons stood in the fighting.
Maryland Monument
Frederick County, MD
On July 9, 1864, the fields along the Monocacy River south of Frederick became the stage for a desperate delaying action in the Civil War's final year. Confederate General Jubal Early, driving north through Maryland toward a lightly defended Washington, D.C., collided with a badly outnumbered Union force under General Lew Wallace. Wallace lost the battle but won the day that mattered: the hours his men bought held Early up just long enough for veteran reinforcements to reach the capital's forts before he did.
Gen. Samuel Garland Jr. Falls at South Mountain
Washington County, MD
On the morning of September 14, 1862, the Maryland Campaign reached the wooded slopes of South Mountain, where Confederate forces fought to hold the gaps against advancing Union columns three days before the carnage at Antietam. In the fighting around Fox's Gap, Brigadier General Samuel Garland, Jr.—a young Lynchburg lawyer turned brigade commander under D. H. Hill—rode among his North Carolinians to steady their line and was struck down, dying of his wound that day. His loss was one of several among senior officers in a battle that bought the Army of Northern Virginia precious hours but could not stop the Federal push through the passes.
John Brown Monument
Harpers Ferry, WV
This squat brick building is the old armory fire-engine house where the abolitionist John Brown barricaded himself in October 1859 after seizing the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in a bid to spark an uprising against slavery. U.S. Marines under Robert E. Lee stormed the building, capturing Brown, who was tried and hanged that December. The structure became known as 'John Brown's Fort,' and its fame sent it on a remarkable journey — dismantled and displayed at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair before eventually returning near its original ground.