st cut their way through the
Confederate right to Edwards' Ferry. He promptly gave orders to that
effect, and moved to the front, followed by the remnants of his own
two companies and a portion of the California regiment, but not by the
others. He was quickly driven back and the whole Federal command was
forced to the river bluff in great disorder. Just then two companies
of the Forty-second New York landed on the Virginia shore. These
Colonel Cogswell ordered up the bluff and deployed as skirmishers to
cover the Federal retreat, while he advanced to the left with a small
party, and was almost immediately captured. Colonel Devens escaped by
swimming the river.

"On the morning of the 22nd, Colonel Barksdale informed General Evans
that the enemy was still in force at Edwards' Ferry. He was ordered to
carefully reconnoiter the Federal position, learn its strength and
make attack. This he did, at about 2 p.m., and drove a superior force
from an intrenched position to the bank of the river, killing and
wounding quite a number of men. At about sundown, the Federals, having
been reinforced and holding rifle-pits, Barksdale withdrew to Fort
Evans, leaving two companies to watch his front. The enemy recrossed
the Potomac during the night. Evans reported his loss, in the thirteen
hours of fight, on the 21st, as 36 killed,[35] 117 wounded, and 2
missing, from a force of 1,709. Among the killed was the brave Colonel
Burt. The Federal losses were returned at 49 killed, 158 wounded, and
694 missing. General Evans claimed the capture of 710 prisoners, 1,500
stands of arms, 3 cannon and 1 flag.

[Footnote 35: The Confederate soldiers who fell in the battle of Ball's
Bluff are buried in Union Cemetery, on the northern border of
Leesburg. Their resting place is marked by an imposing marble shaft,
in honor of the comrades of "the lost cause," "wherever they lie."
Many of the Union soldiers who perished at Ball's Bluff lie buried
where they fell. Their mournful little cemetery was recently acquired
by the Federal government and its approaches and environs greatly
improved. The battlefield is still one of the chief points of interest
to visitors to central Loudoun.]

"Evans called on Longstreet for reinforcements when he reported his
battle of the 21st, thinking that 20,000 Federals were in his front.
Colonel Jenkins, with the Eighteenth South Carolina cavalry and
artillery was dispatched from Centreville in the afternoon of the 22d,
a