The officers making reports of the battle, which have been preserved, speak in terms of high praise of the excellent conduct of all the troops engaged, and especially mention for distinguishing gallantry Lieutenant Geo. Baxter, of the Loudoun Cavalry, who, with ten men, charged two companies of the enemy; Captain W. B. Ball and Sergeant Major Baugh, of the Chesterfield Cavalry; Sergeant Strostier, Madison Cavalry; Private Toler, Loudoun Cavalry; Captains Duff, Seventeenth Mississippi; Campbell and Welborn, Eighteenth Mississippi; Fletcher, Thirteenth; all of whom were in the reinforcing party sent to Duff’s support in the morning. Colonels Jenifer, Hunton and others make particular mention of “Mr. E. White, of Ashby’s Cavalry,” who, they say, assisted Captain Duff in the morning, and later “rode in front of the Seventeenth Mississippi, cheering and leading them on.” Explanatory Notes to Col. White’s History of Ball’s Bluff [1]Nathan G. (Shanks) Evans was a Colonel on the day of the battle; he was promoted to Brigadier General a few days later, the commission to date from October 21st, the day of the battle. [2]Oatlands. [3]Burnt Bridge was at the point where present day Rt. 7 crosses Goose Creek at the Country Club. [4]Should be Philbrick. [5]Harrison’s Island is directly across from the bluffs at the battlefield. [6]Smart’s Mill about ¾ mile north of the battlefield was on the Potomac River near the mouth of Big Spring Branch—now the property of Mr. Ellis Mills. [7]Baker was a Colonel. [8]Col. White here confuses Col. Charles Devens with Col. Thomas Devin. Col. (later Bvt. Maj. Gen.) Charles Devens was the first Colonel of the 15th Mass. Inf., later served as brigade and then division commander with infantry. Col. Thomas Devin was Colonel of the 6th N. Y. Cavalry, and during the winter of 1864-65 commanded a brigade of cavalry encamped at Lovettsville. [9]Col. E. R. Burt was carried into Leesburg and despite the best of care died on the night of October 26. [10]Col. Milton Cogswell, 42nd N. Y. (Tammany) Regiment. [11]Col. William Raymond Lee, 20th Mass. Inf. [12]Captain Carter and all of the succeeding names listed in connection with the capture of prisoners that night were members of the 8th Virginia Infantry, Loudoun’s own regiment. [13]Captain Timothy O’Meara, Company E, 42nd N. Y. [14]Colonel William Barksdale—killed July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, while commanding a brigade of these same Mississippi Regiments. The Comanches By John Divine