The Honored Dead
The sixteen-year-old boy dipped his sponge into a bucket of bleach and water and began to scrub the dirt and algae off the gravestone. It read, simply, “UNKNOWN.” Beneath the boy’s knee likely lay the shattered bones of two or more young men of about his age.
The bodies had been tossed into a wooden box and dumped into this grave — as they had in the twenty-four other graves arrayed in a semicircle within this tiny stonewalled graveyard — when they had been rounded up months after they had fallen in the Battle of Ball’s Bluff. By then, wild animals and pigs had gotten to the bodies, scattering parts everywhere. And, as this was one of the first battles of the Civil War, few of the men wore any identification.
So, with the exception of one fortunate soldier, James Allen, whose name is carved into a headstone, all of the rest of the graves, bearing an unknown number of bodies, are simply “Unknown.”
We’d come all of the way from Sunnyvale, California, to Leesburg, Virginia, to honor these anonymous young men and to restore both their final home and the battlefield on which they died. That’s why half of our crew of Boy Scouts and dads were down the hill, stacking newly fallen and chainsawed trees and feeding branches into a chipper. The other half, including me, was up the hill in the lonely little graveyard, weeding, planting grass seed, restoring the flagpole — and most compellingly, scrubbing white the old headstones.
Ball’s Bluff is not a famous Civil War battle — certainly not compared to Gettysburg — where, two years later, by an awful coincidence, these same Union and Confederate units would meet again at the Angle in the center of the Union line at the farthest point of Pickett’s doomed charge. But it is an important battle nevertheless. Of the few battles in 1861, Bull Run would be the biggest, but little Ball’s Bluff, which involved only a couple thousand combatants, had the most far-reaching consequences.
Ball’s Bluff was a classic early battle of the Civil War, characterized by over-confidence, under-competence, and a lot of confusion (not least because some of the Union soldiers were wearing gray uniforms). What history tells us is that a Union reconnaissance party crossed the Potomac upriver from Washington, near Leesburg, to scout out a sizable Rebel force. They were quickly fired upon and called for reinforcements. That’s when the Union commander made the terrible mistake of sending more and more of his troops across the river before fully understanding the nature of the battle.
The result was a catastrophe: the Union troops found themselves not only climbing a steep bluff and being channeled into two ravines, but also facing withering fire from a large contingent of the enemy. One of the first to fall was the commander, Colonel Edward D. Baker. He not only led the unit, but was also the United States senator from Oregon and one of President Lincoln’s best friends. A great speaker, it was Baker who was credited with bringing Oregon and California over and winning Lincoln the election. He remains the only sitting senator to die in battle.
Now he was dead with a bullet in his brain — and after a prolonged firefight, the Confederates pushed the Union soldiers off the bluff and down the steep bank. There, trapped in the mud, while clambering for their boats, the Yankee soldiers were slaughtered: 222 of them, many of them floating past the horrified citizens of Washington days later.
By comparison with the great Civil War battles of the years to come, Ball’s Bluff was little more than a skirmish. But Americans still weren’t used to this kind of slaughter, and were appalled. A military commission was formed, scapegoated the local commander and imprisoned him; and much of the U.S. Army’s high command was re-organized. The overall effect was to terrify most of the Army’s generals out of doing anything risky involving crossing rivers — a fear sometimes used to help explain Gen. Burnside’s disastrous decisions to only use the bridges at Antietam and Fredricksburg.
“The minstrel fell, but the foeman’s chain,
Could not bring that proud soul under.
The harp he loved ne’er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder.
And said, ‘No chain shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and bravery.
Thy songs were made for the pure and free,
They shall never sound in slavery.”
Gods and Generals is a popular series broadcast here in China, it is semi-docudrama regarding the Civil war. It focuses more on the individuals and strategy’s and is widely watched.
There is much to say about the Civil War, the writer of this article has said it very well in regards to individual personal cost.
Thank you sir for a wonderful article recounting an event that will remain with those young men throughout their lives. Your article caused me to pause and reflect on my memorable days in Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Explorers. When I finished reading your story to my wife her first comment was, “Wow the Scout Master certainly does need to be commended!” I fully agree and I tip my hat to you sir for your involvement with these young American’s that will become the future leaders (I pray) of our country. I was career Navy (30 years) and the Navy has a saying and accompanying flaghoist to convey a job well done – BRAVO ZULU! BZ sir and thank you.
As we say in North Carolina:
First at Bethel,
Farthest at Gettysburg and Chickamauga,
Last at Appomattox.
Well done to you sir.
Unfortunately, this brings up a sad consequence of political correctness which must be corrected for honor to be true.
