COLONEL BAKER'S REGIMENT. pearing on the left the pursuit on the right was checked. Colonel Devens then rejoined Colonel Lee on the Bluff, presently returning to his advanced position. At about ten o'clock in the forenoon Lieutenant Howe brought back word that Colonel Baker would shortly arrive and take command. The remainder of Colonel Devens' regiment brought over by Lieutenant-Colonel Ward gave him in all at this time a force of 625 men. "At about 12 o'clock," continues Colonel Devens, "it was reported to me a force was gathering on my left, and about half-past 12 o'clock a strong attack was made on my left by a body of infantry concealed in the woods, and upon the skirmishers in front by a body of cavalry. The fire of the enemy was resolutely returned by the regiment, which maintained its ground with entire determination. Reinforcements not yet having arrived, and the attempt of the enemy to outflank us being very vigorous, I directed the regiment to retire about sixty paces into an open space in the wood, and prepared to receive any attack that might be made, while I called in my skirmishers. When this was done I returned to the Bluff, where Colonel Baker had already arrived. This was at a quarter-past two P. M." Having fully acquainted himself with the designs of General Stone, Colonel Baker had hastened to his regiment at Conrad's Ferry and sending orders to expedite the remainder of his brigade, began the work of crossing the river with the troops at hand. Here was the fatal deficiency of the movement in the lack of means of transportation. To cross the river in face of the enemy there were two scows or flatboats running between the Virginia shore and to Harrison's Island, and on the other side but one. Owing to the current it was necessary first to haul the boats up on the Maryland shore and then descending with the stream strike the opposite landing. The island being thus gained, the 51 same process had to be repeated to reach the Virginia side, the distance, indeed, being less, but the current more violent. Three-quarters of an hour were thus consumed in the trip to the island, a trial to the patience of a commander eager for action, which Colonel Baker felt acutely. Discovering another scow in the canal a short distance above, he ordered it to be brought down, and called for axes to construct a raft. The axes were not to be had. In fact the very slender provision made for passing the stream, showed that the military authorities up to this time could have entertained no idea of crossing the river in force. It was impossible that so careful a commander as General McClellan could have meditated such a project with such a force. In fact he appears to have had no such intentions. As he tells us in his report, "My despatch, -the one addressed by his adjutant to General Stone already cited,-"did not contemplate the making an attack upon the enemy or the crossing the river in force by any portion of General Stone's command ; and not anticipating such movement, I had, upon the 20th, directed Major-General McCall to return with his division on the forenoon of the 21st from Dranesville to the camp from which he had advanced, provided the reconnoissance intrusted to him should have been then completed." A similar caution on the part of General Stone was still more desirable. Thus it happened that the precipitation of one commander was rendered doubly hazardous by the prudence of another. At the very moment Colonel Baker, under order of General Stone, was leading his troops into their perilous position, General McClellan was retiring from a forward movement which might, if it had been continued, have rescued the former from their perils. While Colonel Baker was engaged in his active efforts for crossing his troops, at about 11 o'clock, hearing the sound of firing on the Virginia shore, he immediately crossed in a small skiff to the island, leaving instructions to forward the artillery with all dispatch. From the island he hastened to the Virginia shore, where his California regiment, having crossed by the single scow, doing duty in this part of the river, had reinforced the Massachusetts troops of Lee and Devens. Lieutenant Bramhall soon followed with a rifled 6-pounder of the Rhode Island battery which he had considerable difficulty in bringing up the bank. This, with two howitzers constituted the artillery in the field. A detachment of Colonel Coggswell's Tammany regiment succeeded in crossing from the island and was joined to the reinforcements, making the number of troops on the Virginia shore in all less than eighteen hundred. ensued, and was maintained for some time by the 15th Massachusetts unsupported, and finding he would be outflanked, Colonel Devens retired a short distance and took up a position near the wood, half a mile in front of Colonel Lee, where he remained until two o'clock, when he again fell back, with the approval of Colonel Baker, and took his place with the portions of the 20th Massachusetts and 1st California which had arrived. Colonel Baker now formed his line, and waited the attack of the enemy, which came upon him with great vigor about three P. M., and was well met by our troops, who, though pitched against much superior numbers, three to one, maintained their ground under a most destructive fire of the enemy. Colonel Coggswell reached the field amid the heaviest fire, and came gallantly into action, with a yell which wavered the enemy's line. Lieutenant Bramhall, of Buntings's battery, had succeeded, after ex On his arrival on what was now marked out as the field of battle, Colonel Baker taking the command, arranged the troops in position for the im-traordinary exertions and labor, in bringminent contest. The ground held by Colonel Lee, and to which Colonel Devens had retreated, was an open field of about six acres in extent, extending from the bluff on the river bank and closely hemmed in on the front and on the sides by a dense forest. In this area the engagement was to be fought with an unknown enemy, thronging from the country beyond without interruption to their communications and amply protected on the spot by the cover