BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Ball's Bluff Battlefield Regional Park

VA -- Ball's Bluff Battlefield Regional Park:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. BALLS_120527_016.JPG: In appreciation to Judge John B. Hannum who led the effort to designate Ball's Bluff Battlefield a National Historic Landmark June 1993
2. BALLS_120527_020.JPG: Battle of Ball's Bluff -- October 21, 1861 6 AM - After crossing the river, the 15 MA (Colonel Devens) advanced to the area near the Jackson house, leaving the 20 MA (Colonel Lee) on the bluff to guard the exit path to the river. 8 AM - Captain Duff's (17 MS) Company ran into Devens (15 MA) and fighting began around the Jackson House. 9A M - 10 AM - General Stone ordered Col. (Senator) Baker to take command of all forces on Ball's Bluff and either advance more troops or withdraw, as he deemed appropriate. Baker arrived on the Maryland shore opposite Harrison's Island and spent four hours trying to gather more boats to support his forces, then crossed over to the island, and then to the bluff on the Virginia Side. 9-11 AM - Lt. Colonel Jenifer's VA Cavalry and two companies of the 18 MS (and possibly one company of the 13 MS) arrived to support Duff near the Jackson house. These units skirmished with the 15 MA. 10-11 AM - The remainder of the 15 MA (350 men) arrived to support Devens. Skirmishing continued. 12-1 PM - Nine companies of 8 VA arrived near the Jackson house from Burnt Bridge and skirmishing with the 15 MA intensified. 2 PM - Devens (15 MA) withdrew back to the bluff. He found that Colonel Baker had finally arrived on the field to assume full command of Federal forces on Ball's Bluff. 2 PM - 3 PM - Baker deployed Devens' 15 MA at right angle to the right of the Federal line, thus forming what, from the bluff, looked like a backwards "L." He then sent the 1 CA (2 cos) forward to determine the location of the Confederate right flank, sparking a sharp fire fight with the 8 VA. Both the 8 VA and the 1 CA retreated and reformed after a brief fight. 3 PM - The 18 MS arrived on the field and attacked Federal units on the bluff, suffering a bloody repulse. Colonel Burt (18 MS) received a mortal wound. His successor, Lt. Colonel Thomas Griffin, split the 18 MS to the Confederate right and left. 3 PM-5 PM - General, disorganized squad and company size fighting continued until Colonel Baker was mortally wounded between 4 PM & 5 PM. 5 PM - Colonel Cogswell (42 NY) assumed command and attempted to forge a breakout from the bluff toward Edwards Ferry. The attempt failed and Cogswell ordered a general withdrawal from Ball's Bluff. The 8 VA attacked and captured two mountain howitzers after a brief fight with the 20 MA (2 co) under Captain Bartlett. 5 PM-6 PM - The 17 MS arrived on the field and, supported by the 18 MS, attacked the retreating Federals. The 17 MS captured the James rifle (and also claimed the capture of one of the howitzers), and repulsed a counterattack by the 42 NY (2 cos). They fired down on the Federals on the floodplain, those swimming the river, and in the four retreating boats. All four Federal boats were either sunk or were damaged and drifted away down river. Many Federals drowned or were shot in the water as they tried to escape, and hundreds were stranded on the Virginia shore. After Dark - Elijah White (VA Cav) with 50 volunteers from the 8 VA convinced the Federals stranded on the Virginia shoreline to surrender, thus ending the Battle of Ball's Bluff.
3. BALLS_120527_026.JPG: Additional Area Civil War Sites: 1. Sugarloaf Mountain - This was the site of a Union Signal Corps station that remained in operation throughout much of the war. 2. White's Ferry - Originally called Conrad's Ferry, this crossing was established in 1817 about four miles north of Leesburg. After the war, the ferry was bought by Confederate veteran Elijah White and became known as White's Ferry. It is the only operational ferry on the Potomac. 3. Harrison's Island - About two miles long and four hundred yards wide, this island bisects the Potomac at Ball's Bluff. Union troops first had to cross the wide Maryland channel of the river to get to the island, then the narrower, swifter Virginia channel to reach Ball's Bluff. This double river crossing created a bottleneck which made both the advance and the retreat very difficult. 4. Chesapeake and Ohio Canal - Finished in 1850, the canal stretched 184.5 miles from Georgetown, DC to Cumberland, Maryland. The canal was a major transportation route for goods moving between the Ohio Valley and Washington, DC. During the battle of Ball's Bluff, Union troops used the tow path to get to the crossing point on the Maryland side. At least one canal boat was used to transport troops to Harrison's Island. 5. Poolesville - Located four miles from Ball's Bluff, this small Maryland town served as division headquarters for General Stone's "Corps of Observation." From here, Stone was responsible for watching approximately 20 miles of the Potomac River. 6. Edwards Ferry - A major commercial crossing point before the war, Edwards Ferry was the site of a small diversionary crossing made by a detachment of the 3rd New York Cavalry on the morning of October 21st. This was done to divert Confederate attention away from the Union raiding party then operating upriver at Ball's Bluff. A skirmish also occurred there on the afternoon of October 22nd between Union troops from Brig. Gen. Willis Gorman's brigade of Stone's division and Col. William Barksdale's 13th Mississippi which resulted in the repulse of the Mississippians. Union troops continued to cross all day on October 21st, totaling 2500 by nightfall and nearly 4500 by the morning of October 22, 1861. 7. Dranesville - Learning that the Confederates had withdrawn from Leesburg on October 17th, Gen. George McClellan ordered the division under Gen. George McCall to advance westward from its camp at Langley to a position near Dranesville. From there, McCall was to scout toward Leesburg. By October 19th, McCall was conducting a reconnaissance-in-force but was confused by the reappearance of the Confederate force in Leesburg. That night, General McClellan ordered General McCall to withdraw to Langley on the morning of October 20th but then gave him permission to remain an extra day in order to produce a map of the local roads. Thus, McCall withdrew on the morning of October 21st, not knowing that fighting had broken out only a few miles away at Ball's Bluff. 