Battle of Monocacy • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • Armies
The “Fleeing for Their Lives” wayside marker is on the bank of the Monocacy River along a half mile walking trail whose trailhead is at the Gambrill Mill parking area on the Monocacy battlefield. (see map below)
The modern railroad bridge visible from the marker crosses the Monocacy river at the site of the Civil War bridge referred to on the marker. The ‘Burning of the Bridge‘ wayside marker a few feet away talks about the destruction of the nearby road bridge during the battle.
From the marker:
Fleeing for Their Lives
8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. July 9, 1864
Distressed that their main escape route had been burned, the stranded Federal skirmishers fought on as they faced periodic Confederate attacks. Late in the afternoon, they gradually fell back towards the Baltimore & Ohio bridge.
About 5:00 p.m., they noticed their compatriots retreating across the Gambrill Mill property toward the Baltimore Pike and fled across the railroad bridge to join them. The skirmishers had protected the Union center and the escape route toward Baltimore. “Your people,” Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace wrote 1st Lt. George E. Davis, “held their position with great tenacity.”
… we kept together and crossed the railroad bridge, stepping upon the ties, there being no floor. The enemy were at our heels, and before we could get away…[took some] prisoners. One man fell through the bridge to the river, forty feet below, and was taken to Andersonville.
From the caption to the portrait drawing at top center:
First Lt. George E. Davis (above) of the 10th Vermont Infantry received the Medal of Honor for his heroic leadership in defense of the bridges.
A photograph of a Civil War era Medal of Honor is in the middle of marker.
From the caption to the drawing on the right:
After holding off Confederates most of the day Union skirmishers fled to safety across the railroad bridge.
Location
The Fleeing for Their Lives and Burning of the Bridge markers are about 275 yards along a walking path whose trailhead is in the Gambrill Mill parking area. Gambrill Mill is located just off the Urbana Pike (Maryland Route 355) opposite Araby Church Road, about 0.9 mile south of the National Park Visitor Center.