Ten Facts About Battle of Ball's Bluff-- Part 8: Who Was to Blame?

Fact 8:  Both Stone and McClellan blamed  Col. Edward Baker  for the tremendous loss.

When called before the Joint Committee, Charles Stone testified that he had given Edward Baker the responsibility to decide whether to send more troops across the river or to withdraw the ones already there.  By sending reinforcements, Stone argued, "Colonel Baker chose to bring battle."

General McClellan agreed.  After hearing  Stone's version of the events, McClellan publicly exonerated Stone from any blame and published in an army circular that "the disaster was caused by errors committed by the immediate commander [Baker]."

Although Stone and McClellan both  testified that Baker was the cause of the defeat, Stone remained the popular scapegoat for the failure.  When Stone was called to appear before the Joint Committee, they laid the blame  on him.  Stone was the friend of McClellan, a known Democrat, and his word amounted to little for the abolitionist Radical Republicans who dominated the committee.

They accused Stone of disloyalty to the Union, and Stone was arrested on February 8, 1862,  on the orders of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.  He was taken to Fort Lafayette, a prison designated for known Confederate  sympathizers, where he was held in solitary confinement without trial.

With no charges filed against him, Stone was released after six months, and Stanton ordered him demoted to colonel. and kept out of field work.  In 1864, Stone resigned from  the army.

--Old Secesh

McHenry County Civil War Round Table's Prisons Discussion 3/27/21-- Part 4: Talking About Camp Douglas Today and John Yates Beall

**  There is a Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation that has a primary mission "To provide  active leadership in the development,  delivery, and preservation of  educational and  historic information regarding  the Upper Midwest, especially Illinois and Chicago during the Civil War."

**  And then there was an interesting character by the name of John Yates Beall, who led attacks on Union shipping on the Chesapeake Bay, was captured, released, then was involved in a scheme to release Confederate officers at the prison on Johnson's Island on Lake Erie.  That failed.  But then was captured trying to derail a train near Buffalo, New York.

Jailed again, and after a questionable trial and Abraham Lincoln declining to extend leniency, was hanged at Fort Columbus on Governor's Island in New York Harbor.

**  Abraham Lincoln and Sec. of War Edwin Stanton once visited Point Lookout in Maryland to view Union black soldiers.

**  One of the people at the meeting said he had an ancestor die at the Confederate prison at Danville, Va.

**  Libby Prison was in an old tobacco warehouse.  Prisoners there experienced horrible conditions.

--Old Secesh

Some More On Col. Ulric's Leg-- Part 1: Wounded, Recovery and Death

From the December 12, 2016, The Hill is Home blog  "Lost Capital Hill :  Ulric Dahlgren's Leg."

After his wounding in Hagerstown, Md., on July 6, 1863, Ulric Dahlgren completed his patrol and, while reporting to his commanding officer, fainted from loss of blood.  He was sent home to his father's house by train just south of Judiciary Square in Washington, D.C..

At first it seemed the wound was minor, but it became clear after awhile that it would have to be amputated.  During his recovery, Ulric received a visit from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton who brought good wishes, but also a promotion to colonel.

Ulric Dahlgren rejoined the Army, now with a cork leg.    He was sent on a raid of Richmond targeting Jefferson Davis.  But Davis survived, Ulric did not.  Papers on Dahlgren's body  gave away the story of killing Davis.  Whether those papers were authentic is not known.  However, Southerners were irate and Ulric's body was mutilated.

Much later the body was turned over to Union authorities and taken to Philadelphia for burial in the family plot.

--Old Secesh

Illinois Bicentennial: 91 Medal of Honor Winners From Illinois

From the Illinois Civil War site.

Illinois Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients.

Alphabetically from Abner P. Allen to Richard H. Wood.

ABNER P. ALLEN  (Oct. 9, 1839 to August 22, 1905)

Allen was color bearer of the 39th Illinois and got his at the Battle of Petersburg during the assault on Fort Greg on April 2, 1965.  He also had the honor of carrying the Illinois flag at the Appomattox surrender a week later.  He also traveled to Washington, D.C. with General Gibbon with 76 captured Confederate colors.  He received his Medal of Honor there from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

He died in 1905 and is buried in Centerburg Cemetery in Centerburg, Ohio.

--Old Secesh