The Battle of Bluffs Bluff

The week before the battle, General George McClellan was promoted to commander in chief of all federal armies and now, three months after the First Bull Run , he was preparing the Potomac Army for the invasion of Virginia. On October 19, 1861, McClellan ordered Brigadier General George McCall to send his division to Drainsville, which was 12 miles southeast of Leesburg. McCall had to find out what the enemy army was doing, which, according to intelligence, left Leesburg. Confederate General Nathan Evans did leave Leesburg on October 16-17, but did so on his own initiative. When Pierre Beauregard expressed his dissatisfaction with this maneuver, Evans returned. Toward the evening of October 19, he took up defensive positions on the Alexandria-Winchester road, slightly east of Leesburg. Evans had 4 infantry regiments at his disposal:

• 8th Virginia Infantry Regiment , Regiment. Eppa Hunton
• 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment , Regiment. William Barksdale
• 17th Mississippi Infantry Regiment , Regiment. Winfield Featherstone
• 18th Mississippi Infantry Regiment , Regiment. Erasmus Burt

Arriving in Drainsville, McCall discovered that there were no enemy troops in Leesburg, and McCall passed this information to headquarters. As a result, on October 20, McClellan ordered General Charles Stone to conduct a reconnaissance of Leesburg:

Camp Griffin, October 20, 1861
General McClellan ordered you to be informed that General McCall had occupied Drainsville yesterday and was there. Send a strong reconnaissance squad in all directions today. The general wishes you to take a good observation post near Leesburg and find out if this maneuver led to the retreat of the enemy. Probably a small demonstration on your part will make him retreat.
A.V. Kolburn
adjutant,
Brigadier General C.P. Stone, Pulsville

Original text

- Camp Griffin, Oct. 20, 1861.

General McCIellan desires me to inform you that General McCall occupied Dranesville yesterday and is still there. Will send out heavy reconnaissances today in all directions from that point. The general desires that you will keep a good lookout upon Leesburg to see if this movement has the effect to drive them away. Perhaps a slight demonstration on your part would have the effect to move them.
AV COLBURN,
Assistant Adjutant-General,

Brig.-General CP Stone, Poolesville.

- ^[1]

According to the information that Stone received from the runaway Negro, the Evans detachment occupies Leesburg and intends to fight there, but their convoys are directed to the Guz Creek River, which indicates that they are going to retreat. He also believed that McCall was standing in Drainville and could provide support. Therefore, he believed that an offensive in this direction does not seem dangerous. To begin with, he directed the Gorman brigade to Edwards Ferry, placed part of the brigade along the river and ordered the artillery to open fire at the place where the enemy’s positions were supposedly located ^[1] . He then sent a hundred men from the 1st Minnesota Regiment to the Virginian coast. This happened just before sunset. Since Evans did not react at all, Stone recalled his people, returned to the camp, and the demonstration ended.

Then Stone ordered Colonel Charles Dives from the 15th Massachusetts Regiment to transfer his regiment to Harrison Island, and from there send a patrol across the river and find out something about the enemy’s location. Divence sent Captain Chase Philbrick and about 20 men. Walking a mile to Leesburg, the inexperienced Philbrick mistook a group of trees for camp tents. Having approached them 25 meters, he counted about 30 tents and, without checking, returned to the camp with the message that he had found the enemy. Stone immediately ordered Divence to send 300 people for the Potomac, in the darkness to get to the camp and attack him at dawn. Then Divens had to pursue the enemy as far as reasonably possible by his forces, and then move to Harrison Island. Two companies of the 20th Massachusetts will cover his departure beyond the river. Thus, the main goal of the entire operation was to attack the enemy camp ^[2] .

