VA Ball's Bluff Cemetery

[NH Civil War Gal]

Also, today is the anniversary of the battle of Ball's Bluff.

Ball’s Bluff National Cemetery

Way back in 2011, I had the privilege to walk the Ball’s Bluff battlefield with historian Jim Morgan and talk about his book on the battle, A Little Short On Boats, just then released. (You can rea…

emergingcivilwar.com

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Today's the anniversary of the battle of Ball's Bluff. In commemoration of the event, here's what Jim had to tell me about Ball's Bluff National Cemetery, in Jim's words:

This battlefield would have been completely forgotten if it wasn't for the fact that there was cemetery here. The cemetery got established right at the end of the war. It was opened, if you want to call it that—officially recognized as a cemetery—in December of 1865.

They found some remains here and buried them. So this becomes an official national cemetery.

The first burials took place on a reverse slope of the field. We know that there were three long shallow graves. But they weren't serious burials—just some dirt thrown over them. We know this because within twenty-fours hours, it had rained and washed all the dirt away. So, literally within twenty-four hours after these guys were buried, they're exposed to the elements. There was a Confederate war correspondent who was here a week after. Very graphic. He talks about a drove of pigs feasting on the corpses of Union dead.

I tell people about that because there's a certain shock value to that. It makes them think.

After 1862, the Confederates leave this area, and that's it. These bodies just lay here, and they get scattered all over. Pigs and dogs and whatever. Rain washes 'em all over.

 

[Story]

Once again, I'm struck by how often art-imitates-life. The 2003 reenactment at Ball's Bluff had one access road and the ambulances coming in to remove heat casualties on Saturday (because the morons drank on Friday night) were as clogged up as this 1861 debacle.

As darkness fell Union troops fled down the single path that most of them had climbed earlier in the day. As troops mingled on the narrow bank below small numbers of them–wounded and uninjured alike–crowded into the few available boats for the return trip to Maryland.

Disaster at Ball’s Bluff, 21 October 1861 - The Army Historical Foundation

One of the more intriguing characters of the Civil War was BG Charles Pomeroy Stone. On 20 October 1861, MG George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, […]

armyhistory.org

 

[Northern Light]

This little Battle led to the beginning of the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the war, and to the imprisonment of and subsequent destruction of the career of General Charles Stone. For an interesting discussion of The Battle of Ball's Bluff, watch this:

 

[Stone in the wall]

Also, today is the anniversary of the battle of Ball's Bluff.

Ball’s Bluff National Cemetery

Way back in 2011, I had the privilege to walk the Ball’s Bluff battlefield with historian Jim Morgan and talk about his book on the battle, A Little Short On Boats, just then released. (You can rea…

emergingcivilwar.com

''



Today's the anniversary of the battle of Ball's Bluff. In commemoration of the event, here's what Jim had to tell me about Ball's Bluff National Cemetery, in Jim's words:

This battlefield would have been completely forgotten if it wasn't for the fact that there was cemetery here. The cemetery got established right at the end of the war. It was opened, if you want to call it that—officially recognized as a cemetery—in December of 1865.

They found some remains here and buried them. So this becomes an official national cemetery.

The first burials took place on a reverse slope of the field. We know that there were three long shallow graves. But they weren't serious burials—just some dirt thrown over them. We know this because within twenty-fours hours, it had rained and washed all the dirt away. So, literally within twenty-four hours after these guys were buried, they're exposed to the elements. There was a Confederate war correspondent who was here a week after. Very graphic. He talks about a drove of pigs feasting on the corpses of Union dead.

I tell people about that because there's a certain shock value to that. It makes them think.

After 1862, the Confederates leave this area, and that's it. These bodies just lay here, and they get scattered all over. Pigs and dogs and whatever. Rain washes 'em all over.

Did you get to visit Union Cemetery off old Rt 15 (King St) in Leesburg?