The Battle of Ball's Bluff in Loudoun County, Virginia on October 21, 1861, is one of the early battles of the American Civil War, where Union Army forces under Major General George B. McClellan, suffer a humiliating defeat.

The operation is planned as a minor reconnaissance across the Potomac to establish whether the Confederates are occupying the strategically important position of Leesburg.

A false report of an unguarded Confederate camp encourages Brigadier General Charles Pomeroy Stone to order a raid, which clashes with enemy forces

A prominent U.S. Senator in uniform, Colonel Edward Baker, tries to reinforce the Union troops, but fails to ensure that there are enough boats for the river crossings, which are then delayed.

Baker is killed, and a newly-arrived Confederate unit routs the rest of Stone’s expedition.

The Union losses, although modest by later standards, alarm Congress, which sets up the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, a body that will provoke years of bitter political infighting.