Early's Raid and Operations Against B&O Railroad

"Fort Stevens, north of Washington, 1864" the point of Early's farthest advance

Library of Congress

With US Gen. Ulysses Grant's army bogged down in front of Petersburg, Virginia, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee sought to take advantage. He ordered Gen. Jubal Early, in command of 14,000 soldiers, to launch a bold raid on the north.

Early’s instructions from Lee were to invade Maryland, destroy the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and threaten or even take Washington, D.C. The Confederates marched down the Shenandoah Valley and forded the Potomac at Shepherdstown on July 5, 1864. On July 9 the Confederates defeated a small Federal force along the Monocacy River at Frederick, Maryland and then advanced toward Washington.