In June 1864, Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant sought to destroy Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army at Petersburg, Virginia, but Lee saw a chance to capture undefended Washington, D.C., and sent Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early with 15,000 troops to invade the North. Moving through the Shenandoah Valley to Frederick, Maryland, Early expected only minor resistance but instead encountered 6,000 opposing troops. Although his army won the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864, the delay cost him the opportunity to take Washington and perhaps to turn the war in the Confederacy's favor. In the 1864 Valley Campaign, Early left Richmond on June 13, secured the Shenandoah Valley, entered Maryland, fought Union troops reinforced by Grant at Monocacy on July 9, advanced on Washington's defenses, reached Fort Stevens on July 11, and on July 12 retreated into Virginia when the odds proved too great. At Best Farm, which John T. Best tenant farmed in 1864, the battle's opening shots were fired from the fields, producing the first Confederate victory in Northern territory. Best Farm came under artillery crossfire at the battle's start, Confederates forded the Monocacy River at Worthington Farm and opened a new front, civilians hid in Thomas House during fierce fighting there, Gambrill Mill served as a field hospital for Union soldiers, and the defense of Monocacy Junction was central to Union strategy.
