The Honored Dead
Why were we at Ball’s Bluff? Because the Union force at the battle was the 1st California Infantry Regiment — a group, formed in Philadelphia by Sen. Baker, that ironically contained only one known Californian (actually, just a veteran of the Gold Rush). The 1st California was so badly mauled at Ball’s Bluff that it ceased to exist, but was reformed as the 71st Pennsylvania. The 71st, however, throughout the rest of the war, continued to call itself the 1st California, and even wore that designation on its uniform collar.
It was this “California” connection, no matter how tenuous, that had brought our small group of Silicon Valley Boy Scouts and dads to this quiet corner of the Potomac. Each summer, I try to organize something out of the ordinary for the older Scouts. We’ve driven to Oregon and walked the Lewis and Clark path, hiked 192 miles across England, and driven cattle up the Chisholm Trail. But this year’s trip in many ways proved to be the most complex and resonant. As part of two Eagle Scout service projects, we helped restore Ball’s Bluff in preparation for next year’s sesquicentennial, then toured the Civil War exhibit at the NRA’s National Firearms Museum, then drove up to Gettysburg to sit at the Angle and march the path of Pickett’s Charge.
That night, we moved to Morven Park, also near Leesburg, and as we sat sweating in the darkened antebellum rotunda of the Westmoreland Davis mansion, a Confederate soldier (Chief Interpreter Doug Smith) burst in and drafted us into the Rebel army. We soon found ourselves on a scouting mission across moonlit empty fields towards the Potomac under musket fire. We slept in another open field, and the next morning set to work helping restore the trails and huts of the winter encampment used by the Confederate soldiers after Ball’s Bluff, as well as participated in an archeological dig.
In the afternoon, we put on the Civil War uniforms we’d purchased from a Fresno sutler — the wool pants and jackets were almost unbearable in the humid, 90 degree plus heat — and met arriving re-enactors of the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, under the command of Captain Craig Mullin. For the next two days we drilled, marching and conducting the manual of arms (the boys first used wooden guns, then real Enfields) and finally, firing the rifles.
It goes without saying that re-enactors take what they do very seriously. But the mistake is often made in assuming that it is all about dressing up and playing army and searching for that transcendent moment when the present falls away and the past is once again alive. Just as important to these re-enactors is the act of honoring the fallen, of making sure their sacrifices — often the supreme one — are never forgotten.
As I watched through the day, this same spirit seemed to imbue the Scouts with a similar sense of pride and purpose. These were Silicon Valley kids after all, their lives filled with Facebook and World of Warcraft, MTV, and SATs. Many have seen their parents lose jobs in the last couple years; and many will soon choose a lesser, cheaper college because their families can no longer afford the tuition. And more than one Scout couldn’t join us on this trip because of tight family budgets. And yet, as difficult as times are, marching in the heat in a scratchy wool uniform with a rifle on your shoulder put things into context for the boys. It could be much much worse. They could be dumped into a grave in Ball’s Bluff, or standing at the Angle, watching as canister blew to bits boys their age on the other side, and nervously awaiting the bayonets of Pickett’s and Pettigrew’s on-rushing howling divisions.
This reality hit us all, men and boys, most deeply when Captain Mullin’s wife Katie, in her long, traditional dress, delivered to each of us packages “from home”: hand-addressed packets of string-tied butcher paper bearing replicas of stamps of the era. Inside, in an extraordinary effort by the ladies of the 71st, we found, wrapped in wax paper, gifts of lye soap, dried fruit, peanuts, shortbread, handkerchiefs embroidered with our initials (and a medicinal bottle of whiskey for me, the colonel) and, most touching of all, hand-copied versions of real letters from home of the era. No instant messages, no emails, not even a cellphone call from home — in 1862 this might be all that a young soldier might hear from home in months.
With new resolve, the boys drilled even harder in the unfamiliar sweltering heat. And if they didn’t find that timeless “moment,” I think they discovered something even more important. And it showed a few mornings later when, at the Boy Scout National Jamboree at Ft. A.P. Hill, before a large audience, the boys, still in their 1st California uniforms, marched through the drill as the color guard to the morning’s VIP flag raising. They did it perfectly, to the cheers of the crowd.
To the boys, that was no doubt the climax of their trip. But for me it came two nights before, as we sat with the 71st and sang Civil War era songs to the accompaniment of Captain Mullin’s harmonica. I thought of the newly white graves glowing in the darkness just a few miles away — and around this country and across the world. In a tribute to my own Civil War ancestors, Martin Malone and Thomas Martin Kirby, Kansas Cavalry and Infantry respectively, I called for “The Minstrel Boy.”
Together, men and boys, we sang the words that resonated both then and today:
“Land of Song!” said the warrior bard,
“Tho’ all the world betray thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!”
“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?