8. A.L.H. Railroad - Extending from Alexandria, the Alexandria, Loudoun, and Hampshire Railroad ended in Leesburg. A locomotive and several cars were removed from the line by the 8th Virginia's Colonel Eppa Hunton prior to the Battle of Manassas. Federal troops controlled this line throughout the war. 9. Burnt Bridge - A bridge over Goose Creek was destroyed by Confederate troops in June 1861 due to the threat of a Union advance. The area continued to be a location for Confederate camps. The 8th Virginia left from this location to fight at Ball's Bluff. 10. Goose Creek - At the point where the bridge over the Alexandria-Winchester Turnpike (today's Rt. 7) crossed Goose Creek, Col. Nathan Evans set up a defensive position on October 19th to halt any advance by Gen. McCall's forces from Dranesville. 11. Fort Evans - One of the three earthen fortifications built to protect Leesburg, it was named for Colonel Nathan Evans, the Confederate commander. From here, Evans directed his troops at Ball's Bluff and Edwards Ferry. The fort was abandoned in early March 1862 when the Confederates withdrew from Loudoun County. 12. Big Spring - Located just north of Leesburg, this was the campsite of Co. K, 17th Mississippi, which was picketing the nearby Potomac River at the time of the battle of Ball's Bluff. It was this Confederate company which discovered the Union crossing and first engaged the Federals on the morning of October 21st. 13. Smart's Mill - Owned by John Smart, this mill became an important landmark associated with the battle of Ball's Bluff. On the morning of October 21st, a very brief exchange of fire occurred between Confederate pickets and a few Union scouts just south of the mill. During the Union rout of at the end of the day, Smart's Mill was the site of the escape of Capt. William F. Bartlett of the 20th Massachusetts and a mixed group of some 80 Union soldiers. Locating a small boat at the mill, Bartlett managed to ferry these men to safety a few at a time. It was the largest number of Federals to escape from the battlefield in one group. 14. Carter's Mill - Col. Nathan Evans withdrew his brigade to Carter's Mill, several miles south of Leesburg, on October 17, 1861. Evans again withdrew the bulk of his forces to Carter's Mill shortly after the Battle, leaving a small force in and around Leesburg to watch the Federals at Edwards Ferry. 15. Harpers Ferry - On October 16, Evans sent two companies of the 8 VA, and artillery from the Richmond Howitzers to Harpers Ferry to help Confederate forces there repel a Union attack, and on the night of October 16/17, withdrew the balance of his force to Carter's Mill, a few miles south of Leesburg. After hearing of the move to Carter's Mill, his immediate superior, General Beauregard, expressed his concern in writing to Evans, prompting Evans to return his force to Leesburg on October 19.
4. BALLS_120527_088.JPG: The Battle at Ball's Bluff: On the night of October 20, 1861, a small Federal scouting party crossed the Potomac River from Maryland to determine whether recent troop movements indicated a Confederate withdrawal from Leesburg. Advancing inland from Ball's Bluff, the Federals moved past this point, crested a low ridge near the Jackson house, and saw in the dim moonlight what appeared to be a Confederate Camp. Upon learning of this, the Federal commander, Brig. Gen. Charles P. Stone, saw a target of opportunity and quickly organized a raiding party. Five companies of the 15th Massachusetts led by Col. Charles Devens spent several hours quietly crossing the river from Harrison's Island. At dawn they marched up the path on their way to destroy the supposed enemy camp and return to Maryland. The "camp," however, did not exist. In the dark, the scouts had mistaken a row of trees for tents. By the time the error was reported to General Stone, an unintended battle had begun. At 7:30 a.m. on October 21, Company K of the 17th Mississippi clashed with the Massachusetts men near the Jackson house. General Stone remained in Maryland at Edward's Ferry. On hearing of the patrol's mistake, but not yet knowing that fighting had occurred, he ordered Col. Edward D. Baker to evaluate the situation. On his way upriver to do this, Baker learned of the fighting from a messenger who then proceeded downriver to alert General Stone. Col. Nathan G. "Shanks" Evans directed his Confederate forces from an earthen fort named for him on nearby Edwards Ferry Road. By midmorning, Evans had committed four more companies of Mississippi infantry and three companies of Virginia cavalry to the Ball's Bluff fight. Devens' men withdrew to a wood line near the Jackson house. About 13:30, the 8th Virginia Infantry arrived. Shortly thereafter, the Confederate line, now nearly 700 strong, attacked Devens' roughly 650 Federal troops. The skirmish lasted perhaps an hour. Afterwards, Devens withdrew to the bluff. The most serious fighting was about to begin.
5. BALLS_120527_100.JPG: This monument is dedicated to the brave men of the 8th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment
6. BALLS_120527_112.JPG: 8th Virginia Infantry The 8th Virginia Infantry was a local unit made up of six companies from Loudoun, two from Fauquier, and one each from Fairfax and Prince William counties. Commanded by Colonel Eppa Hunton, the Regiment arrived on the field about 12:30 p.m. initially deploying west of the ridge near the Jackson house. With the withdrawal of the 15th Massachusetts from that area, the 8th Virginia moved cautiously forward and deployed on the battlefield. Shortly thereafter, the right wing of the unit clashed with two companies of the 1st California Regiment advancing up the slope to the right of this location. A hard skirmish was fought on that slope around 3:00 p.m. The California companies took heavy casualties and fell back. Meanwhile, a misunderstood withdrawal order by Lt. Col. Charles B. Tebbs of the 8th caused some of the men to break and run. Colonel Hunton managed to restore order to the 8th Virginia by withdrawing the regiment a few hundred yards toward the Jackson house. The 8th got back into the fight, conducting a bayonet charge around 5:00 p.m. which overran the Federal mountain howitzers.
