Skirmish at Balls Bluff
Death of Colonel Edward D. Baker
| date | October 21, 1861 |
|---|---|
| place | Loudoun County , Virginia, USA |
| output | Confederate victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Charles P. Stone
Edward D. Baker |
Nathan G. Evans
|
| Troop strength | |
|
1,600-1,700
|
1,709
|
| losses | |
|
921 killed
: 49 wounded: 158 missing / captured: 714 |
155 killed
: 36 wounded: 117 missing / captured: 2 |
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The Skirmish at Balls Bluff , also known as the Skirmish of Leesburg , took place on October 21, 1861 near the small town of Leesburg , Virginia on the south bank of the Potomac during the American Civil War . The engagement was the first of two military clashes in the eastern theater of war after the first Battle of Manassas and the first in which an active Senator of the Republican Party was killed.
Starting position
After the loss at Bull Run, Major General McClellan was pressured from all sides to take offense and secure a victory for the Union. General Joseph E. Johnston shortened his lines in northern Virginia from October 17th, so that he could strengthen his positions on both sides of Centerville, Virginia with unchanged forces.
However, McClellan suspected a Confederate attack and therefore planned a violent reconnaissance by three divisions , with the aim of getting one or the other crossing over the Potomac in hand and eventually even to occupy Leesburg, Virginia. On October 19, Brigadier General George A. McCall's division marched into Dranesville, Virginia, 14 miles south of Leesburg, to induce Brigadier General Nathan G. "Shanks" Evans to abandon Leesburg. In fact, he left the place and took up a defensive position on Leesburg Turnpike.
On October 20, McClellan informed Brigadier General Charles P. Stone of McCall's advance and ordered a deception to lure the Confederates out of Leesburg and learn their positions and intentions. Stone ordered the passage across the Potomac in two places east of Leesburg.
The battle
On the night of October 20, a patrol reported Confederate tents in the fields west of Balls Bluff - an 18-meter cliff on the banks of the Potomac. The thickly forested cliff was halfway between the two crossing points and faced Harrison Island. Stone there ordered a coup d'état and gave Colonel Edward D. Baker permission to decide how to proceed as he saw fit. At the other crossing point, Stone personally monitored a mock attack.
The front battalion recognized that the "tents" were trees and remained on the spot awaiting further orders. In the meantime, forces from Evans Brigade had turned and attacked the advance division on the west bank. Colonel Baker decided, without having any idea of the situation on the west bank, to attack Leesburg with his entire brigade. He personally supervised the transfer of a boat from the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal to the Potomac and at about 2:00 p.m. he crossed the river himself without regulating the further traffic. When he got there, he thought he was close to victory.
The positions that Baker had determined were poorly chosen, even the reserves were under enemy fire. Because the artillerymen were eliminated early, Baker operated the guns with his staff. When he went to the main focus of the fighting on the left wing about half an hour later, he was fatally wounded by a pistol because he was moving in front of his own fuses.
Evans deployed more and more troops against the landing at Balls Bluff, he secured the crossing point at Edwards Ferry with just one company. At nightfall, the defense of Union troops collapsed in the ever-increasing Confederate fire. The commander of the 15th Massachusetts Regiment - brigade commander after Baker's death - described in his report:
... it would have been our duty to surrender; but it was impossible to do this to rebels and traitors, and I had no hesitation in advising men to escape as they could, ...
“… To save lives it would have been our duty to surrender; but against rebels and traitors that was impossible and therefore I ordered the men to escape as they saw it possible ... "
Many Union soldiers fell down the cliffs and drowned in the river. The boats sent for evacuation were sunk. The bodies of the drowned people were driven as far as Washington, DC .
However, the effects of the battle were less military than political, as both armies continued to face each other on both sides of the Potomac except for Alexandria , Virginia. Brigadier Stone was branded a scapegoat. Much more important was the death of Abraham Lincoln's active senator and close friend, Colonel Baker. Congressman suspected a conspiracy and called a "Joint Committee for warfare" ( Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War ) one, which by the end of the war particularly examined the reasons for lost battles. A frequently used means of this committee was to investigate Union generals, especially if they were Democrats, on charges of treason. This ultimately led to useless political struggles and security thinking in the generals.
literature
- United States. War Dept .: The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. V , Govt. Print. Off., Washington 1880-1901
- James M. McPherson : Battle Cry of Freedom . Oxford University Press, New York 1988, ISBN 0-19-503863-0 .
- James M. McPherson (Editor): The Atlas of the Civil War . Philadelphia 2005, ISBN 0-7624-2356-0
swell
- ↑ Strength of the Union. Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed June 1, 2018 (Official Records, Vol. 5, p. 302).
- ↑ Confederate strength. Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed June 1, 2018 (Official Records, Vol. 5, p. 350).
- ^ Union losses. Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed June 1, 2018 (Official Records, Vol. 5, p. 308).
- ↑ Confederate losses. Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed June 1, 2018 (Official Records, Vol. 5, p. 353).
- ↑ Save yourself who can! Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed June 1, 2018 (Official Records, Vol. 5, p. 311).
Web links
- Official Records
- Preparation of a military-historical field meeting for staff officers of the US Army
- National Historic Landmark Nomination: Ball's Bluff Battlefield Historic District. United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, accessed on July 21, 2017 (English, photographs and maps of the battlefield, p. 112 ff).
- Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority: Battle of Ball's Bluff. Maps of Ball's Bluff, Virginia (1861). In: web presence civilwar.org. Civil War Trust, accessed on July 6, 2013 (English, overview map and brief description of the course of the battle).
Coordinates: 39 ° 7 '53.49 " N , 77 ° 31' 38.74" W.