Monocacy National Battlefield

History

For more than a century after the Civil War, most of the Monocacy battlefield remained in private ownership. In 1928, Glenn Worthington, who owned a large portion of the northern segment, petitioned Congress to create a National Military Park at Monocacy. Although a bill passed in 1934, nearly fifty years passed before Congress appropriated funds for land acquisition. In the late 1970s, 1587 acres were acquired and turned over to the National Park Service.

The historic Thomas Farm, site of intense fighting, was acquired in 2001. Preservation efforts suffered setbacks in the 1960s and 1980s when Interstate 270 was built and later widened, cutting through part of the battlefield. Early commemorative markers were placed by veterans organizations, including those for the 14th New Jersey (1907), 87th Pennsylvania Infantry, and Vermont units. Later additions include the Confederate Monument and the Maryland Centennial Monument near the Best farm, where Union soldiers discovered Robert E. Lee's lost Special Order 191 during the 1862 Maryland Campaign.

The visitor center, relocated from Gambrill Mill to a new facility west of the Monocacy River, offers an electric map orientation program, interactive computer program, interpretive displays, and artifacts. A self-guided four-mile auto tour and a half-mile loop walking trail begin at the visitor center. The National Park Service has established a General Management Plan to further interpret the area and acquire additional land if funding permits. In 2013, Preservation Maryland listed Monocacy National Battlefield as a threatened historic property.

Location

Monocacy National Battlefield lies on present-day Maryland Route 355 (Urbana Pike) a few miles southeast of Frederick, Maryland. Interstate 70 runs westward to Antietam National Battlefield, while U.S. Route 15 leads north to Gettysburg Battlefield and south to Ball's Bluff battlefield. The park is 50 miles west of Baltimore and 44 miles northwest of Washington D.C.