Hello readers… on this day in 1861 Captain Henry Tremlett and the 20th Massachusetts Regiment were combined with other Union forces that numbered about 1700 under the command of Brigadier General Charles Pomeroy Stone. They marched to the Potomac River, and camped there on the Maryland side opposite Leesburg, Virginia… awaiting orders.
The field of battle included the Potomac River itself, where the topography dog-legs from southwest to southeast, and splits the Potomac River proper between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, with 400-acre Harrison’s Island in between.
The west side of the river is dominated by Ball’s Bluff, a 100-foot cliff:
General Stone received no orders from General McClellan the entire day and no action took place except for nervous pickets… all else was quiet. Stone ordered that not even taps would be played that night. Anxious Union troops anticipating first battle would have to wait.
Tomorrow: Reconnaissance and Intelligence