of two companies to watch the movements of the enemy, who, evidently expecting a renewed attack, retired during the night, and recrossed the river at Edwards' Ferry. On Wednesday morning, finding my brigade very much exhausted, I left Colonel Barksdale with his regiment, with two pieces of artillery and a cavalry force, as a grand guard, and I ordered the other three regiments to fall back toward Carter's Mill, to rest and be collected in order. Colonel Hunton, with his regiment and two pieces of artillery, was halted at a strong position on the south bank of the Sycolin, about three miles south of Leesburg. I would here state that, in an interview on Monday night with the commissioned officers of the Federal army taken prisoners, I am convinced that they expected to be recaptured, either during the night or the next day, and, as the captured officers refused their parole not to take up arms against the Southern Confederacy until duly exchanged, I ordered the whole number to be immediately marched to Manassas. This parole was only offered to give them the liberty of the town, as I did not wish to confine them with the privates." General Evans reported the total loss of the 8th Virginia and 13th, 17th and 18th Mississippi volunteers engaged in the action at 153 killed and 2 taken prisoners. "I am pained," he says, "to report the fall of the gallant Colonel E. R. Burt, of the 18th regiment, Mississippi Volunteers. He was mortally wounded about four o'clock P. M, while gallantly leading his regiment under a tremendous fire. His loss is truly severe to his regiment and to our common cause. The battle," he adds, "on our side was fought entirely with the musket; the artillery was in position to do effective service should the enemy have advanced from his cover." The loss of the Union forces in this disastrous affair is stated in killed, wounded and missing, at 944, more than half the entire number who crossed to the Virginia shore. Of these the Massachusetts 15th lost 322, including a Lieutenant-Colonel and fourteen out of twenty-eight line officers; the Massachusetts 20th lost 159; the Tammany companies 163; the 1st California regiment 300.* To these general and military statements of the engagement we may add a portion of the interesting personal account of the battle drawn up, especially with reference to the part borne in it by Colonel Baker, by Mr. George Wilkes, from testimony collected immediately after the event, from the survivors. We take up this animated narrative with the first dispositions made on the field by Colonel Baker. "He formed his arriving troops on a field about 200 yards in the rear where the Massachusetts men held their line of battle; but, when Wistar arrived, he led them forward, and made full dispositions for an extended line of battle. To the Massachusetts men he gave the right; to Coggswell and the Tammany troops the centre, and to the Californians he awarded the bitter position of the left, from which the heaviest fusilade continued to pour. For a while the exchanges were made at a range of 200 and 300 yards, each party availing themselves of the cover of the woods, and the Californians, after firing, taking advantage of a small wave of carth, which gave them a partial shelter of some two or three feet. This, however, was in great part neutralised by the sharpshooters of the enemy, many of whom had climbed the trees, and were picking our men off at every point. Colonel Baker and Wistar stood boldly out in the hottest fire, and while discussing some change in the arrangement, a rifle ball came whizzing directly between them. "That's pretty close, Wistar," said Colonel Baker, and then resumed his conversation without further attention to the incident. Presently. and after a sufficient pause for the marksman * Appleton's Annual Cyclopædia, 1861, art. Ball's Bluff MR. WILKES' NARRATIVE. to reload, there came another whizzing visitor of the same sort, which this time split a twig which grew a few inches from their feet. "That fellow means us!" said Colonel Baker, looking up in the direction from which the shot had come, and then turning to Company G, he exclaimed, "Boys, do you see that fellow up there? Now try if some of you can't get him!" and he and Wistar coolly changed their ground. As the fire grew hotter, Colonel Baker, standing before his men, kept cautioning them to "lie down," and to "lie close," after they had delivered their volleys, and while reloading. 