Battle of Ball's Bluff

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Death of Col. Edward D. Baker at the Battle of Ball's Bluff, by Currier and Ives.

Date	October 21, 1861
Location	Loudoun County, Virginia
Result	Confederate victory

Combatants

United States of America

Confederate States of America

Commanders

Charles Pomeroy Stone
Edward D. Baker †

Nathan G. Evans

Strength

2,000

1,600

Casualties

921

149

McClellan's Operations in Northern Virginia
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.

1 Background
2 Battle
3 Aftermath
4 References
5 External links

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.