7. BALLS_120527_121.JPG: Batteifield Historic Restoration Project In 2004, Ball's Bluff Battlefield Regional Park began a restoration project on the battlefield where you stand today. The objective of the effort is to return about 12 acres of the battlefield to its approximate appearance in 1861. First hand accounts from soldiers like Lt. Colonel Isaac Wister of the 1st California describe the battlefield as "an open field of oblong shaped...entirely surrounded by woods". The photograph below was taken in 1886 of the Veterans from the 15th Massachusetts who returned to Ball's Bluff on a tour of the battlefields where they had fought during the Civil War. The placement of this sign is near the area where the photograph wsa taken. Note the cemetery wall on the right side of the photo. The map you see below was sketched by William Francis Bartlett of the 20th Massachusetts four days after the battle and shows the general shape of the battlefield. Using participant descriptions and period maps, it is known that the cleared field around which the battle was fought was oblong, approximately 150 yards wide along the bluff and extending some 450 yards inland, roughly from the bluff to today's parking log. Every year park staff and volunteers participate in projects that include cutting trees, removal of dead falls and clearing of undergrowth that bring this historic battlefield closer to its 1861 appearance. The cut trees and underbrush are used for mulching trails and as firewood for reenactors during living history programs. These restoration efforts are open to public participation. Please check park information kiosks and websites for announcements related to the Battlefield Historic Restoration Project.
8. BALLS_120527_126.JPG: Thomas Clinton Lovett Hatcher 20 December, 1839 – 21 October, 1861 Standing over 6'4" and wearing a full red beard, Clinton Hatcher was a memorable figure. Despite his Quaker upbringing, he joined Company F of the 8th Virginia at the beginning of the war and became the regimental color bearer. This combined with his height and notable beard to make him quite a target and he was, in fact, killed during the battle. This memorial stone was placed here to honor his courage. Hatcher is not buried here but rests in the Ketoctin Baptist Church Cemetery near Purcellville, Virginia, a few miles west of Leesburg.
9. BALLS_120527_130.JPG: Clinton Hatcher 1840-1861. Co. F 8th Va. Regt. CSA Fell bravely defending his native state
10. BALLS_120527_141.JPG: Battle of Ball's Bluff, October 21, 1861 The Battle of Ball's Bluff was the result of a mistake. The previous evening, Capt. Chase Philbrick, Co. H, 15th Massachusetts, led a small reconnaissance patrol across the river to determine the results of some earlier Confederate troop movements. Philbrick soon spotted what he thought was an enemy camp and reported this news. The "camp," in fact was a row of trees mistaken for tents. On orders from Brig. Gen. Charles P. Stone, Col. Charles Devens' crossed a 300-man force to raid this "camp" but soon discovered the mistake. Devens remained where he was and sent word to General Stone. His decision to stay led to the battle. On hearing of the mistake about the camp, Stone sent Devens the remainder of his regiment with orders to reconnoiter closer to Leesburg. He also ordered Col. Edward D. Baker, a U.S. Senator and friend of President Lincoln, to take command of the force, evaluate the situation and use his own discretion about whether to advance more men across the river or to retire those already there. Unknown to either Stone or Baker, Devens' original raiding party had already engaged pickets of the 17th Mississippi while waiting to hear from General Stone. The fighting thus began without Stone's knowledge. From there, both sides gradually reinforce during the day. Thus, a small reconnaissance became a battle.
11. BALLS_120527_147.JPG: The South: Confederate Leaders at Ball's Bluff Colonel Nathan George "Shanks" Evans Nathan Evans was born in South Carolina in 1824. An 1848 West Point graduate, he was jokingly nicknamed "Shanks" by his classmates because he was knock-kneed. During the next decade he fought Indians with the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, eventually rising to the rank of captain. He resigned shortly after the secession of his native state. At First Manassas, Evans commanded the Confederate left and held the Federals in check long enough for Stonewall Jackson to arrive and make his famous stand. He earned promotion to brigadier general for his effective overall leadership at Ball's Bluff and later served at Second Manassas, Antietam, in the Carolinas, and in the Vicksburg campaign. A fall from a carriage in Charleston early in 1864 resulted in a serious head injury which kept him out of the war from that point. Evans died in Midway, Alabama, in 1868. Colonel Eppa Hunton Born in nearby Fauquier County, Virginia, in 1822, Hunton was a school teacher lawyer, politician, and militia general prior to the war. He commanded all Confederate forces in Loudoun County, Virginia, during the summer of 1861 and led the 8th Virginia infantry from First Manassas through Gettysburg. He deserves great credit at this battle for preserving the 8th Virginia's unit integrity. Following Gettysburg, he was promoted to brigadier general and given command of the brigade formerly under Gen. Richard Garnett who was killed in Pickett's Charge. Hunton led that brigade until his capture at Sayler's Creek on April 6, 1865. After the war, he returned to his law practice and to politics, serving in the House of Representatives from 1873-81 and in the Senate from 1892-95. Hunton died in 1908. Colonel Winfield Scott Featherston Born about 1820 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Featherston was living in Georgia where he fought against the Creek Indians during their uprising in 1836. He moved to Okolona, Mississippi, in 1840 and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847-51 with both Abraham Lincoln and Edward Baker. Here at Ball's Bluff, he led the climactic charge that finally routed Baker's Union troops. He later commanded a Mississippi brigade in the western theater, participating in all the major battles between Vicksburg and the final surrender of Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina. As a circuit court judge following the war, he conducted the impeachment trial of Mississippi's Reconstruction governor and former Union general Adelbert Ames in 1876. Featherston died in May, 1891. Private Elijah Viers White E.V. White was a Marylander, born in Poolesville, just across the Potomac from Leesburg, Virginia, in 