3-003-937 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Civil War in America: the fight at Ball's Bluff, Upper Potomac - desperate effort made by the 15th Massachusetts Regiment to clear the woods by a bayonet charge - from a sketch by our special artist, 1861. 'The whole affair appears to have been ill-planned, and adds...to the grievous blunders committed by the Federal commanders. It is hardly credible that 1800 men should have been sent across a river in the face of an enemy most strongly posted, and left unsupported when 30,000 of the division to which they belonged were within sound of their rifles. The small body, however, fought gallantly throughout the day against three times their number...This is believed to be the only instance in which a bayonet charge has been attempted by a regiment in the Federal army. The 15th Massachusetts...knew the odds to be greatly against them; and the example set by their officers, mostly students from Harvard College, Cambridge, was most praiseworthy. Their efforts, however, were not crowned with success, as the deadly fire of the Mississippi riflemen drove them back each time... Hundreds, probably, were here sacrificed'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.