10 Facts Battle of Ball's Bluff-- Part 6: Led to Creation of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War

Fact 7:  The Battle of Ball's Bluff led to the creation of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War.

After the embarrassing loss at Ball's Bluff, the third major Union defeat of the war, Republicans had had enough of what they considered the incompetency of officers Lincoln had appointed and determined to take a larger role in the prosecution of the war.

On December 9, 1861,  they established the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War to oversee the administration of the Army  and the Navy.  Throughout the remainder of the war, the committee was chaired by  the Radical Republican Senator from Ohio, Benjamin Wade.

The Radical Republicans wanted to  pursue a more aggressive course of war than President Lincoln, and used the Committee tom oversee generals and promote men who they believed would support harder war policies.

The Bane of Many a Union General.  --Old Secesh