of the woods. A worse position for the Union troops could hardly have been contrived than the one thus occupied by them, on the summit of a bluff one hundred or more feet in height, with a precipitous path to a rapid river, on which the only means of receiving reinforcements or conducting a retreat was a single flat-boat capable of holding not more than sixty men. ing up a piece of the Rhode Island battery, and Lieutenant French his two howitzers; but both officers, after welldirected firing, were soon borne away wounded, and the pieces were hauled to the rear, so that they might not fall into the enemy's hands. At four P. M. Colonel Baker fell at the head of his column, pierced by a number of bullets, while cheering his men, and by his own example sustaining the obstinate resistance they were making. The command then devolved upon Colonel Lee, who prepared to commence throwing out forces to the rear, but it was soon found that Colonel Coggswell was the senior in rank, and he, taking the command, ordered preparation to be made for marching to the left, and cutting a way through to Edwards' Ferry. But just as the first dispositions were being effected, a rebel officer rode rapidly in front and beckoned the Tammany regiment toward the enemy. It is not clear whether or not the Tammany men supposed this one of our GENERAL STONE'S REPORT. 53 o'clock, was questioned as to Colonel Baker's position, he informed me that the Colonel, when he left, seemed to feel perfectly secure, and could doubtless officers ; but they responded with a yell and charged forward, carrying with them in their advance the rest of the line, which soon received a destructive fire from the enemy at close distance. hold his position in case he should not The men were quickly recalled, but their new position frustrated the movement designed, and Colonel Coggswell gave the necessary order to retire. The enemy pursued to the edge of the bluff over the landing place, and poured in a heavy fire as our men were endeavoring to cross to the island. The retreat was rapid, but according to orders. The men formed near the river, maintaining for nearly half an hour the hopeless contest rather than surrender. The smaller boats had disappeared, no one knew where. The largest boat, rapidly and too heavily loaded, swamped some fifteen feet from the shore, and nothing was left to our soldiers but to swim, surrender, or die. With a devotion worthy of the cause they were serving, officers and men, while quarter was being offered to such as would lay down their arms, stripped themselves of their swords and muskets, and hurled them out into the river to prevent their falling into the hands of the foe, and saved themselves as they could by swimming, floating on logs, and concealing themselves in the bushes of the forest, and to make their way up and down the river bank to the place of crossing. The instances of personal gallantry of the highest order were so many that it would be unjust to detail particular cases. Officers displayed for their men, and men for their officers, that beautiful devotion which is only to be found among true soldiers. "While these scenes were being enacted on the right, I was preparing on the left for a rapid push forward to the road by which the enemy would retreat if driven, and entirely unsuspicious of the perilous condition of our troops. The additional artillery had already been sent, and when the messenger, who did not leave the field until after three advance. The same statement was made by another messenger half an hour later, and I watched anxiously for a sign of advance on the right, in order to push forward General Gorman. It was, as had been explained to Colonel Baker, impracticable to throw General Gorman's brigade directly to the right, by reason of the battery in the woods, between which we had never been able to reconnoitre. At four P. M. or thereabouts, I telegraphed to General Banks for a brigade of his division, intending it to occupy the ground on this side of the river near Harrison's Island, which would be abandoned in case of a rapid advance, and shortly after, as the fire slackened, a messenger was waited for on whose tidings should be given orders either for the advance of General Gorman to cut off the retreat of the enemy, or for the disposition for the night in the position then held. At five P. M. Captain Candy arrived from the field and announced the melancholy tidings of Colonel Baker's death, but with no intelligence of any further disaster. I immediately apprised General Banks of Colonel Baker's death, and I rode quickly to the right to assume command. Before arriving opposite the island, men who had crossed the river plainly gave evidence of the disaster, and on reaching the same I was satisfied of it by the conduct of the men then landing in boats. "The reports made to me were that the enemy's force was ten thousand men. This I considered, as it proved to be, an exaggeration. Orders were then given to hold the island, and establish a patrol on the tow-path from opposite the island to the line of pickets near the Monocacy, and I returned to the left to secure the troops there from disaster, and make preparations for moving them as rapidly as possible. Orders arrived from Gen- tle, General McClellan arrived at the The report of the Confederate General N. G. Evans, commanding the 7th brigade, completes the story of this en"During that .time, General Hamilton gagement. "On Saturday night, the with his brigade was on the march from 19th of October," he writes, "about seven Darnestown. Before I left to go to the o'clock P. M. the enemy commenced a right I issued orders to intercept him, heavy cannonading from three batterand instructed him to repair to Conrad's ies, one playing on my intrenchment, Ferry, where orders awaited him to so (known as Fort Evans,) one on the Leesdispose of his force as to give protec- burg turnpike, and one on Edwards' Fertion to Harrison's Island and protect the ry. Heavy firing was also heard in the diline of the river. At three A. M. Major-rection of Dranesville. At twelve o'clock General Banks arrived and took com- at night I ordered my entire brigade to mand."