10 Facts Battle of Ball's Bluff-- Part 5: The 'Harvard Regiment" and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Fact 6:  Future Supreme Court Justice  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.,  survived a nearly fatal wound at Ball's Bluff.

Shortly after graduating from Harvard , Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.,  secured a commission in the  in the 20th Massachusetts Infantry.  Holmes and his fellow officers in the 20th were Harvard graduates and close friends, and the regiment later became known as the "Harvard Regiment."

Holmes sustained his first major injury during the war at Ball's Bluff--  The 20th Massachusetts' first engagement.  They accompanied Devens across the Potomac River and was present  on the morning of October 21st.

At about 4:30 in the afternoon, Holmes was shot in the chest, a wound that was nearly fatal.  Holmes recovered, only to be wounded again at Antietam and again at Chancellorsville.  

He went on to serve as America's most influential and longest-serving Supreme Court Justice, a seat he held until the age of 90.

--Old Secesh

The Battle of Ball's Bluff-- Part 2: Famous People at the Battle

Presentation given to the McHenry County Civil War Round Table meeting on May 10. 

This was the first major battle of the famed California Regiment, commanded by Col. Edward D. Baker.

Future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. survived an almost fatal wound received at this battle.

The grandsons of Paul Revere were also at the battle on the Union side and survived, but both were mortally wounded in later actions during the war.  They were Dr. Edward H. revere and Major Paul Revere.

The only sitting member of the U.S. Congress was killed at the battle, Edward D. Baker, who was born in England in 1811 and his family moved to Illinois.  In 1851, he went to California and in 1861, co-organized the California Brigade.

He was a good friend of the Lincolns who named their second son, Willie, for him.  After Baker's death, Willie wrote a poem about him.

At the time of the battle, both opposing armies were named the Army of the Potomac.  The Confederate one did not become the Army of Northern Virginia until after Lee took it over.

--Old Secesh

Last Time 'Insurgents" Got This Close to the Capitol-- Part 4: Lincoln to the Front, 'Get Down, You Damn Fool!'

President Abraham Lincoln traveled to the front lines at Fort Stevens during Early's attack.  Although this was after Early had resigned himself to the failure of his attack.

Still, sharpshooter bullets whizzed and cannons boomed.

Generals and other officers pleaded for him to tale cover as bullets thudded into the  embankment.

Legend has it that one of these  officers was Captain  Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the future U.S. Supreme Court justice, who, recognizing the lanky Lincoln as his commander-in-chief, barked at the President, "Get down, you damn fool!"

It marked the only time a sitting president ever came under fire in combat, according to the National Park Service.

--Old Secesh