In the absence of Hunter, General Lew Wallace, with headquarters at Baltimore, commanded the department in which the Shenandoah lay.  His surplus of troops with which to move against the enemy was small in number.  Most of these were raw and, consequently, very much inferior to our veterans and to the veterans which Early had with him; but the situation of Washington was precarious, and Wallace moved with commendable promptitude to meet the enemy at the Monocacy.  He could hardly have expected to defeat him badly, but he hoped to cripple and delay him until Washington could be put into a state of preparation for his reception.  I had previously ordered General Meade to send a division to Baltimore for the purpose of adding to the defences of Washington, and he had sent Ricketts’s division of the 6th corps (Wright’s), which arrived in Baltimore on the 8th of July.  Finding that Wallace had gone to the front with his command, Ricketts immediately took the cars and followed him to the Monocacy with his entire division.  They met the enemy and, as might have been expected, were defeated; but they succeeded in stopping him for the day on which the battle took place.  The next morning Early started on his march to the capital of the Nation, arriving before it on the 11th.

Learning of the gravity of the situation I had directed General Meade to also order Wright with the rest of his corps directly to Washington for the relief of that place, and the latter reached there the very day that Early arrived before it.  The 19th corps, which had been stationed in Louisiana, having been ordered up to reinforce the armies about Richmond, had about this time arrived at Fortress Monroe, on their way to join us.  I diverted them from that point to Washington, which place they reached, almost simultaneously with Wright, on the 11th.  The 19th corps was commanded by Major-General Emory.

Early made his reconnoissance with a view of attacking on the following morning, the 12th; but the next morning he found our intrenchments, which were very strong, fully manned.  He at once commenced to retreat, Wright following.  There is no telling how much this result was contributed to by General Lew Wallace’s leading what might well be considered almost a forlorn hope.  If Early had been but one day earlier he might have entered the capital before the arrival of the reinforcements I had sent.  Whether the delay caused by the battle amounted to a day or not, General Wallace contributed on this occasion, by the defeat of the troops under him a greater benefit to the cause than often falls to the lot of a commander of an equal force to render by means of a victory.