The Battle of Ball's Bluff led to the creation of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, the bane of many a Union officer. (I can't help but chuckle thinking about the story of Benjamin Butler appearing before the committee after the mess at Fort Fisher. Supposedly he was in the middle of testifying that the fort could not be taken when news of its fall reached Washington, D.C.)
Both Brigadier General Charles P. Stone and McClelland blamed Col. Edward Baker for the tremendous loss. But the committee, made up of members of the U.S. Congress were not about to place the blame on one of their own.
So, the committee went after Stone and had him arrested and confined for six months. In the end, this ruined Stone's military career..
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** A good question was brought up by one of the people in attendance and that was "Was the California Brigade made up of mostly men from California?"
Answer: The California Brigade was kind of a misnomer as very few were from California. Some had been out to California and returned. Most of the men were from Philadelphia and New York City.
** West Point grads had problems commanding such large numbers of troops as were now in uniform for the war. Before that, most had never commanded more than a company or regiment at most.
** Stone engineered the base of the Statue of Liberty.
--Old Secesh
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