superbron
Private
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2020
- Location
- Leesburg, Virginia
Hey everyone! Decided to take the family on a hike around Ball's Bluff battlefield. It's only 10 minutes from my home. The hiking was good, and the history even better! Lots of people enjoying the public regional park, it was a good day.
The battlefield is maintained by the "Friends of Ball's Bluff" organization. They offer guided tours every weekend, and maintain the open field area of the battlefield as best as they can to replicate what it looked like in 1861, amongst other responsibilities.
A bit of history (from battlefield pamphlet):
"The Battle of Ball's Bluff was an accident, not a planned attack. On October 21, 1861, some 1700 Union troops met an equal number of Confederates in a small but significant battle that resulted from actions taken by Union Brigadier General Charles Stone in response to a fault intelligence report that he had received from a reconnaissance patrol the previous night.
The reconnaissance patrol mistakenly reported that a Confederate camp sat in the fields near the Jackson farm house. Based on this erroneous report, General Stone sent 300 men from the 15th Massachusetts Regiment under Colonel Charles Devens on the morning of October 21 to capture the "camp." But they found that, in fact, it was just a row of trees and reported to General Stone that there were no Confederates at Ball's Bluff. With Colonel Devens and his men maintaining their position near the Jackson house, General Stone ordered more troops across the Potomac River and placed Colonel (and U.S. Senator) Edward Baker in command of all the Union troops in the vicinity of Ball's Bluff.
However, while not "camped" near the Jackson house, Confederates were on picket duty near the Bluff. Skirmishes between the Union and Confederate forces began early in the morning and continued throughout the morning as both sides sent in reinforcements. The fighting intensified significantly around 3:00pm and raged almost non-stop until just after dark. Late in the afternoon, Colonel Edward Baker was killed, and the Confederate soldiers pushed the Union army back toward the Bluff and the Potomac River. With 233 killed, including Colonel Edward Baker, Abraham Lincoln's longtime friend, 226 wounded, and 553 captured or missing, the Union forces were virtually destroyed."
A little picture of our visit via pictures is below. There are more photos attached to this post that you can view, outside of the pictures I inserted into the body of this discussion that have captions.
Enjoy!
(Above) This is where the Confederate line existed, after pushing the Union forces back from the Jackson house, edging up to the open field on the opposite side of this tree line, just over the crest of the hill.
(Below) The edge of tree line beyond the view of the picture above. The U.S. cemetery and Bluff is off to the right in the distance (behind the trees).
(Below) The battlefield, looking from the southernmost section of the Confederate line, up the hill to the Union forces and batteries. The Bluff and Potomac River are beyond.
(Below) The 8th VA Inf. Regiment monument and service record.
(Below) The third smallest United States National Military Cemetery.
(Below) Union batteries. M1841 12 pound Mountain Howitzers bearing down on Confederate forces in the opposite tree line & ridge.
Below are some photos of some of the hiking trails, which portray areas of the Union forces where they crossed the Potomac from Maryland and Harrison's Island, as well as views from above and below the Bluff itself.
The battlefield is maintained by the "Friends of Ball's Bluff" organization. They offer guided tours every weekend, and maintain the open field area of the battlefield as best as they can to replicate what it looked like in 1861, amongst other responsibilities.
A bit of history (from battlefield pamphlet):
"The Battle of Ball's Bluff was an accident, not a planned attack. On October 21, 1861, some 1700 Union troops met an equal number of Confederates in a small but significant battle that resulted from actions taken by Union Brigadier General Charles Stone in response to a fault intelligence report that he had received from a reconnaissance patrol the previous night.
The reconnaissance patrol mistakenly reported that a Confederate camp sat in the fields near the Jackson farm house. Based on this erroneous report, General Stone sent 300 men from the 15th Massachusetts Regiment under Colonel Charles Devens on the morning of October 21 to capture the "camp." But they found that, in fact, it was just a row of trees and reported to General Stone that there were no Confederates at Ball's Bluff. With Colonel Devens and his men maintaining their position near the Jackson house, General Stone ordered more troops across the Potomac River and placed Colonel (and U.S. Senator) Edward Baker in command of all the Union troops in the vicinity of Ball's Bluff.
However, while not "camped" near the Jackson house, Confederates were on picket duty near the Bluff. Skirmishes between the Union and Confederate forces began early in the morning and continued throughout the morning as both sides sent in reinforcements. The fighting intensified significantly around 3:00pm and raged almost non-stop until just after dark. Late in the afternoon, Colonel Edward Baker was killed, and the Confederate soldiers pushed the Union army back toward the Bluff and the Potomac River. With 233 killed, including Colonel Edward Baker, Abraham Lincoln's longtime friend, 226 wounded, and 553 captured or missing, the Union forces were virtually destroyed."
A little picture of our visit via pictures is below. There are more photos attached to this post that you can view, outside of the pictures I inserted into the body of this discussion that have captions.
Enjoy!
(Above) This is where the Confederate line existed, after pushing the Union forces back from the Jackson house, edging up to the open field on the opposite side of this tree line, just over the crest of the hill.
(Below) The edge of tree line beyond the view of the picture above. The U.S. cemetery and Bluff is off to the right in the distance (behind the trees).
(Below) The battlefield, looking from the southernmost section of the Confederate line, up the hill to the Union forces and batteries. The Bluff and Potomac River are beyond.
(Below) The 8th VA Inf. Regiment monument and service record.
(Below) The third smallest United States National Military Cemetery.
(Below) Union batteries. M1841 12 pound Mountain Howitzers bearing down on Confederate forces in the opposite tree line & ridge.
Below are some photos of some of the hiking trails, which portray areas of the Union forces where they crossed the Potomac from Maryland and Harrison's Island, as well as views from above and below the Bluff itself.