Battle of Ball's Bluff

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.