* the burnt bridge on the turnpike. The While the battle was in progress the enemy had been reported as approachfollowing order from General Stone dating from Dranesville in large force. Taked ten minutes before noon of that day, ing a strong position on the north side of found, like the one already cited, on the Goose Creek, I awaited his approach. person of Colonel Baker, was, it is stat- Reconnoitering the turnpike on Sunday ed, delivered to him on the field by Col- morning, the courier of General McCall onel Coggswell: "I am informed that was captured, bearing dispatches to Genthe force of the enemy is about four eral Meade, to examine the roads leadthousand, all told. If you can push ing to Leesburg. From this prisoner I them, you may do so as far as to have a learned the position of the enemy near strong position near Leesburg, if you can Dranesville. During Sunday the enemy keep them before you, avoiding their kept up a deliberate fire, without any batteries. If they pass Leesburg and effect. Early on Monday morning, the take the Gum Springs road, you will not 21st instant, I heard the firing of my follow far, but seize the first good posi- pickets at Big Spring, who had discovertion to cover that road. Their design is ed that, at an unguarded point, the eneto draw us on, if they are obliged to re- my had effected a crossing, in force of treat, as far as Goose Creek, where they five companies, and was advancing on can be reinforced from Manassas, and Leesburg. Captain Duff, of the 17th have a strong position. Report fre- regiment, immediately attacked him, drivquently, so that when they are pushed, ing him back, with several killed and Gorman can come up on their flank." wounded. On observing the movements Asking its purport and having been an- of the enemy from Fort Evans, at six swered by Colonel Coggswell, "All right, A. M., I found that he had effected a go ahead," Colonel Baker put the order crossing both at Edwards' Ferry and in his hat without reading it. Ball's Bluff, and I made preparations to meet him in both positions, and imme On the 22d, the day following the bat * Report of General Stone to General McClellan, October 28, 1861. * General McClellan to the Secretary of War, Novem ber 1, 1861. THE CONFEDERATE ACCOUNT. diately ordered four companies of infantry (two of the 18th, one of the 17th, and one of the 13th), and a cavalry force to relieve Captain Duff, the whole force under the immediate command of Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Jenifer, who was directed to hold his position till the enemy made further demonstration of his design of attack. This force soon became warmly engaged with the enemy, and drove him back for some distance in the woods. 55 with his batteries on both sides of the "At about six o'clock P. M., I saw that my command had driven the enemy near the banks of the Potomac; I ordered my entire force to charge and drive him into the river. The charge was immediately made by the whole command, and the forces of the enemy were completely routed, and cried out for quarter along his whole line. In this charge the enemy was driven back at the point of the bay"At about ten o'clock I became con- onet, and many killed by this formidable vinced that the main point of attack would weapon. In the precipitate retreat of be at Ball's Bluff, and ordered Colonel Hun- the enemy on the bluffs of the river, ton, with his regiment-the 8th Virginia many of his troops rushed into the water Volunteers to repair immediately to and were drowned; while many others, the support of Colonel Jenifer. I direct-in overloading the boats, sunk them, and ed Colonel Hunton to form line of battle shared the same fate. The rout nowimmediately in the rear of Colonel Jeni- about seven o'clock-became complete, fer's command, and to drive the enemy and the enemy commenced throwing his During this action, to the river; that I would support his arms into the river. right with artillery. About twenty min- I held Colonel Wm. Barksdale, with nine utes past twelve o'clock M., Colonel companies of his regiment, the 13th MisHunton united his command with that of sissippi, and six pieces of artillery as a Colonel Jenifer, and both commands soon reserve, as well as to keep up a demonbecame hotly engaged with the enemy stration against the force of the enemy at in his strong position in the woods. Edwards' Ferry. At eight o'clock P. M., Watching carefully the action, I saw the the enemy surrendered his forces at Ball's enemy was constantly being reinforced, Bluff, and the prisoners were marched to and at half-past two o'clock P. M., or- Leesburg. I then ordered my brigade dered Colonel Burt to march his regi- (with the exception of the 13th regiment ment-the 18th Mississippi-and attack Mississippi, who remained in front of the left flank of the enemy, while Col- Edwards' Ferry) to retire to the town of onels Hunton and Jenifer attacked him Leesburg and rest for the night. On in front. On arriving at his position, Tuesday morning I was informed by Colonel Burt was received with a tre- Colonel Barksdale that the enemy was mendous fire from the enemy, concealed still in considerable force at Edwards' in a ravine, and was compelled to divide Ferry. I directed him to make a thohis regiment to stop the flank movement rough reconnoissance of the position and of the enemy. At this time-about three strength of the enemy and attack him. o'clock-finding the enemy was in large At two o'clock P. M. he gallantly attacked force, I ordered Colonel Featherston, with a much superior force in their intrenchhis regiment-the 17th Mississippi-to ments, driving them to the bank of the repair, at double quick, to the support of river, killing thirty or forty and woundColonel Burt, where he arrived in twen- ing a considerable number. About sunty minutes, and the action became gen- down, the enemy being strongly reineral along my whole line, and was very forced, and stationed in rifle pits, Colhot and brisk for more than two hours, onel Barksdale wisely retired with his the enemy keeping up a constant fire regiment to Fort Evans, leaving a guard |