1832. A private in Company G of Turner Ashby's 7th Virginia Cavalry, White was home on leave on October 21, 1861, when he heard the sounds of battle and reported to Col. Nathan Evans to serve in whatever capacity he could. Because of his familiarity with the area, Evans made him a courier and guide. Late in the evening, White led some 50 volunteers from the 8th Virginia to sweep the floodplain below Ball's Bluff for Union troops who might surrender. Some 300 of them did so. As a lieutenant colonel, White later commanded the 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as "White's Comanches." Following the war, he became a banker and sheriff of Loudoun County. He also purchased and operated Conrad's Ferry, known today as White's Ferry. White died in 1907 and is buried in Leesburg's Union Cemetery. Colonel Erasmus Burt Erasmus Burt was the Mississippi State Auditor. Something of a philanthropist, he had been instrumental in the founding of the Deaf and Dumb Institute of Mississippi. With the onset of war, he organized an infantry company known as the Burt Rifles which became Company K of the 18th Mississippi. Burt became the regimental colonel. At Ball's Bluff, he made a significant tactical error when he led his regiment directly into a crossfire that Elijah White later called "the best directed and most destructive single volley I saw during the war." One of the casualties of that volley, Burt took a bullet that penetrated his hip and entered his stomach. He was taken to a home in Leesburg where he died on October 26. He is buried in Jackson, Mississippi. Colonel Walter Hanson Jenifer Walter H. Jenifer was born in Maryland in 1823 or 1824. He briefly attended West Point as part of the same class of which Union General Stone was a member but was dismissed due to failing grades. Despite this failure, he served in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry from 1855-61 before resigning to join the Confederate forces. Shortly before the war, he patented a cavalry saddle which was used by some Confederates but became unpopular when it proved harmful to the horses' backs. Jenifer commanded the small Confederate cavalry contingent at Ball's Bluff and later commanded the 8th Virginia Cavalry for a few months. For most of the war he held minor administrative posts. In 1871, he briefly served in the Egyptian army under his former foe, General Stone, who was Chief of Staff to the Khedive of Egypt. Jenifer died in Richmond in 1878. Captain William Lewis Duff William Duff was a member of the Class of 1862 at the University of Mississippi but left school to join the army when war came. He became captain of Company K, 17th Mississippi. While on picket duty near Ball's Bluff, his company discovered the Federal crossing and eventually engaged a portion of the 15th Massachusetts in the opening skirmish of the battle. Later in the afternoon, Company K moved around the Federal right and engaged Company C, 42nd New York before retiring from the fight. In 1863, Duff was transferred to the western theater where he organized and commanded the 8th Mississippi Cavalry which served under Nathan Bedford Forrest.
12. BALLS_120527_151.JPG: The North: Union Leaders at Ball's Bluff Brigadier General Charles Pomeroy Stone As the overall commander of Union forces at Ball's Bluff, Stone was a rising star in the Union army at the time of the battle. He become the scapegoat for the defeat. Stone was born September 30, 1824, in Greenfield, Massachusetts. An 1845 West Point graduate, he won two brevets for gallantry in Mexico. Early in 1861, he organized the defenses of Washington and oversaw security arrangements for President-elect Lincoln's inauguration. Arrested on February 8, 1962, Stone was incarcerated for six months with no charges ever filed against him. Released in August, he eventually served on the staff of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks in Louisiana. Typhoid and the cloud of Ball's Bluff resulted in his resignation from the army in September, 1864. Stone later served 12 years as Chief of Staff to the Khedive of Egypt and as Chief Engineer on the Statue of Liberty project. He died in New York on January 24, 1887, and is buried at West Point. Senator/Colonel Edward Dickinson Baker Born in England on February 24, 1811, Baker was brought to America by his parents in 1815 and settled in Philadelphia. About 1827, the family moved to Belleville, Illinois and, by the mid-1830s, Baker was practicing law in Springfield where he and another young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln became close friends. He served two terms in Congress and briefly but creditably commanded the 4th Illinois infantry in Mexico before moving to California where he spent the 1850s. Moving to Oregon in 1859, Baker helped to organize the "California Regiment" (recruited mostly in Philadelphia and later renamed the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry) which fought here at Ball's Bluff. Killed at this battle (though most likely not where his stone marker is located), Baker is the only U.S. Senator ever to die in combat. He is buried at the Presidio in San Francisco. Colonel William R. Lee Lee was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on August 15, 1807. An 1825 graduate of Norwich Military Academy, he entered West Point that same year but resigned for personal reasons a few weeks before his 1829 graduation. As an engineer and superintendent on several northeastern railroads during the 1850s, Lee is credited with the ideas of burning coal instead of wood in engines and of stringing telegraph wires along railroad rights of way. In command of the 20th Massachusetts at Ball's Bluff, Lee was captured while attempting to escape upstream and remained in Confederate custody until his parole the following February. Ill health plagued him and, though he was with his regiment sporadically through 1862, he was not always in actual command of it. He resigned in December, 1862, and spent the rest of the war in Boston as Chief Engineer of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. Lee died in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1891 Colonel Milton Cogswell The only professional soldiers among the Federal commanders at Ball's Bluff, Milton Cogswell was born in Indiana in 1825 or 1826 and graduated from West Point in 1849. Cogswell spent most of the pre-war years with the 8th U.S. Infantry at various western posts. In