October 21, 1861: The Battle Of Ball’s Bluff
You are there: The Battle of Ball’s Bluff, Virginia becomes the second humiliating loss suffered by the Union as the Civil War opens.
The first defeat takes place on July 21 in Virginia at 1st Bull Run. The Union Army of the Potomac under General Irwin McDowell is expected to win a victory there that many think will put an end to the Confederate uprising. His 33,000 troops will face off against 36,000 under Creole General Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard.
As the fighting begins, citizens of DC and several politicians arrive with picnic baskets to observe the action. But twelve hours later they join the 27 mile panic flight of McDowell’s army down Warrenton Pike, through the town of Centerville, and into the outskirts of Washington. The defeat shocks the capital and ramps up concerns about attacks by rebels from within the surrounding Slave State of Maryland.
Lincoln reacts quickly, sacking McDowell on the 22nd and naming General George McClellan to head the Army of the Potomac. His credentials as a military authority are impeccable. History will show, however, that his strength in training a professional army is offset by his hesitancies when it comes to fighting them in battle.
McClellan’s first test comes three months later, on October 21, at Ball’s Bluff, Virginia.
Rumors of a Confederate camp east of Leesburg prompt General Charles Stone to send troops across the Potomac to reconnoiter and attack if need be.
Unfortunately Stone’s chosen route is fatally flawed. It begins on the Maryland side and traverses Harrison’s Island to the Virginia shore. But the Potomac is too deep to ford and requires boats, of which only four are available at the time. Also, once over, the troops encounter the 100 foot high cliffs known as Ball’s Bluff.
The first Union contingent crosses at 6:00am, some 300 men of the 15th Mass under Charles Deven. They move through a gap in the bluffs and proceed a half mile inland where they skirmish with the 15th Virginia Cavalry near the Jackson House.
By 9:00 Stone learns of the action and orders Col. Edward Baker, to take command. Baker sends the rest of the 15th Mass into action, but by 2:00pm they have has been driven all the way back to the bluffs. That’s when Baker appears on the field for the first time. He establishes a defensive perimeter to the north, while leading his own brigade, the 1st California against the rebel right under General “Shanks” Evans.
The fighting continues until around 4:00pm when Baker is struck four times in the head and chest and dies instantly. His troops retreat in panic and are gunned down or drown as they try to swim back across the river. Of the 1700 Union soldiers engaged, almost 1,000 end as casualties vs. only 155 for the rebels.
Once word of the rout reaches the capital, the “blame game” gets under way, with the spotlight on three men: Commander McClellan, Col. Baker and General Stone.
McClellan has just been promoted and is a political master. He is not about to have his military actions questioned, now or ever. He points the finger at Col. Baker.
But Baker is a dear friend of Lincoln. He introduces the President at his First Inaugural and Lincoln’s second son, “Eddie,” is named after him. His heroic death in battle also qualifies him as the hero not the villain.
Which leaves General Stone who is not without culpability. He selects the poor crossing route at Harrison’s Island and offloads the consequences to Baker. But he is never engaged in the actual fighting, delegating that task to Baker. Nevertheless he is hauled before a new Congressional oversight group set up by critics after the losses at Bull Run and Ball’s Bluff.
It is titled The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War and consists mainly of Radical Republican Senators like Michigan’s Zachary Chandler and Ohio’s Ben Wade. Thirty-nine men testify before the Committee about Ball’s Bluff, including Stone, who, like McClellan, argues that the defeat traces to Baker.
Innuendo, however, also surfaces that Stone shares Southern views regarding slavery, and he is arrested in early February, 1862 for disloyalty and imprisoned in solitary confinement at Ft. Lafayette. This harsh treatment appears to trace to both Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton. Stone remains in confinement until August 1862 when he is suddenly released, never having been officially charged or tried.
Despite this episode, he rejoins the Union Army and serves in various capacities, including as brigade commander at Petersburg, until resigning in August 1864.
