Ball's Bluff Battlefield Regional Park
Things to do
Group Tours
Group Tours are available at Ball's Bluff Regional Park in Leesburg. To schedule a private tour for your group, please send your request to Friendsofballsbluff@gmail.com
Guided Tours
Ball’s Bluff Battlefield Regional Park offers several options to enhance your visit to the park. Join one of our expert volunteer guides as they bring history to life or meander through the park on your own for a self-guided tour. Battlefield tours are open to the public every Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 1pm from early April through the end of November. These free tours are conducted by our volunteer interpreters and offer amazing insight to the battle that took place at Ball’s Bluff. Tours last from one to two hours and require a moderate ability to walk approximately one mile on woodland trails.
Park History Interpretive Series: First Black Combatant of the Civil War
During the Federal retreat at Ball’s Bluff, Lewis A. Bell, a free African American camp worker, may have been the first Black man to fire a gun in support of the Union Army.
According to the 1870 edition of History of Worcester in the War of the Rebellion, Bell worked for Colonel Milton Cogswell, 42nd New York Infantry Regiment, while other sources cite his involvement with a Massachusetts unit. Bell “supplied himself with arms, and loaded and fired with great spirit” before being taken to Richmond as a prisoner of war.