the summer of 1861 he accepted a volunteer commission as a colonel of the 42nd New York Infantry which he led at Ball's Bluff. Captured late in the day, he was paroled in March, 1862. He returned to the 8th U.S. Infantry in 1863, remaining with that unit through the war. In 1869, Cogswell took a detachment of the 21st U.S. Infantry by rail from Charleston, S.C. to Promontory Point, Utah where he witnessed the driving of the golden spike that completed the transcontinental railroad. Continuing to California, he thus led the first party to travel coast to coast by rail. Cogswell retired in 1871 and died in Washington, D.C., in November, 1882. Colonel Charles Devens Born April 4, 1820, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Devens was a Harvard lawyer, a state senator, and a U.S. Marshall before the Civil War. He commanded the 15th Massachusetts at Ball's Bluff, his men being the first Union troops on the field. Devens is probably best known as the commander of the XI Corps division that was surprised and destroyed by Stonewall Jackson's flank attack at Chancellorsville. Transferred several times, he finished the war as military commander of Charleston, S.C. Returning to the law, Devens became a judge, serving 1873-77 and 1881-91 on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. From 1877-81, he was Attorney General under Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes. Fort Devens, Massachusetts is named for him. He died in Boston in 1891. Captain William Francis Bartlett A junior at Harvard in 1861, William Francis Bartlet was known to sympathize with the South before the war. Following Ft. Sumter, however, he joined the 20th Massachusetts, becoming captain of Company I. He crossed his company to Ball's Bluff before dawn on October 21 and was among the last to leave, re-crossing the Potomac after dark about a mile upriver at the head of a mixed group of some 80 men. In accomplishing this, Bartlett found and repaired a small skiff which he used to shuttle the men across four or five at a time while holding the rest at bay with a pistol when some of them tried to rush the boat. Bartlett got all of them across safely; this was the largest group of Federals to escape. Bartlett lost a leg at Yorktown and the use of an arm at Port Hudson. He was captured at the Crater during the siege of Petersburg, but returned to service and survived the war. He died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1876. Lieutenant Oliver Wendell Holmes Holmes has correctly been called "the most famous survivor of Ball's Bluff." Born March 8, 1841, he graduated from Harvard in 1861 and joined the 20th Massachusetts, becoming a lieutenant in Company A. Holmes was wounded twice at Ball's Bluff; once mearly having the wind knocked out of him by a spent ball, then later being hit in the chest. He was wounded twice more during the war at Antietam and Second Fredericksburg. Following the war, Holmes enjoyed a successful law career and is best known as "The Great Dissenter" for his 30 years, 1902-32, as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
13. BALLS_120527_179.JPG: United States National Military Cemetery Ball's Bluff Established 1865 Internments 54 Known 1 Unknown 53
14. BALLS_120527_183.JPG: This Ball's Bluff National Military Cemetery Plaque was replaced and the gate restored in 1996 by the CLINTON HATCHER CAMP NO. 21 Sons of Confederate Veterans Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia to commemorate the battle fought here October 21, 1861 with cooperation of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
15. BALLS_120527_208.JPG: Ball's Bluff National Cemetery The twenty-five graves here in one of America's smallest national cemeteries contain the partial remains of 54 Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Ball's Bluff, October 21, 1861. All are unidentified except Pvt. James Allen of Northbridge, Massachusetts, who served with the 15th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The majority of Confederate dead were removed to Leesburg. Most of the fallen Union soldiers found on or near the battlefield were temporarily buried in shallow mass graves between the current cemetery and the Clinton Hatcher marker just to the west. Some of the dead from both sides were shipped to their homes for burial. In the fall of 1865, Governor Andrew Curtin sought to have Pennsylvania's dead removed and returned home. Individual remains could not be identified four years after the battle, so the U.S. Army decided to establish a cemetery here for the Union dead. Work was completed on December 18, 1865. Cemetery Timeline October 21, 1861: Battle of Ball's Bluff October 22, 1861: Under a flag of truce, a Union Burial detail inters 47 bodies and marks approximately 20 more that were later buried by the Confederates. Spring 1862: Examination of field by Union authorities and temporary reinterment in mass graves. Fall 1865: Authorization of national cemetery and beginning of permanent reinterments. December 18, 1865: Completion of Ball's Bluff National Cemetery. February 1871: Construction of first stone wall to replace picket fence. September 1901: Construction of current stone wall. August 1984: Cemetery and battlefield designated National Historic Landmark. June 1986: Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority assumes ownership of battlefield immediately surrounding cemetery.
16. BALLS_120527_212.JPG: From The Bivouac of the Dead by Theodore O'Hara The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo; No more on life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few. On Fame's eternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread, And Glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead.
17. BALLS_120527_219.JPG: Edward D. Baker Memorial Col. 71 Pa. Inf. Killed here in the battle of Ball's Bluff, VA Oct. 21, 1861
18. BALLS_120527_223.JPG: Edward D. Baker Colonel Baker is buried at the Presidio in San Francisco, California. This memorial stone was placed here to mark what was believed to be the location of Baker's death and to honor the memory of the only U.S. Senator to have died on the field of battle. Prior to the placement of the stone, a simple wooden fence rail, supported by a pile of rocks and a small sign, was the only monument to Baker. The stone was placed where that fence rail once stood.
