Ball's Bluff Regional Park and Ball's Bluff National Cemetery are located north of Manassas, Virginia in Leesburg. To reach Ball's Bluff from the east take Route 7 west to the Route 15 Bypass north. Turn right on Battlefield Parkway to Ball's Bluff Road. The park is open all year from dawn to dusk and includes a one mile long interpretive trail.
The park surrounds the cemetery where fifty four soldiers are buried, one known and fifty three unknown. The Southern victory here in October of 1861, just three months after the first battle of Bull Run, made the public aware of the war's reality.
On October 20, 1861 Union General Charles P. Stone ordered his force of just over 1700 soldiers to cross the Potomac River at Ball's Bluff. General Stone placed Colonel Edward Baker in command of the force and the river crossing. Very few boats were available to move the troops across the river and many trips were made back and forth until the soldiers were gathered below the bluff. The bluff was steep and it took some time to move them up the rugged path to the top of the bluff.
The Union force was met with an open field between them and the surrounding woods. Colonel Baker showed his inexperience by sending his troops forwards toward the woods. The Confederate forces had been watching from the cover of the woods as the Federals gathered and began to march forward.
As the Union soldiers marched forward they were taken by surprise by a force of some 1700 Confederate soldiers. The Union troops were caught out in the open and backed up to the bluff taking heavy casualties. In the late afternoon Colonel Baker, a life long friend of Abraham Lincoln, rushed forward to rally his troops and was shot dead near the location of the present day cemetery.
The Union troops fled down the steep rocky bluff after Colonel Baker was killed and tried to get back across the river. Confederate soldiers stood at the top of the bluff shooting down at the Union troops. Many Union soldiers were killed as they scurried down to the river and many more drowned while attempting to cross the river itself.
The Union force suffered 49 killed, 158 wounded, 553 captured, and 161 missing during the battle. Confederate casualties numbered 36 killed, 117 wounded, and 2 captured. The Union force was routed and resulted in a huge public outcry. The bodies of many of those killed floated down the Potomac River into Washington.
Several stories of a ghostly nature have been told over the years involving Ball's Bluff. One story involves a group of teenagers who went to the bluff in the 1950's only to be sent rushing back to their car by terrible screams. Once in their car, the teenagers were not able to move the car. It seemed as though something was holding the car from moving. Finally the car was able to move and the group raced back to town. There, the teenagers found muddy hand prints on the trunk.
The parents of one of the teenagers returned to the cemetery to have a look. When they arrived they found nothing unusual, not even a breeze. Three graves are located out side the wall of the cemetery. Next to the 3 graves is a small tree that began to shake and bend almost to the ground. Frightened, the adults fled the cemetery.
Are the screams the result of the terrified Union troops caught in a trap or the countless men who perished while fleeing into the river. Or could it be Colonel Baker who is still trying to hold his ground.
