Jubal Early and Bradley Johnson take on D.C.

[L Verge]

This month marks the 150th anniversary of the Confederates' attempt to take Washington, D.C. and also to proceed into Southern Maryland to release prisoners at Point Lookout. I just read an interesting synopsis on some outer battles that occurred in Prince George's County near the town of Bladensburg (more famous for the 1814 battle that allowed the British to overtake the capital city and burn the public buildings). Bladensburg is about fifteen miles from "Surrattsville."

This one item caught my eye: "In a telegraphed message to General Grant from Under Secretary of War, Charles A. Dana, the defense of Washington was described as consisting of many generals none of whom were in command." Sort of a nice take on the old saw of "too many chiefs and not enough Indians."

This time, however, Washington City was saved, thanks in part to a rather ragtag force thrown together under command of Gen. Lew Wallace, who met the Confederates outside of Frederick, Maryland, at the Battle of Monocacy. Wallace had to fall back, but the stalling tactic allowed Washington to be reinforced, and Early was stopped at the Battle of Ft. Stevens near the Lincolns' summer residence at the Soldiers' Home.

Bradley Johnson's part of the raid, intended to go through Prince George's County and on to the tip of Southern Maryland to Point Lookout, ended in the Prince George's town of Beltsville with some cavalry racing through what is now the University of Maryland campus (then called the Maryland Agricultural College).