Stone Division

• General Willis Gorman's Brigade
  • 34th New York Infantry Regiment , Colonel William La Dew
  • 42nd New York Infantry Regiment , Colonel Milton Cogswell
  • 2nd New York Militia Regiment , Colonel Tompkins
  • 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment , Colonel Napoleon Dane
  • 15th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment , Colonel Charles Divens
• Brigade of Frederick Lender (On the day of the battle he was in Washington)
  • 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment , Colonel Edward Hinks
  • 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment , Colonel William Lee
  • 7th Michigan Infantry Regiment , Colonel Ira Grovenor
• Brigade
  • 69th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment , Colonel Joshua Owen
  • 71st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment , Colonel Isaac Whistar
  • 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment , Colonel
  • 106th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment , Colonel Turner Morehead
• Artillery and cavalry:
  • 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery Regiment, Battery B , Captain Vaughn
  • 6th New York Separate Battery
  • 13th New York Separate Battery
  • 1st Artillery Regiment, Battery I
  • 3rd New York Cavalry Regiment

In the afternoon, Divance transferred companies CAG and I to the island, and Company N was already there earlier. At midnight, Divence crossed over to Virginia with company N. Only three boats with a capacity of 30 people were found for crossing, so crossing all companies took 4 hours - until 04:00, six times longer than Stone had expected. At the same time, Colonel Lee was ordered to transport 5 companies of his 20th Massachusetts Regiment to the island ^[3] .

Divens led his 5 ro along the path found by Philbrick and climbed the Bluffs Bluff cliffs. Above the rocks, they found a field surrounded by forest on all sides. The road from the cliffs went along the southern edge of the field to its southwestern corner and further through the forest to another field. At the far end of the second field, Jackson's house and a group of trees were discovered, which Philbrick mistook for the camp in the dark. Then Dyvens took Captain Philbrick and several other people with him and climbed to the nearest height, from where he studied the surroundings of Leesburg. He did not notice signs of the presence of the enemy, except for 4 tents. Divence decided that his detachment was in a good position and there was no point in returning for the Potomac, so at 06:00 he sent Stone a report on the situation and his proposal to leave the regiment on the Virginia shore. He also knew that two large boats with a capacity of 60-70 people were delivered to the crossing, and decided that approximately 500 people could be transported in an hour ^[4] .

Divence decided not to retreat across the river, but deployed his detachment in three lines and at 07:00 asked Stone for new instructions. Upon receiving this report, Stone told Divens that the rest of the 15th Massachusetts Regiment, about 350 people, would cross the river and arrive at a position at Divens. After their arrival, Divens should continue the reconnaissance in the direction of Leesburg. At this time, Colonel (and Senator) Edward Dickenson Baker, commander of Stone’s third brigade, appeared in Stone’s camp. Stone told him about the mistake at the expense of the camp and ordered him to go to the crossing, take command, and, at his discretion, either withdraw troops for the Potomac or send additional units to strengthen them.

Baker went to the crossing and met a messenger from Divens, who reported that there was a short skirmish with an enemy detachment - company K of the 17th Mississippi Regiment. This happened at 07:00, when a unit of southerners fired at Colonel Lee's companies at the crossing, killing one sergeant. Shooting also began on the front of Divens, who at 08:30 led his detachment to the crossing, but then returned it to its original position ^[5] .

Baker immediately ordered all available units to cross the river, but did not calculate the required number of boats. As a result, the units were stuck at the crossing, and their transfer took all day. 5 from the 15th Massachusetts crossed the river first and at about 11:00 stood on the right flank of Divensa. Now Divens had 10 companies — about 650 people. At the same time, Major Revere brought 5 companies to help Colonel Lee, who now had 317 people at his disposal.

Vaughn's artillery battery was ordered to head to the Conrads Ferry crossing, where Baker’s brigade was transported to the Virginian coast. Since the crossing was busy, Vaughn left the section at the disposal of Sergeant Major Staples and set off for the central section. At this time, the 42nd New York Regiment approached, and Colonel Cogswell ordered the battery to be transported immediately so as not to interfere with the crossing of his regiment. In the absence of their officers, Lieutenant Bramhall from the 6th New York Battery took command of the section. Two guns (No. 5 and No. 6) were in turn transported to Harrison Island. From there, Lieutenant Bramhall transported gun No. 5 to the Virginian coast, raised it to heights and placed it to the left of the position of the 71st Pennsylvania Regiment. The crew immediately fell under the fire of snipers from the side of the forest, because of which Lieutenant Bramhall was immediately injured, and then all the gunners. Colonels Baker and Cogswell tried to control the gun, but it managed to make only 6 or 8 shots. The gun was captured by the Southerners along with three gunners ^[6] .

