Best Farm
Tour Stop 1 - Confederate Advance
Amazingly enough, the Georgetown Pike is seen here without traffic. Early's army advanced down the Pike from the left of the picture in the early morning, pushing back Union cavalry near here. Confederate artillery unlimbered here, firing on Monocacy Junction just down the road and dueling with Union artillery across the river. Ramseur's division deployed to confront around 350 Union skirmishers positioned along the B&O railroad on the near side of the river. Confederate sharpshooters and an artillery battery went into action near the Best Farm, visible in the center of the picture. Because of the presence of the Confederate troops, Union artillery set fire to the barn.
The Best Farm had been the scene of a Confederate encampment in the 1862 Antietam campaign, and the loss and recovery of Lee's Order No. 191, which detailed Lee's plans, occurred here. The fields on the far left of the picture will eventually become the site of a new visitors center, replacing the one at Gambrill's Mill. At the time of my visit, park service employees with metal detectors were investigating the fields between the road and the Best Farm. My hopes that this was battlefield archeology were dashed at the visitors center, however, when I learned that slave cabins were the object of investigation.
View From the Best Farm
Don't expect to see this view when you tour the battlefield - or the view below, as the Best Farm is usually closed to the public. After passing through an open gate and investigating the area, one of the rangers conducting the archeological survey politely informed me of this. Fortunately, I'd already investigated the area reasonably well. You can see the first two park service auto tour stops in this picture, both adjacent to the Georgetown Pike, the first being the location of a Confederate battery, seen in the previous picture, and the second being the Union skirmish line along the railroad, which we will see later.
East of the Railroad Near the Best Farm
This is the view from just east of the railroad near the Best Farm. The treeline on the left marks the railroad bed, and monument in the distance marks Tour Stop 2, the location of the Union skirmish line. To the right of the monument, you can see the modern bridge where the Georgetown Pike crosses the river. At the time of the battle, a covered bridge crossed the river. You can make out the location of the river by the tree-line in the center of the picture.
Tour Stop 2 - Union Skirmish Line
Be careful when you pull out of this tour stop! It's dangerous.
The main Union position was across the river, which can be seen as the treeline on the left of the picture. The approximately 350 Union skirmishers were deployed along the railroad bed on the center and right of the picture facing the Confederates in the distant fields on the right half of the pan. Here, the skirmishers protected two bridges across the river, the railroad bridge, and the covered road bridge of the Georgetown Pike. The covered bridge would be burned during the battle, but the railroad bridge remained. (The Pike is visible on the right.) The Union skirmishers repulsed two Confederate attacks during the battle.
Early decided that a large scale direct attack on the bridges would be too costly. With Ramseur facing the Union front, Early kept Echols' division in reserve and ordered Breckinridge with Gordon's division to flank the Union position by crossing the river to the south. As the day wore on, Gordon's assault succeeded and threatened to cut off the Union skirmishers here. Facing another attack to their front, the Union skirmishers withdrew north, off the picture to the right, passing Monocacy Junction and crossing the railroad bridge.