Ball's Bluff National Cemetery

For two summers, I was a guide at Ball's Bluff Battlefield. This is a really interesting little battlefield that ended up with some HUGE effects on the remainder of the Civil War. But I wasn't thinking about those things today. There are places on this planet that I love to go to more than any place else (except battlefields) and those places are cemeteries. The National Cemetery at Ball's Bluff is a really cool place to visit.

One thing I should warn about before anyone takes the time to visit is that because the Bluffs are next to the Potomac River, there are snakes in the area. One time I was giving a tour and didn't realize that there was a snake on the inside of the stone wall of the cemetery. We went in and I gave my standard lecture about the cemetery when someone noticed the snake. It was just a black snake....but it was enough to scare all of us on the tour who DO NOT like snakes (myself included). He went to the top of the wall right at the gate to sun himself....which meant we had to walk right past him. Ick. So just be warned! I've also heard stories from other guides about the snakes hanging from trees.

Anyway, back to the National Cemetery. When you arrive at the battlefield, you have to park in the parking lot and walk to see the battlefield proper. You need to follow the large stone path. This path will take you straight to the National Cemetery.

This cemetery is the THIRD smallest National Cemetery in the United States. Right now, off the top of my head, I can't remember where the other two are....but I will go home and find out. Anyway, there are only 54 bodies in this cemetery. But once you arrive, you will see only 25 headstones. Why? Well, when they finally got around to making the cemetery, it was 4 years after the battle and they had to dig up and rebury the guys who were interred on the battlefield. After four years in a shallow grave, bodies tend to not be "whole".....wild animals, the elements, etc help to make reburial a problem. When they dug up the bodies, they were able to locate a bone here or a bone there. They weren't able to actually find a whole body. So what they did was build 25 boxes....caskets, if you will....and place 2-3 "bodies" in each box. After all these years, they were never able to identify any of the remains...except one: James Allen of the 15th Massachusetts. So when you walk in the cemetery and you look at each one of those headstones, even though there may be one headstone....there are 2-3 people buried under each one.

One thing you should keep in mind when going to Ball's Bluff Battlefield is that even though there appear to be 2 more headstones outside the Cemetery walls...they are not headstones at all, but small memorials to two people who fought at the battle. For the Confederate side, there is a memorial to Clinton Hatcher who was a flag bearer for the 8th VA and on the Union side, there is a marker to Senator Edward Baker...commander of the California Brigade (later to become the Philadelphia Brigade). Both of these gentlemen were killed at Ball's Bluff and neither was buried at the battlefield. Mr. Hatcher is buried in Leesburg, VA. Sen. Baker is buried at the Presidio in San Francisco, CA.

The cemetery is a small square parcel of land. In the center stands a flagpole. Surrounding the flagpole is about 3/4 of a circle of the headstones. There is a metal gate at the entrance and with some fiddling around, you can get the gate open. As a guide there, I always seemed to have trouble with that gate. Sometimes, those on the tours would be able to get it opened for me. But the Cemetery is accessible. Please remember when visiting, although there are no signs, as in other National Cemeteries, "Silence and Respect".