American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

So I was able to get out to Monocacy yesterday with the Lady. About 40 minute drive from me or so.....we needed to get out somewhere close by to go for a walk and get some fresh air and I saw they had some good walking trails here.....good substitute, as we didn't have the time to drive to Gettysburg or Antietam.....this battlefield, tucked away just outside Frederick, MD was great, more than I expected and considering it's preservation happened so recently too, compared to other battles. It is actually the northernmost Confederate victory of the war (if you discount the St. Albans, VT raid), but it delayed Early's attack on Washington, costing him victory.

The battlefield though is great, we didn't explore much, though we saw most, as we drove to the furthest out spots for our walk. After driving past it for almost 8 years, finally got to this one. I knew little about the battle and read up on it. They have a little museum, that appears to spend more time talking about Maryland itself in the war, as opposed to the battles, but I will reassess that later, as we didn't look a it all, as I wanted to get out and walk. There are several monuments we saw either on the field or by the side of the roads that connected the different battlefield parts...including one parked right by the road in between two houses lol.

Either way, we went for the walking trails and those were great. Sort of odd, as I-270 splits right down the middle of the field and you sort of walk past it for a bit, but the one we were on, we soon got buried into the woods along the Monocacy River itself and it was splendid. I love to hike the battlefields in the spring & fall, as it is not so cursedly hot and there are not throngs of tourists about, not that you'd see them at Monocacy anyway.

Funny thing to note, the museum had a small cutout board, painted like a house side, with a window on it, labeled "Civil War Selfie".....lol....good to see the Park Service keeping up with the times!

I do enjoy very much the more emphasis being placed on walking trails along the battlefields, it is great, as sometimes I just want to go walk out, away from the monuments & cannons et al, and just get some peace & quiet, plus exercise too. It is more of an incentive to get out if there is a battlefield involved..... Still it is very peaceful and I enjoy it very much.

So if you happen to be around Antietam or Gettysburg, spin by this one too.....it's about 20-30 minutes from both......


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monocacy


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocacy_N ... attlefield


http://www.nps.gov/mono/index.htm

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General Scott Ludwig
4/II/ANV

Scott,

They have done a nice job improving the park. I was there in 1995 and was a little disappointed as the vistior center was the bottom floor at the Gambrill House and the tour stops were not that well marked. We returned 3-4 years ago to a nice new visitor center, marked tour stops, and nice walking trails. A couple of cannons on the field that were not there before. We plan on returning there sometime on one of our Gettysburg jaunts.

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Brigadier General Dale Lastowicka
2nd Brigade
Hindman's Division
Stewart's Corps
Army of Tennessee
Confederate Army