Battle of Balls Bluff: 'A Screaming Tragedy and a Total National Nightmare'

The Battle of Balls Bluff was re-enacted on Saturday by more than 1,000 participants from many states. The action occurred on or near the original battleground off Route 15 north of Leesburg, now owned by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. 

"I think the battle was nicely organized and silently presented, with good visibility for the viewing public," said NVRPA board member Su Webb. "You could have been watching a silent movie."

She referred to the "silence" of the re-enactors, not the boom from the cannons and the rifle fire, which were punctuated by the cries of the wounded, or excited officers barking commands. 

While Webb was referring to the re-enactment, battlefield tour guide Bill Wilkin of Ashburn talked about the actual battle, which took place 150 years ago. 

It was “a screaming tragedy and a total national nightmare," said Wilkin, president of the Loudoun County Civil War Round Table and chairman of the Loudoun County Heritage Commission. 

Saturday's battle lasted about an hour. Hundreds of spectators were shuttled to the battleground from . 

On Saturday night, five volunteers placed 259 luminarias at the battlefield cemetery, a tradition that was initiated several years ago by Wilkin.

At 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, the same group of re-enactors recreated the Battle of Dranesville, which actually occurred about 15 miles to the east, near the intersection of Georgetown Pike and Route 7, on Dec. 20, 1861. The re-enactment took place at Morven Park. 

Later that day, a ceremony at Balls Bluff Battlefield honored U.S. Sen. Edward Baker of Oregon. Baker, a Union Army officer, was killed in the Battle of Ball's Bluff. He is the only U.S. senator to be killed in the Civil War.

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