The Battle of Ball�s Bluff was the largest Civil War battle to take place in Loudoun County.
Following the Union defeat at Manassas (Bull Run), General George B. McClellan was called to Washington to take charge of the Federal forces there. 
McClellan named his new command the Army of the Potomac and diligently worked at restoring its confidence.
Radical Republicans in Congress soon pressured McClellan to march against Richmond before winter. As a result, General McClellan decided upon a campaign to capture Leesburg on the upper Potomac, thus strategically outflanking the Confederate Army then based in Centreville.
McClellan�s plan consisted of a three-pronged movement toward Leesburg. On October 19, Union General McCall�s division marched to Dranesville, Virginia. The following day, McClellan notified General Charles P. Stone at Poolesville, Maryland, of McCall�s advance and suggested that "a slight demonstration" by Stone�s forces might help move the Confederates.
On October 21, Stone ordered a feint assault at Edward�s Ferry while launching the "coup de grace" via a flanking column under Colonel Edward Baker at Smart�s Mill Ford, just upriver from Ball�s Bluff. But poor communication, intelligence mistakes and the lack of unified Union command doomed the northern effort.
Confederates led by Colonel Nathan "Shanks" Evans and Eppa Hunton checked the Union advance at Ball�s Bluff and turned the battle into a rout.
Of the 1,720 Union soldiers engaged, 49 were killed, 158 wounded, 553 taken prisoner and 161 missing and presumed drowned in the Potomac River. Confederates engaged numbered 1,709, of whom 36 were killed, 117 wounded and two taken prisoner. Bodies floating downriver to Washington brought the shocking reality of the war to the public�s attention.
Among the Union casualties at Ball�s Bluff was U.S. Senator, Colonel Edward D. Baker, boyhood friend of Abraham Lincoln. Baker�s death and the twin Union defeats at Manassas and Ball�s Bluff prompted the creation of a Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War.
Ball�s Bluff Regional Park
A portion of the battlefield, now almost all wooded, is preserved as a public park, open daily, dawn to dusk.
The 168-acre park, acquired by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority in 1984, surrounds one of the smallest national cemeteries, with 25 headstones in a semi-circle marking a common grave of more than 50 Union soldiers. The park features a �-mile loop trail with interpretive exhibits, nature trails along the Potomac River, and public parking. (The name Ball's Bluff is attributed to the Ball family which owned the riverfront farm at the time.)
Visitors can take in the view from the 100-foot rocky bluff overlooking the Potomac River and Harrison's Island, to where the Yankees attempted to retreat after heavy firing from Rebel soldiers hidden in the trees. Many drowned in their struggle to cross the 18-foot-deep channel in full uniform.
To reach Ball's Bluff Battlefield, take the Route 15 Bypass around Leesburg. Go east on Battlefield Parkway into the Potomac Crossing community, turn left on Balls Bluff Road. When paved roadway ends, follow lane into battlefield parking area.
Click here for more information on Ball's Bluff Regional Park.
