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This is the Thomas Farm.  This field was was held by both sides, back and forth throughout the afternoon.  To your left is where the Worthington Farm, as pictured yesterday, is located. To your right is where the Union formed their lines to meet the confederates.  Straight ahead is the tree line that marks the river.

The red house that is here obscured by trees is the actual Thomas house, which was occupied at times by Union sharpshooters.  To the far right, well off the side of the picture is the Gambrill Mill, which was the site of the Unions field hospital.

Behind you (although pretty far behind you) is Washington, and to the right would be  Baltimore.  Keep in mind that this battle was being fought by Wallace with many untrained soldiers and with 7 cannons against 15,000 regular Confederates and their 40 guns.  It’s doubtful that union commanders on this field thought that they could win the battle after they understood that they were fighting an entire corps of the enemy army.  Still the battle waged on, delaying the confederate advance until they finally broke the Union line in the late afternoon.

While it was being fought, troops were being rushed to Washington from Virginia to protect the defenseless city. The  union soldiers on this field held back the larger opposing force for the entire afternoon.  By the time the battle had ended, the Confederates would have to make camp for the night and continue on their way to DC the next morning.  The battle cost them a day, and it was just enough to allow DC to protect itself before the attack.

There are a lot more stories about this battle that I haven’t shared.  While I’ve focused on the river, the bridges, and the crossing, I’ve really only covered the center and the left of the Union line.  There is a history on the right flank as well.   I have pictures of specific places and specific things on the field that were not appropriate for this overview and that I’ll trickle into the future MDP flow of things.  I hope that some of you can stop by the battlefield, check out the visitor center, and see it for yourself.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 12:22 AM and is filed under Frederick County. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.