19. BALLS_120527_243.JPG: Union Artillery: The Federals crossed three pieces of artillery to Ball's Bluff. Two mountain howitzers from the 2nd New York State Militia, detached under Lt. Frank French of Battery I, 1st U.S. Artillery, occupied this area for much of the afternoon. A 12-pdr James rifled cannon from Battery B, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery, commanded by Lt. Walter Bramhall of the 6th New York Independent Battery, was near today's cemetery. Being in the open, many of the artillerists were shot down and replaced by infantrymen. Sgt. Frank Donaldson of the 1st California was one of the foot soldiers who helped man a mountain howitzer. Testifying to the tenacity with which they were served, he later wrote, "...the gun crew killed or wounded ... it was being served by a few infantrymen as best they could, and I assisted in filling it with stones and dirt, as, with the exception of a few flannel poweder bags, all ammunition had been expended." This position was taken by the 8th Virginia in a bayonet charge around 5 p.m.
20. BALLS_120527_255.JPG: Ball's Bluff Overlook Ball's Bluff is a 600 yard long shale and sandstone cliff. It rises up a shallow bell curve from two ravines approximately 300 yards north and south of where you are standing. At this point, it is about 100 feet high, though just to the north (left) of this spot, it reaches its highest elevation of 110 feet above the river. Note that the Potomac flows due south here. Thus, as you look across the river into Maryland, you are not looking northward as you might expect, but to the east. Directly below you, more or less visible depending on the foliage, are the river and the floodplain on which Union troops landed on the morning of October 21, 1861. The landing point was upriver to your left some 300 yards. The Federals worked their way down the floodplain to the path at the southern end of the bluff which winds its way upward and comes out near the cemetery. The Virginia channel of the river below you is, at normal water, some 75-80 yards wide. Beyond that channel is Harrison's Island which was picketed by Federal troops before the battle, and was the refuge sought by those same troops following the route at the end of the day. The island is two miles long and perhaps a quarter-mile wide. Beyond it is the roughly 350 yard wide Maryland channel of the river on the other side of which, where you see several farm buildings, is Maryland proper. Follow the horizon to the right and you will see a water tower that marks the site of Poolesville, the small town that was General Stone's division headquarters from August, 1861, until his arrest in February, 1862. His approximately 10,000 troops were camped at various locations some 8-10 miles north and south of Poolesville so as to cover the river and watch for any Confederate activity.
21. BALLS_120527_261.JPG: 20th Massachusetts Infantry Companies D and I of the 20th Massachusetts (the "Harvard Regiment") followed the 15th Massachusetts across the Potomac with orders to serve as a rear guard and cover the withdrawal of the 15th Massachusetts following what was hoped would be a successful raid. Those two companies, led by regimental commander Colonel William R. Lee, deployed along the bluff here and waited. They spent much of the day in the area immediately beyond this sign. While waiting, Colonel Lee sent out scouting parties upriver and downriver to secure his flanks. The upriver party stumbled into a small group of pickets from Co. K, 17th Mississippi, and a few shots were exchanged. The Mississippians withdrew and alerted Colonel Evans to the presence of Union troops at Ball's Bluff. Unfortunately for the Federals, no one from the 20th Massachusetts went forward to inform their comrades in the 15th Massachusetts that contact had been made with the enemy. Around mid-afternoon, the 20th became involved in the main fighting, an action later described by Lieut. Henry L. Abbott as a fight "made up of charges" as individual companies would advance, fire, and fall back. Later, Lieut. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. received the first of his three Civil War wounds here and was evacuated from the field. During the rout of the Federal troops, Colonel Lee and Major Paul J. Revere (grandson of the Revolutionary War hero) were captured along with many other soldiers. Capt. William F. Bartlett led a mixed group of some 80 men upriver where they found a small skiff and managed to cross to safety.
22. BALLS_120527_265.JPG: 1st California Regiment The 1st California was one of four regiments that made up the "California Brigade" commanded by Colonel Edward D. Baker, U.S. Senator from Oregon and close friend of President Lincoln. In April, 1861, Baker helped to organize what was intended to be a single regiment to represent California in the Union Army. The response was so large, however that four regiments were created and numbered 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th California (there was no 4th). As most of the recruiting was done around Philadelphia, the Governor of Pennsylvania objected to those men not counting in his state's quota of volunteers, and had these four regiments renamed the 71st, 69th, 72nd, and 106th Pennsylvania following the death of Colonel Baker here. Thus, the "California Brigade" became the "Philadelphia Brigade." There are numerous accounts of Colonel Baker's death but no historical consensus or definative version. Confederate veteran Elijah White accurately summed this up when he wrote, "General [sic] Baker was killed ... no one knowing really who did it, although there was much romancing at the time."
23. BALLS_120527_367.JPG: 42nd New York Infantry The 42nd New York ("Tammany Regiment") was commanded by Col. Milton Cogswell, the only West Point-trained officer among the senior Union commanders at Ball's Bluff. Five companies of the 42nd participated in the battle. With the death of Colonel Baker between 4:30-5:00, Colonel Cogswell assumed command of the Federal force. He attempted to organize a breakout and move downriver toward the other Union troops at Edward's Ferry. The attempt fell apart almost before it started. Cogswell then formed a heavy defensive line along the bluff to buy time to get the wounded safely across the river. With the climactic Confederate advance, however, the Federal resistance finally collapsed. The men fled in panic down the slope toward the river. Many of them were shot while trying to swim across. Many others hid at the base of the bluff until dark, then surrendered. Cogswell himself was slightly wounded and captured, spending several months as a prisoner of war in Richmond.
