General Bragg, commanding at Pensacola, had matured a well-devised plan by which he designed to surprise and capture Fort Pickens, but in which he was signally defeated by the watchfulness and bravery of the troops at the fort, and on the island. The Federal force encamped on the island was a part of the New York Sixth Volunteers, known as Wilson’s Zouaves, numbering about three hundred men; and the destruction or capture of this force, was the first design of the leaders of the expedition, who confidently hoped, in the confusion arising from a night attack and rout, to obtain possession or destroy the batteries on the island, if not to capture Fort Pickens itself.
On the morning of Wednesday, the 9th of October, at two o’clock, the enemy silently commenced their advance upon the camp from a point about four miles distant, where they had landed during the night, about fifteen hundred strong, under General Anderson. The night was extremely dark, and it was almost impossible to distinguish any object at a distance of twenty yards. The Zouaves, numbering about three hundred, were encamped a mile from the fort, on the shore, but between the fort and the approaching foe, with their pickets thrown out a mile in advance. About three o’clock, the rebels, having driven in the pickets, who made a gallant resistance, reached the camp of Colonel Wilson, and owing to the confusion and darkness, before he had time to form his men, they were driven from their tents, many of which were burnt or destroyed by the enemy.
On the first alarm, Colonel Harvey Brown, commandant of the fort, dispatched Major Vogdes, with two companies of regulars, to the scene of conflict. The men soon became intermingled with the enemy, who succeeded in taking the Major prisoner. Major Arnold, with two additional companies, was soon after sent out from the fort, and favored by the light of the burning tents, they were enabled to ascertain the position and force of the enemy, and gallantly rushed to the attack. Captain Hildt, now in command of the two companies which had been led on by Major Vogdes, extricated his men from their perilous position, and opened a well-directed fire on the enemy, compelling them reluctantly to give way. Colonel Wilson, who had succeeded in bringing a body of his men together after their sudden surprise, formed them into line, and now joined in the battle, when the insurgents were very soon thrown into confusion, and made a rapid retreat to their boats, pursued by a victorious force of only one-fourth their number.
Colonel Brown, in his report, says that “the plan of the enemy’s attack was judicious; and, if executed with ordinary ability, might have been attended with serious loss to the Unionists. But he failed in all save the burning of one-half of the tents of the Sixth regiment, which, being covered with bushes, were very combustible, and in rifling the trunks of the officers. He did not reach within five hundred yards of either of the batteries, the guns of which he was to spike; nor within a mile of the fort he was to enter with the fugitives retreating before his victorious arms!”
Many of the rebels were wounded by the sharp firing continued by the Federal troops during their re-embarkation. One of their flatboats sunk, and many bodies were found floating in the water on the following day. The Federal loss was fifteen killed, forty-one wounded, and eighteen prisoners; that of the rebels in killed and wounded was over one hundred, and thirty-five of them remained prisoners in the hands of the Federal forces.
BATTLE OF BALL’S BLUFF.
October 21, 1861.
Perhaps no event in the course of the war thus far produced a more profound sensation than the news of the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, which occurred on the 21st of October. The loss of life was heavy on the part of the Federals. Several accomplished and valuable officers were killed, among whom was the distinguished and eloquent Senator from Oregon, General Baker. The fatality attending this battle caused it to be regarded with peculiar interest, and remembered as fruitful in daring deeds and memorials of terrible bloodshed.
The north and south banks of the Potomac river, from the Great Falls, a few miles above Washington, to Harper’s Ferry, were held by the Federal and secession troops respectively. Great care was taken by the Government to defend the north bank, in order to prevent the threatened incursion of the enemy into Maryland, from whence, aided by the disunion sympathizers of that State, they designed to make the long contemplated attack upon the capital. Among the troops stationed on the Potomac, extending from Great Falls to Edwards Ferry, was the division of General Banks; from Edwards Ferry to Conrad’s Ferry, a division under General Stone; while Colonels Lander, Geary, and others held the line thence to Harper’s Ferry.
On the south side of the river, two strong positions were held by the enemy—Dranesville and Leesburg. The latter is the terminus of the Loudon and Hampshire railroad, about five miles from the Potomac, and opposite Edwards Ferry. The Southern commanders having determined to abandon their design of crossing the Potomac, had commenced the withdrawal of their troops from various points towards Manassas.