MONO, the common name in Guatemala for' the Central American howling monkey (Mycetes villosus).
MONOCACY, Battle on the, an engagement during the Civil War when on 4-5 July 1864, General Early with 20,000 Con federate troops, after driving the Union forces, under General Sigel, from the lower Shenan doah Valley, crossed the Potomac into Mary land north of Harper's Ferry, on his march to Washington, demonstrated on Sigel, who had retreated to Maryland Heights and, crossing South Mountain by Turners and Crampton's Gaps, concentrated his main body on the night of the 8th near Middletown in the Catoctin Valley, his cavalry, after some sharp skirm'sh ing during the day, being in advance, between Middletown and Frederick. Meanwhile Union forces had gathered to oppose his march. Gen. Lew Wallace, commanding the Middle Depart ment, with headquarters at Baltimore, on the 6th collected a mixed force, numbering 2.700 men, under Gen. E. B. Tyler, at Monocacy Junction, near Frederick, and disposed it to cover the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and its bridge, and the Baltimore pike with its stone pier bridge. Cavalry was sent out on the road beyond Frederick, which ran into Bradley T. Johnson's cavalry, and fell back. On the 841 Wallace was joined by a part of Ricketts' chvi sion of the Sixth corps from the Army of the Potomac, which was advanced to Frederick, but during the night it was withdrawn and crossed to the east bank of the Monocacy, where mean while other parts of Ricketts' division ha4 come up by rail from Baltimore. Ricketts' division of about 3,350 men was formed on Tyler's left, covering the Washington road and its wooden bridge. Both flanks and the fords were guarded by cavalry and skirmishers were de ployed on the bank of the river. Wallace had but six field-guns; three were given to Tyler and three to Ricketts. An earthwork and two blockhouses commanded both the railroad bridge and the bridge on the Washington road. On the morning of the 9th Early advanced from Frederick to attack Wallace, Rocks' divi sion on the left, along the Baltimore pike, and Ramseur's in the centre on the Washing ton road, while Gordon's division, following McCausland's cavalry, inclined to the right to reach the fords a mile below Wallace's left. Rodes and Ramseur drove the Union skirmish us to the bank of the river; Ramseur drove those in his front beyond it; and four heavy batteries of 16 guns crowning the heights near the river, at 9 A.M., opened fire upon the Union lines opposite. By noon the Confederate cav alry had forded the river, and dismounting, advanced on Ricketts' left, a temporary advantage, but were soon driven back. Gor
don then crossed his infantry and reinforced the cavalry. Ricketts, holding on the bridge with his right to check Ramseur, changed front to the left and engaged Gordon and the cav alry, sometimes yielding ground, and again regaining it,. but the enfilading fire of the guns across the river, and the continued heavy pres sure of Gordon on his front, right and left flanks, caused Wallace at 4 P.M. to withdraw him toward the Baltimore pike, having first burned the wooden bridge and the blockhouse at its farther end. Tyler had continued to hold his position against Rodes, in part west of the river, covering the stone bridge of the Baltimore pike, but Gordon's troops, following up the east side of the stream, on Ricketts' heels, struck the pike before the bridge-guard could get away, capturing several hundred pris oners, Tyler narrowly escaping. Wallace fell back by the Baltimore road in the direction of Ellicott's Mills, Early following but a short distance. Early buried his dead and sent over 400 of his severely wounded to the hospitals in Frederick. He levied and collected $200,000 from the citizens of Frederick, seized a good supply of shoes, bacon and flour, and on the morning of the 10th resumed his march on the direct road to Washington, halting at night within four miles of Rockville. The Union loss at Monocacy was 123 killed, 603 wounded and 568 missing, a total of 1,294, of whom 1,073 were of Ricketts' division. Early reports his loss as about 700 killed and wounded, but it must have been greater, as Gordon reports the loss in his division alone as 698. The great Importance of the battle on the Monocacy lies in the fact that the day gained in delaying Early enabled the remainder of the Sixth corps to reach Washington from Grant's army, as well as a part of the Nineteenth corps from New Orleans, before Early could make an at tack on the city. General Grant says: °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.° Con sult 'Official Records> (Vol. XXXVII) • Pond, 'The Shenandoah Valley in 1864' ; Grant's 'Per sonal Memoirs' (Vol. II); Early, 'Last Year of the War for Haynes, E. M., 'History of the Tenth Regiment, Vt.> (Vol: III, pp. 184-238, Rutland 1894) ; The Century Com pany's 'Battles and Leaders of the Civil War' (Vol. IV).