24. BALLS_120527_372.JPG: 18th Mississippi Infantry: The 18th Mississippi Infantry was sent from nearby Edward's Ferry and arrived near here around 3:00 p.m. Colonel Erasmus Burt ordered his men forward across the then open field unknowingly into a deadly crossfire between the two winds of the Union formation. This was the single major tactical error made by the Confederates during the battle. About half of the 18th Mississippi's 85 casualties that day came during this brief encounter. Among the wounded was Colonel Burt who was shot through the hip and taken to Leesburg where he died on Octorber 26. Lt. Col. Thomas Griffin assumed command, ordered the regiment to fall back, and split it into two battalions. Seven companies worked their way around to the right into the ravine at the bottom of this ridge. The men moved along the ravine and made a series of assaults on the Federal left flank during the course of the afternoon. Each of these assaults was repulsed by the Union troops, though the 18th participated in the final successful assault with its sister regiment, the 17th, just before dark.
25. BALLS_120527_377.JPG: 17th Mississippi Infantry: The 17th Mississippi Infantry was the last Confederate unit to arrive on the field. These 600-700 fresh troops showed up late in the afternoon and tipped the balance of what had been a hard but evenly fought contest up to that point. The Mississippians had double-timed much of the way from their positions near Leesburg and were, according to Pvt. Robert Moore, "very near run down when we got there." To let them catch their breath and to protect them from still heavy Union fire, Colonel Winfield Scott Featherston ordered his men to lie down. Pvt. Calvin Vance later wrote that Featherston's order "was obeyed with great alacrity; no lizards ever got closer to the ground than we did...the Mine balls came screaming by and over us, saying, ‘Where-are-you?' while we hugged old mother earth." The 17th initially deployed just behind this point. The 18th Mississippi, split into two battalions, was to the right and the left of the 17th, the two regiments forming a broad arc. Shortly before dark they advanced, supported by an element of the 13th Mississippi, and some of the dismounted Virginia cavalrymen in what had become the battle's climatic movement. They overwhelmed the beleaguered Union troops, finally driving them into the river and shooting down on them from the crest of the bluff, only ceasing fire when it became too dark to see.
26. BALLS_120527_382.JPG: Aftermath of Ball's Bluff: Ball's Bluff is the only battlefield where on which a United States senator was killed in combat. Edward Dickinson Baker, senator from Oregon, was also a colonel and one of Brig. Gen. Charles Stone's three brigade commanders. Baker was a long-time friend of President Lincoln and was known as a brilliant orator. His canvassing efforts during the 1860 election campaign helped win both California and Oregon for Lincoln. Baker's death here and three Union defeats in 1861 resulted in the creation of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. Composed of three senators and four representatives, this committee remained in session throughout the war and gave itself the power to investigate anything or anyone. Its first investigation dealt with Ball's Bluff. Its first victim was General Stone. Going after Stone more for political reasons than because he had lost a battle, the committee allowed hearsay and complaints by officers whom General Stone had previously disciplined to count as valid testimony. The sessions were closed and Stone himself was questioned without being informed he had become the target of the investigation. Stone was arrested in front of his Washington home near midnight on February 8, 1862. Stone was imprisoned in New York at Forts Lafayette and Hamilton for six months with no charges ever being filed against him. He finally was released on August 16, 1862. He served for several months in the western theater under General Nathaniel P. Banks, and then briefly commanded a brigade in the V Corps of the Army of the Potomac. But typhoid and the attacks on his reputation did their work and he resigned from the army in September of 1864. He later spent over 12 years as Chief of Staff to the Khedive of Egypt and, following his return home early in 1883, became chief engineer on the Statue of Liberty project. Stone died of pneumonia on January 24, 1887, three months after serving as Grand Marshall at the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.
27. BALLS_120527_391.JPG: A Divided America, A Divided Loudoun County: On April 12, 1861, with the firing on Fort Sumter, America went to war with itself. Just as the country was divided, so were Virginia and Loudoun County. The western portion of Virginia became the separate state of West Virginia in 1863. Here in Loudoun County, the division was based largely on the original settlement patterns, with the northwestern part of the county in opposition to the secessionist majority. The Potomac River formed a dividing line and to most Southerners, Maryland was enemy held territory. The Union army gathered along the river, centered on Washington, D.C., with the Confederates some 25 miles away along Bull Run near the railroad hub known as Manassas Junction. There, on July 21, the war's first large land battle was fought. With the resulting Confederate victory, the Union Army pulled back to reorganize. During the late summer and fall, the stage was being set for other battles. On October 21, fighting broke out here at Ball's Bluff.
Wikipedia Description: Ball's Bluff Battlefield and National Cemetery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ball's Bluff Battlefield and National Cemetery is a national cemetery, located in Ball's Bluff Battlefield Regional Park, two miles northeast of Leesburg, Virginia. The cemetery is the smallest national cemetery in the United States. 54 Union dead from the Battle of Ball's Bluff are interned in 25 graves in the half-acre cemetery. The identity of all of the interred except for one, James Allen of the 15 Mass. Infantry, are unknown. Monuments to Clinton Hatcher, CSA and General Edward Baker USA are located in the cemetery. The cemetery is managed through the Culpeper National Cemetery.

