The Battle of Ball’s Bluff | Crossroads of War

The Battle of Ball’s Bluff

November 1, 2011 By admin

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A map from 1861 showing Conrad's Ferry, Edward's Ferry, Leesburg, and the battlefield of Ball's Bluff (Map of the Seat of War Showing the Battles of July 18th, 21st & Oct. 21st, 1861, Published by V.P. Corbett; lithograph by A. Hoen & Co., Baltimore, 1861; Library of Congress)

Union General Charles P. Stone, the commander in charge of the Union forces along the Potomac River from Point of Rocks to Seneca Creek during the summer and fall of 1861 (Library of Congress)

General Charles Stone's division of Union troops at Edward's Ferry, MD, October 20, 1861 <br />(Harper's Weekly, Nov. 9, 1861; Courtesy of Timothy R. Snyder)

Conrad's Ferry (now known as White's Ferry), MD, overlooking Harrison's Island and the battlefield at Ball's Bluff (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Nov. 16, 1861, from Florida Center for Instructional Technology, http://etc.usf.edu/clipart)

A Confederate encampment behind earthworks near Leesburg, VA (Harper's Weekly, October 12, 1861; NPS History Collection)

Soldiers from Virginia camping in the woods near Leesburg, Virginia (Harper's Weekly, November 9, 1861; NPS History Collection)

Confederate Colonel Nathan G. Evans, commander of Southern troops at the Battle of Ball's Bluff (NPS History Collection)

Union Colonel Edward Baker's command crossing from Harrison's Island to Ball's Bluff, October 21, 1861 (John D. Baltz, Hon. Edward D. Baker - Colonel E.D. Baker's Defense in the Battle of Ball's Bluff...[Lancaster, PA: Inquirer Printing Co., 1888], before p.157)

Union soldiers crossing the Potomac River to Ball's Bluff (The New York Illustrated Newspaper, November 11, 1861; Courtesy of Princeton University Library)

Map and Plan of the Battle of Ball's Heights, October 21 (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 16, 1861; Courtesy of Princeton University Library)

The 42nd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (also known as the Tammany Regiment) at the Battle of Ball's Bluff (The New York Illustrated Newspaper, November 11, 1861; courtesy of Princeton University Library)

Soldiers from the 15th Massachusetts Regiment charge the Confederate line at the Battle of Ball's Bluff (The Illustrated London Newspaper, November 23, 1861; courtesy of "The Civil War in America from the Illustrated London News": A Joint Project by Sandra J. Still, Emily E. Katt, Collection Management, and the Beck Center of Emory University)

Retreat of Union forces at the Battle of Ball's Bluff (The Illustrated London Newspaper, November 23, 1861; courtesy of "The Civil War in America from the Illustrated London News": A Joint Project by Sandra J. Still, Emily E. Katt, Collection Management, and the Beck Center of Emory University)

Colonel Edward D. Baker, in charge of the Union forces at Ball's Bluff. Baker was a U.S. Senator from Oregon and a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln (MOLLUS-MASS Collection, U.S. Army Military History Institute)

Death of Col. Baker, engraved by H. Wright Smith after c.1862, drawing by F.O.C. Darley (Library of Congress)

The Death of Colonel Edward Baker (Paul Fleury Mottelay and T. Campbell-Copeland, Frank Leslie's The Soldier in Our Civil War, Vol. I [New York: S. Bradley Pub. Co, 1893], 152)

"Death of Col. Edward D. Baker: At the Battle of Ball's Bluff near Leesburg, Va., Oct. 21st 1861," lithograph c. 1861 by Currier & Ives, New York (Library of Congress)

Union General Nathaniel Banks' headquarters near Edward's Ferry, MD. Banks arrived at Edward's Ferry in the early morning hours of October 22nd to support General Stone's forces (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 16, 1861; NPS History Collection)

Union troops being towed along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to join General Banks' command (The New York Illustrated Newspaper, November 11, 1861; courtesy of Princeton University Library)

Union artillery attacking Confederate forces opposite Edward's Ferry, October 22, 1861 (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 16, 1861; NPS History Collection)

Cannonading on the Potomac, October 1861 by Alfred Wordsworth Thompson. Union troops fire a cannon at Confederate forces across the Potomac. The exact location is unknown, but probably near Edward's Ferry (White House Historical Association [White House Collection]:452)

Battery at Edward's Ferry, sketched by D.H. Strother (D.H. Strother, "Personal Recollections of the War by a Virginian, Third Paper," Harper's New Monthly Magazine 3 [Sept. 1866]: 422)

Edward's Ferry, MD, where Union General Bank's division crossed the Potomac on October 22, 1861 (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 16, 1861; NPS History Collection)

Union troops retreating across the Potomac River back to Edward's Ferry on the night of October 23, 1861 (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 16, 1861; NPS History Collection)

A few Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Ball's Bluff floated down the Potomac River as far as Great Falls near Georgetown (Alfred R.Waud, artist; Library of Congress)

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