Charles Pomeroy Stone

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

It seems history has forgotten this general and so have we. Stone's service during the war is largely look over the most notable mark being his association with the Ball's Bluff fiasco in October of '61. Stone was among the first officers to take command in Washington in 1861, acting as guard to president Lincoln during his first arrival in the District as well as during his inaugural speech. After securing Washington, Stone was then tasked with securing the Potomac line above the District and reconnoiter it as well. He accomplished this task most amicably as head of The Rockville Expedition in early 1861. Following the Bull Run disaster for the North in which McClellan had taken charge and was organizing Union forces north of the Potomac, Stone was given the command of a division posted along the Upper Potomac at Poolesville opposite Leesburg and Northern Virginia. [ATTACH]24887[/ATTACH]

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

"The Rockville Expedition, one of the first offensive movements by Union forces, was ordered by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott for the purpose of securing firmly in Union hands the area of Maryland along the Potomac River northwest of Washington. Scott wanted to cut off the flow of supplies from Baltimore to Virginia, protect the area from Rebel raids, reopen the obstructed Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and "give countenance to our friends in Maryland and Virginia."

Col. Charles P. Stone was selected to lead the 2,500-man Union force, which was composed of three regiments plus four battalions of infantry, two companies of mounted troops, and two cannon. Stone's command departed from Washington on June 10, 1861, and arrived at Rockville, MD the next day. Stone established his headquarters at Rockville and dispatched detachments to numerous nearby river towns. The sudden appearance of Union troops in the area alarmed Confederates in Virginia and Rebel sympathizers in Maryland. On June 14 one of the detachments engaged in an inconsequential skirmish with local Confederates at the river town of Seneca Mills. The next day Stone's men secured Edwards' Ferry and Conrad's Ferry, the two main approaches to the strategic Virginia town of Leesburg.


Confederate forces advanced to the river from Leesburg on the 16th, but Stone's artillery forced them to retreat the next day when they attempted to cross at Edwards' Ferry. The Union force continued to occupy the area for the next two weeks. They then received new orders from Scott to march northwestward to Martinsburg, VA and join forces with Gen. Robert Patterson's command, which was arriving from Pennsylvania. When Stone's men reached Harpers Ferry, they found the Confederate occupiers had evacuated the town. Stone crossed over the river and engaged in a long-range artillery duel with the Rebel rear guard. The Rockville Expedition ended on July 7, when the Union troops arrived in Martinsburg."

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[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

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A photograph of General Charles P. Stone.

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

A peculiarity I noticed in the game was that he wasn't included.

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

Early in October of 1861, General McClellan had briefed and assigned Brig. Gen. George McCall and his division to cross the Potomac and advance to Dranesville in order monitor the area based on recent Confederate maneuvers in the vicinity.
Shortly thereafter he was briefed by McClellan and ordered back across, however McCall stated that he wished to stay in order to conclude a proper survey and mapping of the area. This information would be critical in the coming days and will not be relayed to General C.P.Stone who's operations were occurring at the same time.

As stated, at the same time, Gen. Stone was ordered by McClellan to "Conduct a slight demonstration" across the Potomac towards Leesburg, VA. Acting on his orders, Stone dispatched his division to cover areas around Edward's and Conrad's Ferry, more significantly Edwards however. Keeping within the confines of his "demonstration" Stone called up only a few boats and posted his troops in an offensive manner, this being done in order to get reaction out of Confederate forces across the Potomac. After this operation had been completed Stone went on to further examine the area to his front by ordering reconnaissance parties to observe if at all what the response to the above described maneuver.
The offensive characteristics of Stones demonstration was the crossing of 100 men from the 1st Minnesota and firing off some of his artillery into suspected Confed. positions along the river.

