CASUALTY RECORD // October 21, 1861
Battle of Ball's Bluff
Estimated casualties — killed, wounded, captured, and missing — by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Casualties by side
1 sides catalogued · combined 1,002 estimated
United States
1,002
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
Ball's Bluff resulted in a humiliating defeat for Union forces under Major General George B. McClellan early in the American Civil War. With Union casualties of 1,002 out of a force of 1,720 engaged against a roughly equal Confederate force of 1,709, the engagement represented a severe loss in both men and prestige. Occurring in the war's opening phase, the defeat underscored the difficulties facing Union commanders in translating numerical parity into battlefield success and contributed to broader Northern anxieties about the conduct of the war in the Eastern Theater.
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