Meanwhile, Divensa's detachment remained at its forefront and two more times engaged in a skirmish with southerners, who became more and more. Federal reinforcements crossed the river, but remained near the crossing. As a result, around 14:00, Divens began to retreat to the crossing. It was at this time that Colonel Baker arrived at the position, ordered the units to take a defensive position and wait for reinforcements.

Around 15:00 the 18th Mississippi Infantry Regiment approached, which attacked the northerners, but was repelled with heavy losses. His commander, Colonel Burt, was killed and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Griffin took command.

Around the same time, Baker sent 2 companies of the 1st California Regiment into battle reconnaissance. These companies met units of the 8th Virgin Regiment commanded by Colonel Epp Hunton . The companies fell under the salvo of the Virginians and retreated, but the Virginia regiment also lost order, so Haton took him away for reformation. It took almost two hours to clean up ^[7] .

The battle gradually erupted. Colonel Baker was killed at around 4:30 p.m. or at 5:00 p.m. when he conferred with a group of officers. Colonel Lee decided that he was now the highest in rank and took command, but Colonel 42 of New York , Cogswell, turned out to be the really senior, so the command passed to him. Cogswell decided that it was suicidal to retreat to the cliffs and across the river, so he ordered his way to Edwards Ferry, but this attack was repulsed by the Virgin and Mississippi units. Cogswell had no choice but to order a retreat to the cliffs and across the river. This order so surprised Divens that he asked to be repeated with witnesses ^[5] .

The retreating attacked the 8th Virginia Infantry Regiment , which entered into battle with two companies of the 20th Massachusetts Regiment (under the command of Captain William Bartlett) and captured two mountain howitzers.

Gun number 6 (Vaughn batteries) did not manage to be transported from the island to the shore. A boat had already been found when someone, probably Colonel Baker, said that infantry should be transported first. The gun remained on the shore, where soon Captain Vaughn arrived to him. When the infantry began to retreat from the Virginian side, the gun could not fire, for fear of getting on its own. The gun stood on the island night and day and only in the evening of the 22nd it was withdrawn to Maryland shore, and in the morning of October 23 the battery returned to the camp. In total, 4 people were injured during the battle, three were lost by the captives, and one went missing (allegedly drowned) ^[8] .

Available boats were not enough for crossing, and many northerners drowned, crossing the Potomac River under fire. At 18:30, Stone learned about the death of Baker. He ordered Colonel Edward Hink to take his 19th Massachusetts, transfer him to Harrison Island and cover the retreat. By 20:00, the federal units remaining on the Virginia coast surrendered - a total of 714 people surrendered. Shooting continued all night. At 21:30, Stone informed McClellan of what had happened, and at 22:00, President Lincoln found out about the death of his friend Baker ^[5] .

This failure of the federal army was relatively frivolous, but it had an unusually strong effect on the entire course of the war. In addition to the death of the incumbent senator (for the first and last time in the history of the country), it led to serious political rearrangements in Washington. Stone was declared the main culprit of the defeat, and this actually ended his military career. In addition, congressmen suspected a plot to undermine the Union. To find out the reasons for the failures at Bull Run, Wilsons Creek and Bulls Bluff, the Congress created the Joint War Committee, which in the future created many problems for army officers, especially Democrats.

• Ford, Andrew E. The story of the Fifteenth regiment Massachusetts volunteer infantry in the civil war, 1861-1864. - Clinton Press of WJ Coulter, 1898 .-- 441 p.
• Rhodes, John H. The History of Battery B, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, in the War to Preserve the Union, 1861-1865. - Providence, RI: Snow & Farmham, 1894. - 496 p.
• Winkler, H. Donald, Civil War Goats and Scapegoats, Cumberland House Publishing, 2008, ISBN 1-58182-631-1 .

• Disaster at Ball's Bluff, October 21, 1861
• Bell Bluff Battle Map