'You don't lie close, General," said one of them, as he crouched in obedience to the order. "No, my son," was the reply of the hero, as he stood with one hand calmly in his breast (his favorite position,) " and when you get to be a United States Senator you will not lie down either!" "About three o'clock the enemy, whose strongest fire was on our left, gathered himself for a dash, and a column of them came whooping from a cow-path, rushing with the most unearthly yells, in the hope to stampede our troops directly at the California line. Solid and steady our boys raised their weapons to receive them, but Wistar checked them with an order to hold on until they got well forward, and then giving the word fire, they fell in numbers, and those who did not strew the ground, precipitately took back in flight. "Now, then, boys, let's give 'em three cheers on that," said Captain Beirel, of the New York company, and three times three were given at once with the heartiest good-will, before they even stopped to load. This was the rebel tactics through the fight-shooting from cover, and occasional charges forward with terrific yells. Their object in this was to stampede our troops, but they failed to shake their resolution even once. Indeed, our men on each occasion fiercely pressed to meet them, and as they turned from our approach, our cheers, led off 57 always by Beirel, hounded them to their jungles. By and by Lieutenant Bramhall, of Vaughn's battery, arrived upon the ground, with Colonel Coggswell of the Tammany regiment, bringing with them a Rhode Island piece. No sooner, however, was this piece brought into position, than the enemy concentrated on it such a deadly fire that two of the cannoniers were instantly killed, and others being wounded, the whole were temporarily driven off. Colonel Baker perceiving the disaster, rushed to the piece regardless of all danger to lend his aid in serving it. This example was instantly followed by Lieutenant-Colonel Wistar, Adjutant Harvey, Colonel Coggswell, Colonel Lee, and Lord Tempest Vane (Captain Stewart), and these six gallant men, with the help of Bramhall and Lieutenant French, both of whom had been wounded, loaded and fired the piece half a dozen times. Soon, however, members from Company G, of the California regiment, and private Booth of Company L, bravely relieved these gentlemen, and they returned to their commands, Wistar reappearing in his place of duty wounded in the cheek. The cannon was then fired with great effect by Bramhall upon the rebels as they were making a new charge on the left, and the ground of their advance was literally strewed with slain. The fire of the Confederates was now hot from every portion of the line, and where Colonel Baker stood, in front, it seemed as if it would be as impossible for a man even to put his hand up without being struck by a bullet, as to spread it untouched in a shower of rain. So imminent was his peril, that Captain Beirel, whose men were then lying on the ground, could not refrain from suddenly exclaiming, "General, won't you come out of the fire and stand behind my men ?" Captain Beirel," was the stern but not unkind reply, "do you attend to Company G. I will look out for myself!" 66 "At this moment, and as the smoke smoke, where many a common man grew raised from the discharge of the 12- to the stature of a knight. They all felt pounder, a mounted officer, riding a fine they had a General, and in this and that bay charger, appeared on the right, and the battle was different from Bull Run. telling our men not to fire in that direc- In the midst of it all, General Baker tion, waved them to follow him, pointing moved up and down, encouraging the for them at another portion of the woods. men, his grand appearance and his silIt was his object to trail them, so they very hair making him a signal mark, could be struck in flank, but of a sudden though the now pervading smoke was the Massachusetts men discovered the equalizing his chances somewhat with mistake, and General Baker noticing the the rest. But he saw the day was desmovement at the same moment, ordered perate; nay, felt that it was lost, unhis men to fire, and horse and man rolled less one of those grand old shows of to the ground together. Turning on his prowess, that disdains the weight of heel, Baker observed Wistar by his side, odds, could retrieve it by a final effort. with his sword in his left hand. Per- The bayonet was his favorite weapon. ceiving his right arm dangling helpless He had drilled his regiment to that exby his side, he exclaimed: "What, Wis- ercise more than to any other, and had Wis-ercise tar, hit again!" "Yes, General," an- always declared that it was the true reswered the wounded officer, "and I wish source of a commander when he felt that you would put my sword in the scabbard he had brave men. His proof of this for me, for I don't want those hounds was absolute in that dark hour, and getto get possession of it." The General ting his men in line, he determined to sheathed the weapon, and bidding Wis- finish the day's record for the country tar retire to the rear and cross the river, within those woods, should he fail to resumed the conduct of the battle. clear them out. Just at