Ball's Bluff Battlefield Hike

[JPChurch]

Thanks so much for the topic. Great write-up and photos. Especially the history of the 8th VA Vols. Loudon county used to be nothin but little town crossroads and the small city of Leesburg and that was it. All farm land for the most part, even as late as back in the 60's and 70's. It really started to expand in the 80's-90's. So much has changed since then. Trying to by-pass Leesburg now is a nightmare traffic wise. The city council voted to remove the most revered statue of the Confederate soldier a few months ago and it's now gone. I wonder what happened to it....

 

[General Butler]

Yes, it is sad that it's surrounded by a subdivision now. And unfortunately, such is the way of life in NOVA. At least there are federal protections for sacred land such as the battlefields, forests, etc.

But I do support the fight to keep Loudoun as rural as possible, as much of the county is beautiful and my family and I frequently escape from the suburbs around Leesburg and dive into the country. I believe the development should halt and remain where it is, alas, we know how that goes...look at Fairfax County. We've even discussed moving west into the Blue Ridge/Shenandoah, but we do love downtown Leesburg and the conveniences of the area.

Great mudbogging story, thanks for sharing!

I lived south if Purcellville for 12 years and rested the Sillicot stone school house next to 700 open acres of black oak farm.
Now it's a sea of rooftops.
Too sad.
I am in prince william next to the loudon boarder and I dislike the bulging and the politics so out west we shall go.

 

[DixieRifles]

The photos of this battle grounds make me see even more the similarities with the 1864 Battle of Fort Pillow. Steep embankments---Union is backed against a river---- Union escaping on a run. And of course this battle was the origin of the Congressional Investigation Committee on the Conduct of the War---but here they were investigating incompetent Union commanders, which is what they should have done in the 1864 investigation.

 

[Grant's Tomb]

Had no idea that Paul Revere's grandson fought there. It was such a tragedy that Senator Edward Baker, a close friend of the Lincoln family whom they had named their second son after who died in infancy, was killed there. The poem that Willie wrote about him that was sent to the Washington National Republican was so moving. Was not aware that Senator Baker was born in London or that he fought in the Mexican War. Charles P. Stone who commanded the Union forces and imprisoned at Fort Lafayette near Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn was appointed the chief engineer of the Statue of Liberty in 1884 where he planned and supervised the construction of the statue's pedestal, concrete foundation and its reassembly after it had arrived from France

 

[Grant's Tomb]

Fort Lafayette was razed in the 1960s to make room of the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. It was constructed during the War of 1812 and finished in 1822. Originally called Fort Diamond after its shaped, it was renamed in 1823 to celebrate the Marquis de Lafayette

 

[BehindTheLinesInNoVA]

That was an excellent photographic tour, thank you for posting and captioning. I live not too far from here, and I have been here many times, but I'd never made it down the steep cliffs to the banks of the Potomac. The views across to Harrison's Island are extremely helpful and evocative. I too mainly find myself here in the winter, when all the foliage is down and it's much easier to see.