The land for the cemetery was donated in 1865.

Ball's Bluff National Cemetery is the only national cemetery in which the Flag of the United States is not regularly flown due to repeated acts of vandalism against the flag at the sight throughout its history.

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Battle of Ball's Bluff
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ball's Bluff – Dranesville

The Battle of Ball's Bluff, also known as the Battle of Harrison’s Landing or the Battle of Leesburg, took place on October 21, 1861, in Loudoun County, Virginia, as part of Major General George B. McClellan's operations in northern Virginia during the American Civil War. It was the second largest battle of the Eastern Theater in 1861.

Background:

McClellan had recently been promoted to general-in-chief of all Union armies and, now, three months after the First Battle of Bull Run and after some considerable organizational activities and defensive preparations, he may have felt pressure from the Lincoln administration to take offensive military action. He chose to launch a reconnaissance in force in hopes of seizing Potomac River crossing sites and, ultimately, Leesburg, Virginia.

On October 19, 1861, McClellan ordered Brigadier General George A. McCall to march his division to Dranesville, Virginia, fourteen miles southeast of Leesburg, hoping to intimidate Confederate Brig. Gen. Nathan "Shanks" Evans into abandoning Leesburg. Evans did move out of the city, taking up a defensive position on the Leesburg Turnpike. McCall's orders were to leave the area that night. Meanwhile, McClellan was uncertain Evans had actually evacuated, and ordered Brigadier General Charles Pomeroy Stone to stage a demonstration at Edwards' Ferry to distract the Confederates and glean positions and intentions. Stone personally supervised the crossing at Edwards' Ferry; he also decided on a second demonstration two miles upriver, and he delegated that task to one of his brigade commanders Colonel Edward D. Baker. Baker, a sitting U.S. Senator and close personal friend of Lincoln's, had recently been offered a commission as major general of volunteers, and was in the process of deciding whether to leave his Senate seat to accept.

Battle:

On the night of October 20, 1861, a patrol from the upstream crossing spotted what appeared to be rows of Confederate tents in the fields behind Ball's Bluff. The densely wooded cliff was halfway between Edwards' Ferry and Conrad's Ferry (now known as White's Ferry), rose a rocky 100 feet above the Potomac bank, and overlooked Harrison Island, a narrow island about three miles in length in the center of the narrow river. Sensing opportunity, Stone ordered a detachment of the 15th Massachusetts Infantry under Colonel Charles Devens to raid the camp early the next morning, Monday October 21. After sending a messenger to Stone with news the "tents" were merely moonlit reflections from rows of trees, Devens and his green battalion of 300 Union soldiers stayed on the southern bank of the river awaiting further orders.

Stone's written instructions to Baker ordered that additional forces under Baker's command be crossed to the Virginia side, or completely withdrawn at Baker's discretion, depending on the situation. Instead of crossing to the bluff personally to evaluate his tactical options, Colonel Baker immediately chose to cross his entire force, and for some hours personally supervised the lifting of boats from the nearby Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to assist his river crossing.

Devens's command had been facing increasingly stiff resistance all morning from elements of the 17th Mississippi infantry. Additional Union battalions crossed all day using the makeshift flotilla made available. Baker himself crossed after 1:00 p.m., and saw his chances for a glorious victory. Evans continued to deploy additional troops against the Ball's Bluff crossing, while screening the Edwards' Ferry crossing with a single company.

Colonel Baker was shot in the head at about 5:00 p.m., and as darkness fell Union command eventually broke down under sustained and enthusiastic Confederate volleys. Many of the Union soldiers were driven over the steep bluff and into the river. Boats attempting to cross back to Harrison Island were soon swamped and capsized; a disturbing number of the casualties resulted from drowning and dead bodies floated as far downriver as Washington in the days following the battle. More than 500 Union prisoners were captured on the banks of the Potomac later that night.

Aftermath:

This Union rout was relatively minor in comparison to the battles to come in the war, but it had an enormous impact. Due to the loss of a sitting senator, it had severe political ramifications in Washington. General Stone was treated as the scapegoat for the defeat, but members of Congress suspected that there was a conspiracy afoot to betray the Union. The outcry led directly to the establishment of the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, which would bedevil Union officers for the remainder of the war (particularly those who were Democrats) and contribute to nasty political infighting among the generals in the high command.

Lt. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., of the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, survived a nearly fatal wound at Ball's Bluff to become a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1902. Herman Melville's poem "Ball's Bluff - A Reverie" (published in 1866) commemorates the battle.
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