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October 21, 1861
Shortly after dawn, Devens’ 300-man raiding party moved into position only to discover that there was no camp. In the uncertain moonlight, Captain Philbrick had been deceived by a row of trees, the drooping branches of which gave the appearance of tents. With nothing to raid, Colonel Devens decided to remain where he was and sent a messenger to General Stone asking for further instructions. It was this decision to stay, coming out of Captain Philbrick’s faulty report, which led to the battle. Though usually presented as a deliberate, pre-planned attempt by the Federals to take Leesburg, Ball’s Bluff in fact was an accident.
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On hearing of the mistake about the tents, General Stone ordered Colonel Devens to reconnoiter closer to Leesburg. He sent Devens the rest of the 15th Massachusetts and gave command of this expanded reconnaissance to one of his brigade commanders, Col. Edward D. Baker. Colonel Baker, a close friend of President Lincoln, also was Senator Baker of Oregon and, later that day, would become the only U.S. Senator ever killed in battle.
Unknown either to Stone or Baker, Devens’ original raiding party had engaged pickets of the 17th Mississippi at 8:00 a.m. just as word was being given to General Stone that there was no camp to raid and all was quiet. About 10:00, while on his way to take command of the mission given to him by General Stone, Colonel Baker heard of the fighting and realized that this mission would be no mere reconnaissance.
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Hurriedly and without first evaluating the situation, Baker began sending troops across the river. During the hours in which Union soldiers slowly were being shuttled to the Virginia side, Confederate commander Colonel Nathan “Shanks” Evans moved Southern troops to meet them. Colonel Devens’ men clashed twice more with that growing Confederate force. During a lull around 2:00 p.m., Devens pulled his men back to the bluff where he found Colonel Baker who only just had come across himself. |
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