Two miles north of the junction, a stone bridge called the Jug Bridge crossed the Monocacy carrying the National Road that led to Baltimore. At the junction there was an iron railroad bridge and just south of it the wooded covered bridge of the Georgetown Pike, the road to Washington. Any invading army intent on Washington or Baltimore would have to come through the Monocacy Junction. General Wallace believed that Washington was the objective.
On July 9, 1864, 5,500 troops under the command of General Wallace met 13,000 Confederates commanded by General Jubal Early. Even though Confederate troops held the field at the end of the day, the battle was costly to Early. General Wallace and his men had delayed the Confederates long enough to enable General Ulysses S. Grant to send troops to re-enforce the defenses of Washington D. C. and Early's plan to capture the city came to naught.
The Battle of Monocacy is now known as the "Battle That Saved Washington." Grant said that Wallace had done more for the cause by losing the battle than many other generals had done by winning theirs.
Many years later General Wallace encountered one of the Confederate commanders, J. B. Gordon, at a White House reception. Gordon told Wallace he was the only Yankee who ever whipped him. Wallace replied that, in the end, his men ran from the field. "In that sense you are right," Gordon countered, "but you snatched Washington out of our hands."