I saw a US flag, but no Confederate flag, on that grave. The soldiers of the CSA are, at some places, forced to lie under the flag of their enemy. Can we not at least grant these men the right to be buried under their own flag for which they so bravely fought? Even Nazis and Japanese are buried under theirs.
You cannot claim to honor the dead at Ball’s Bluff if you only honor one side, regardless of your opinion of their cause.
INDEED !
LC:
There are only Union soldiers buried in the UNKNOWN graves inside the walls of the Ball’s Bluff cemetery (the Confederates won the battle, suffered few dead, and took those bodies away). There are two headstones outside the walls. One, about fifty feet away, marks where Senator Baker was killed. The other, about 100 feet away, is a monument to Confederate Sergeant Clinton Hatcher (not a grave). It is the newest and most elaborate on the battlefield. We cleaned both Baker’s and Hatcher’s markers, but the flags were used with the Union headstones inside the cemetery.
Mike Malone
No sir, they are no longer Confederate but are now American.
This is roughly as helpful and as gracious as saying that the Christians who fell defending Constantinople at the last are all Turks now.
The war’s over, boys. Let’s go home.
There’s no expiration date on honouring the dead … and none, apparently, on insulting them & theirs.
A few years ago I traveled to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for my father’s funeral. Many graves in that cemetery had small American flags to commemorate the deceased’s service in various wars. (My dad was a World War II vet.)
I couldn’t help noticing that a few of the graves in that same cemetery bore Confederate flags.
Rebel troops were traitors and as were undeserving of any honor after death.
Descendants of the fighters in the war against Northern aggression still disagree.
As a former asst. scoutmaster and proud father of an Eagle Scout all i can say to your story is god bless you and your scouts.
Beautiful article. So glad I read it. And to think the president, who is also the honorary president of the Boy Scouts, could not be bothered to honor your young men and their fellow members with a short visit for their 100th anniversary. No matter, they honor themselves.
Thank you for not only doing what you have done, but for reporting so eloquently. As I was reading, it occurred to me that, in my family I am the last link of hearing Civil War battle reports from my grandfather, who heard them from his own father, a Private in the 5th Vermont. It is impossible to honor the sacrifices of our ancestors if we aren’t told the stories.
Thank you for the excellent article.
I knew nothing of Ball’s Bluff until moving to the town and county named in honor of Col. Baker (Baker City, OR). I believe Baker had been in California before heading north to Oregon (at least one source I have read questions whether he came here at all).
Mike,
I’ve always loved the things you did on KTEH concerning the valley. To find out you are a fellow scouter impresses me even more. I’m an SM in the Fremont area and my son was at the National Jamboree. I’m definitely forwarding this article on to our troop leadership email for their enjoyment and education. Thanks for all you do in scouting too!
Great participation and leadership and reporting by you. Mike Malone. I,too, spent time in Scouting as a mother of sons. Our family connection with the Civil War is recorded for posterity. My son Clayton E. Cramer, is the author of a true narrative taken from a diary of his Great, Great Grandfather Samuel McIlvaine entitled “By the Dim and Flaring Lamps”. edna cramer
Honor the living. Might I suggest taking the young men to a local VA hospital, so they can see what happens to youth less privileged than themselves. During the Vietnam War, I attended Cal State Long Beach. I used to to drive a wounded warrior to LAX for trips home to Texas. His body ended at his navel. He once offered me $500 to shoot him. That is the face of war. A fitting project for Scouts might be to donate some of their time to assisting those fallen warriors at the VA.
I know the Ball’s Bluff battlefield quite well, have been heading back there since the 1980′s to access the Potomac for fishing.
Before Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” mini-series, it was essentially a lost battlefield, accessible only by a gravel road that ran behind a townhome development. The graveyard was the only bit that you could drive to and park on.
Burns’ miniseries, coupled with the ex-urban growth around Leesburg sparked a renewed interest in the War for Southern Independence, and truly salvaged that field of honor.
Glad you enjoyed your outing, and tell your troop that their work is greatly appreciated.
A word of warning, though…beware Civil War re-enacting.
That hobby has the potential to grow into an obsession. I know people for whom it will always be 1861-1865.
(Roughly speaking, I think that is true to a greater or lesser extent of all Southerners, but some folks just go right ’round the bend with it).
Just had to see someone bashing Obama for something.
Do you folks know which people in Congress vote against Veterans and Soldiers best interest MOST of the time?
Hint, they have a big “R” near their name and talk about how “Patriotic” they are.
Do some research and put the blame where it belongs.
Very nice article.
I work in a printing shop, and as it was a slow day today I did some filing. One of the items I filed was raffle tickets we printed for the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment a few months ago.
Small world, huh?