Having come up short of intelligence following these operations, Stone ordered then Col. Charles Devens, whose command at the time posted on Harrison's Island which was opposite the Bluff, to send a party to cross to the Virginia side and monitor any movement as well as identify any installations: camps, works, supply dumps, artillery parks etc. Now, here is how the story of the Battle of Balls Bluff itself occurs, courtesy of the Balls Bluff Battlefield Regional Park is as follow:

Captain Chase Philbrick, Co. H, 15th Massachusetts, had led a small reconnaissance patrol across the river to determine whether Union troop movements earlier in the day had had any effect on Confederate forces in Leesburg. About a mile from Ball’s Bluff, Philbrick spotted what he thought was an enemy camp and hurried back across the river to report this to his commanding officer, Col. Charles Devens. Colonel Devens passed this information to his division commander, Brig. Gen. Charles P. Stone, who saw it as an opportunity. He ordered Colonel Devens immediately to cross over half of his regiment and, as soon as it was light enough to see, proceed inland and raid the camp. 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.

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*.
(*During the waning time of the battle Baker had just ordered two artillery pieces to shell elements of Gen. Evans Mississippi detachments coming upon his left flank going towards the Bluff, this artillery would little effect as the Confederates were shelterd partially by the foliage and trees as well as the union artilleries inaccuracy. Baker then moved over to the left were Col. Milton Cogswell had rallied several union elements to hold, as he implored Baker to shift more units to his front so as to effect a hard-driving counter-attack in order to break for the Ferry, Baker was shot through the breast and instantly killed.)

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

(Cont.) "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. 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. Though the opposing numbers were almost equal, Baker’s scratch force was bottled up at one end of the clearing atop the bluff. Mostly in the open, with their backs to the bluff and very little room to maneuver due to the rough and heavily-wooded ravines and ridges around the clearing, the Union soldiers effectively were trapped.


By then, the 15th Massachusetts had been joined by elements of the 20th Massachusetts, 1st California, and 42nd New York, along with three artillery pieces from New York and Rhode Island. Gradually coming up to face them were the 8th Virginia, the 17th and 18th Mississippi, and a company of the 13th Mississippi. Beginning about 2:30-3:00, the fighting became almost continuous and often hand-to-hand until shortly after dark. The two forces slugged it out in a confused melee that saw individual companies and battalions advance and retreat in see-saw fashion across the clearing that covered the ground between the current national cemetery and parking lot. Colonel Baker was killed between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m.

Col. Milton Cogswell of the 42nd New York then took over and attempted a breakout that would have allowed them to move downriver toward Edwards Ferry where other Union troops had crossed. When the attempt failed, there was panic. The beaten men had fought hard and well but finally were overwhelmed by fresh troops from the 17th Mississippi just before dark. Many were injured or killed trying to climb or jump down the steep cliff. Many others attempted to swim the swiftly-running river to Harrison’s Island and either drowned or were shot by Confederates on the bluff above them. Over 500 surrendered. Six weeks later, Congress created the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War in part to discover the causes of that debacle. Mostly for political reasons, the committee blamed General Stone for what more properly were Colonel Baker’s mistakes. As a result, Stone was jailed for six months."

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

It should be noted that McClellan had never gave word to Stone of Gen. McCall's retirement from Dransville, within brief marching distance of the fighting at Ball's Bluff. Stone, upon finally hearing of the prospect of battle, in which Colonel Baker was in direct command, he believed he could receive aid from McCall's division, however, support never came, McCall had retired to far to render any effect. It should also be noted, that the reason chaos ensued so quickly on the union side was signally because Colonel Baker was not on the scene of the majority of the fighting, as he was reportedly scrambling about with a party of soldiers looking for boats to ferry more units across the river, something that should have left to a subordinate. Colonel Baker and even Devens also failed to bring word to Stone that a general battle was in order, as General Stone was still with the majority of his command at Edwards Ferry.


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A map of the Ball's Bluff fighting.




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A painting of the operations along the Potomac.

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

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Another picture of Brigadier General Charles P. Stone.

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Picture of Senator of Oregon/Colonel Edward Baker in uniform.

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Milton Cogswell


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Nathan "Shanks" Evans

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

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The Amateur of the hour Chase Philbrick in uniform.

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

Today was the 152nd anniversary of the Battle of Ball's Bluff. October 21st.

[Eugene Carr]

Ta Dah!

Looks like you got your wish



S!

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

Hoorah! Mr. Stone's vindication by me will come at last! Just as I have done with Mr. D.Miles...
Within the game of course.

Its a Christmas Miracle!