Ball's Bluff: An Episode and Its Consequences to Some of Us

The author, an adjutant in the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, provides an eyewitness monograph recounting a poorly supported reconnaissance across a river that escalated into a costly engagement. He describes unit organization, leadership, inadequate transportation and engineering support, improvised solutions, the assault and skirmishing, the death of an inexperienced political commander, heavy casualties, and the difficulties of evacuation. Interwoven are assessments of command, troop inexperience and discipline, tactical shortcomings, and personal impressions of officers, followed by reflections on the immediate consequences for those involved.