Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research .

Use Restrictions

Physical characteristics and conditions affect use of this material. Photocopying not permitted.

Preferred Citation

Ball's Bluff National Cemetery Plat (OM013), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA..

Acquisition Information

Unknown

Alternative Form Available

None

Accruals

2009.0111X

Processing Information

Processed by Alexandra S. Gressitt, 30 June 2009.

Historical Information

Ball's Bluff National Cemetery is located on Route 7 two miles northeast of Leesburg, Virginia. It is surrounded by Ball's Bluff Regional Park owned and operated by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. The cemetery contains remains of 54 Union soldiers killed during the Battle of Ball's Bluff 21 October 1861. The half acre site, surrounded by a low stone wall, contains 25 graves into which remains of 53 unknown soldiers and one known soldier (Grave 13: James Allen of Co. H, 15th Massachusetts Infantry) were buried. It is closed to new interments and is managed by the Culpeper National Cemetery. Ball's Bluff National Cemetery was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984 by the National Park Service.

Land for the half-acre cemetery was acquired through donation in 1865, and the government received a quitclaim deed from the original owner's heirs in 1904. At the time of the Battle at Ball's Bluff in 1861, ownership of this land was in dispute. This dispute was not settled until 1870 when local courts awarded Margaret Jackson clear title. Margaret Jackson, for whom little information can be found, is listed in the 1850 Census with ten children and in the 1860 Census with seven children with the post office as Goresville. One year later in 1871, Jackson sold 41 acres to Thomas Swann (1809-1883), at various times mayor of Baltimore, governor of Maryland, US Representative and owner of the Morven Park estate in Leesburg, VA. In 1875 Swann sold the land reserving to the United States Government a small plot for the cemetery and land for an access road.

Scope and Content

According to Edwin C. Bearss, Chief Historian of the National Park Service 1981-1994, in the 1984 National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form the earliest surveyed map locating the national cemetery was prepared in March 1875 by William Gaul, an employee of the Quartermaster General's Department.

This collection contains an original plat, 10-1/2" x 12-1/2", paper on linen, completed by G. W. Martenet, CE, Washington DC, 10 November 1871, and annotated on the reverse side: 1/1140 Q M G O, 1871. The plat containing a drawing of the cemetery outlay and wall along with survey details suggests that an earlier survey had been conducted, possibly in preparation for the construction of the stone wall.

Related Material

Elijah V. White's Ball's Bluff Address (SC 0023); Springwood Select Home School for Young Ladies (SC 0019); Lewis Edward Files 53-0307 Ball's Bluff Battlefield and Cemetery (M022), Thomas Balch Library; White, E. V., History of the Battle of Ball's Bluff: fought on the 21st of October 1861 , n.d. (VREF973.731 WHI); Morgan, James A., III, A Little Sort of Boats: the Fights at Ball's Bluff and Edwards Ferry, October 21-22, 1861 , 2004 (VREF 973.731 MOR); Holien, Kim Bernard, Battle at Ball's Bluff , 1995 (VREF973.73 HOL), and United States, Congress, Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War (1863) (VREF973.713 UNI)

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

AncestryLibrary.com - Samuel C. Jackson and Margaret A. Donohue

Frain, E., Union Cemetery 1784-1995 . Westminster, MD: Willow Bend Pub., 1995.

Lewis Edward Files 53-0307 Ball's Bluff Battlefield and Cemetery (M022), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

National Historic Landmarks Program: Ball's Bluff Battlefield and National Cemetery (accessed 6/29/09) http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl.

United States Department of Veterans Affairs: Cemeteries - Ball's Bluff National Cemetery http://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/ballsbluff.asp, accessed 6/29/09.

"Washington, Another Day of Work in the National Senate and House of representatives," Inter Ocean (Illinois) 16 December 1875, GenealogyBank.

Other Finding Aid

None

Technical Requirements

None