Ball’s Bluff Masked Battery

A small earthwork here may have been part of a concealed battery that played an important role in the Battle of Ball’s Bluff on October 21, 1861. It commanded the road from Edwards Ferry on the Potomac River to Leesburg, a route that could determine the flow of reinforcements from both Edwards Ferry and Confederate Fort Evans. Seeking to reconnoiter Confederate defenses near Leesburg, Union Gen. Charles P. Stone sent forces under Col. Edward D. Baker across the Potomac about a mile north at Ball’s Bluff. Baker, a U.S. Senator with little military experience, deployed his troops poorly and soon came under heavy attack from Confederates commanded by Col. Nathan P. “Shanks” Evans. As the battle began, Stone, then at Edwards Ferry, sent 35 cavalrymen of the 3rd New York Cavalry under Maj. John Mix to scout the road between the ferry and Leesburg. After learning of the concealed battery, Stone ordered Mix to reconnoiter the terrain around it to discover Confederate troop dispositions and study routes for the passage of troops, then withdrew. Just east of here, Mix’s detachment came under fire from elements of Col. William Barksdale’s 13th Mississippi Infantry. The Confederates held the road for the rest of the day, reinforced their troops facing Baker, and contributed to the defeat of the Union soldiers atop Ball’s Bluff.

Leesburg, Virginia · United States