this moment, he caught sight of a white-haired officer, riding near the rebel front, and recognizing him as he thought, he called for a pistol, and at the same moment pointing the distinguished rider out, he exclaimed: "There is General Johnston-fire boys, fire !" As he reached forward to receive the weapon he had called for, a very tall red-haired man emerged suddenly from the smoke, and, walking quickly up to within five feet of Colonel Baker, presented a self-cocking revolver, and, rapidly as he could crook his finger, delivered all the bullets it contained into his body. At the very same moment a musket-ball sped through and through his skull behind the ear, and a terrific whirling slug from a Mississippi yager tore away one-half of the muscle of the right arm, and opened a hole into his side large enough to thrust in the handle of a sword. All the death-dealing shots seemed to strike at once, and the noble leader and orator, matchless of the earth, "The whole field was now literally one hell of fire. The rebels, knowing themselves to be in superior force, raved at the defeat of every attempt to drive our staunch soldiers from the ground; while our men, desperate and enraged by the bloody cost which they had paid for being short in numbers, and stimulated to the highest point by the sublime courage of their General, were rushing madly forward at every opportunity to engage the enemy hand to hand. That bloody circle, viewed from above, might have been taken for an infernal cauldron, where the mad passions of mankind, seething and crackling in the roar of hate, sent up dense clouds repulsive with the stench of murder, and spluttering with breaking bubbles of passing human life. On all sides, however, demons as they were, deeds of the most heroic bravery were performed, and, as the battle swayed, a series of small encounters whirled in circles, isolated in the THE DEATH OF GENERAL BAKER. 59 fell mute, to speak no more. The trage- to the river. But this event, though it dy had paralyzed all beholders for the cast a resistless gloom over our men in moment; but Captain Beirel, recovering all parts of the field, did not unnerve his self-possession first, rushed at the them, nor make them sick of battle. It slayer as he bent to possess himself of inspired them with fresh rage-the Calithe General's sword, seized him by the fornian* battalion almost with frenzy. throat, and, placing his pistol at his tem- They rushed back, and with shrieks and ples, blew the ruffian's brain in red fume cheers, and such oaths as maddened over the murdered body. Beirel had courage consecrates like prayers, they been followed in his onslaught by sev- poured again into the thickest of the eral members of his company, and num- fight. Coggswell took command. Brambers of the rebels on the other side had hall, though wounded, was yet at his pressed forward to protect their red-gun, aided still by Private Booth, and a haired comrade as they saw the avenger Massachusetts color-bearer, with one leg rush toward him, and a savage hand-to- shattered, stood resting himself bravely hand fight ensued over the corse. Sword- on the staff, while he undauntedly mainthrust, pistol-shot, and bayonet-stab in- tained his position in the front of battle termingled quickly in that ferocious epi- on the other. Here was a sight. The sode, and the body of the dead leader, North, which this day had leaders who though trampled in the melée, lay smil- stood by them, was proving its strain, ing in its new-found quiet, as if approv- and notwithstanding the enemy's excess ing of the scene. of numbers, their killed and wounded at that time outnumbered ours two to one. "The accession of the Confederates was, however, the greatest at this point, and the Californians swayed backward some few feet from the corse. The rebels, in turn, retired, and then a momentary pause ensued, during which tears might have been seen coursing themselves down many a smoke-smeared cheek, on our side, at the sight of their great loss. They did not in that moment, however, forget that he had enjoined many of them that if he fell in battle they were not to let traitors get possession of his body. Adjutant Harney was the first to remind them of this pledge, and, responding to the appeal, Beirel, who, all through, had been one of the main heroes of the fight, called to his men to follow him just as a large number of the rebels started from the opposite woods, evidently after the distinguished trophy. Before, however, the creatures could possess themselves of the noble spoil, Beirel and his men beat them back. The gallant fellow then raised the corpse of his commander in his arms, and, bearing it, amid a shower of bullets, within our lines, delivered it to Major Young, who at once conveyed it safely "But the battle could not last-could not be kept up under