Battle of Ball's Bluff

Battle of Ball's Bluff is a Virginia historical marker in Loudoun County, dedicated 2015.

Rte. 15 bypass, just north of Battlefield Parkway

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Just to the east, 1,700 Union troops crossed the Potomac River and clashed with 1,700 Confederates on 21 Oct. 1861. The previous evening, a Union reconnaissance patrol had mistaken a row of trees for Confederate tents. Brig. Gen. Charles Stone ordered an early-morning raid on this “camp.” Confederates under Col. Nathan Evans confronted the Federals, who were then reinforced. Col. and Sen. Edward D. Baker took command and became the only sitting U.S. senator ever killed in combat. The Federals retreated across the river in disarray. Congress created the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War to investigate the defeat.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1818 · View of Richmond, Metropolis of Virginia (upper right sheet) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1857 · Delaware And Maryland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1859 · Virginia (Herman Boye, 1859) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1862 · Map Of N. Eastern Virginia And Vicinity Of Washington (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1895 · N.E. Virginia, Washington 1. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Map Of N. Eastern Virginia And Vicinity Of Washington, 1862, covering the location of Battle of Ball's Bluff, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Map Of N. Eastern Virginia And Vicinity Of Washington, 1862, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Battle of Ball's Bluff

Historical maps covering this location

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