our disadvantages. No heroism could compensate for our inferiority of force; no generalship remedy our dangers of position. We were being pushed step by step toward the bank, and in default of transportation, there was no prospect but surrender, or a watery grave. Surrender, however, was not once thought of by a single man, and no one murmured at the fight. Colonel Coggswell, however, made an effort to retreat toward Edwards' Ferry, in the hope that he might find the promised forces of Gorman's brigade advancing by that route; but the rebels swarmed too thickly on the left, and he was forced to retire backward upon the river. Foot by foot he and his heroes fought, the rebels equaling them now in desperation and driving the shattered remnants steadily back. Finally we were forced to the shore, the boat which had been were all Pennsylvanians, except Company G, which was from New York. This statement is due to Pennsylvania and New York, while they do honor to their Californiar title. *It is proper to say that the Californians, so called, ates and the army of the Potomac. Our troops were a second time outnumbered ; and the sad result was a loss on our side of 930 captured, killed, and wounded, contrasted with 300 killed and wounded of the rebels. Yes, there was one other leading feature of the climax-for, in contrast to the gloom and dejection of our camp, Leesburg was that night illuminated !"* bearing wounded all the afternoon was second meeting between the Confedershoving off with a mangled, moaning load, and the rebels in full strength appeared on the bluff. Their unearthly yells then went up again, but our disheartened men were silent; yet they stragglingly returned the concentrated and decimating fire that was now poured upon them. Amid their volleys, they shouted to us to surrender; but this was answered with rough expressions of disdain, and responses from our muskets. But hope had now quite abandoned our side. Bramhall's gun, which had been brought from the field, but which he had failed to get to the river with the purpose of submerging it, had been tumbled down the cliff and spiked, and all power for active retaliation was departed. Yielding to a stern necessity, therefore, Colonel Coggswell gave the order for the men to cast their arms into the stream and save themselves as best they could. The panic common to the climax of protracted suffering then set in, and the scene became one of route, carnage, and dismay. Hundreds plunged into the river, and a large number, regardless of the safety of the wounded, swam after the returning scow, and, swamping it with their weight, the wounded, quick and dead went down together. Many able swimmers were stifled in the fierce, unfriendly current, and those who, through lack of that accomplishment, or mistrustful of their strength, would not tempt the river, wandered wearily up and down the hostile shore, and were eventually taken prisoners. Colonels Coggswell and Lee were among the latter number, in consequence of having yielded to the men the earliest opportunities of escape; and Captain Beirel, who remained under the bank while his men tried their fortune with the stream, was among the last to stem the current. He took his sword with him, but when midway in the passage, was obliged to adopt the alternative between the loss of it and life, and drop it on the way. Thus ended the The loss of Colonel Baker was of course keenly felt by the country, which saw in the disaster a calamity similar to that which the nation was called to mourn in the death of General Lyon. Every honor was paid to his memory in a public funeral at Washington, and in civic honors as his remains were carried to New York on their way to their passage by sea to a final resting place in his home at California. The news of his death reached San Francisco a few days only after the battle in which he fell. The intelligence was among the first messages sent to California by the newly completed telegraph line-this peaceful triumph of civilization and new bond of Union perfected in the midst of devastating war aimed at the destruction of the nation. The line was opened on the 25th of October, when a message was transmitted from Sacramento by Chief Justice Field of California, in the temporary absence of the Governor of the State, to President Lincoln at Washington. At San Francisco, on the 26th, whilst the citizens were preparing to fire a salute and make other demonstrations in honor of the event, a dispatch from the East announced the death of Colonel Baker. The rejoicings were suddenly changed to mourning, and the celebration deferred. The following general order, in honor of Colonel Baker, was issued by General McClellan on the 22d October, the day preceding the funeral ceremonies at Washington: "The Major-General com *New York Tribune, November 5, 1861. |