Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Mottrom D. Ball of Fairfax was teacher, valiant soldier Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 19:23:58 EST Message-ID: \SE B;LIFE;THE CIVIL WAR \HD Mottrom D. Ball of Fairfax was teacher, valiant soldier \BY Francis A. O'Brien \CR SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES One of the first residents of Fairfax to rally to the Southern cause was Mottrom Dulany Ball, scion of one of the most prominent families in Northern Virginia. Ball had graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1854 as valedictorian of his class. At the outbreak of the war he was a teacher and community leader in what is now known as McLean. Ball fought for the South for the duration of the War: from Alexandria to Appomattox. His story is a tribute to the valor of the men of Fairfax County who fought for what they believed. In December 1860, Ball organized a company of cavalry at Lewinsville (near what is now Tysons Corner) composed of the sons of many of the first families of Virginia. Shortly after Virginia voted in April 1861 to secede from the Union, Ball and his company reported to Alexandria to defend that city against any attack. Ball's assignment was to guard the Virginia side of the Long Bridge (where the 14th Street Bridge stands today) and to warn the Alexandria garrison of any Yankee advance. Early on the morning of May 24, Ball reported that a large Union force was moving across the bridge. Col. George H. Terrett, commander of the Alexandria garrison, decided to evacuate his troops by railroad to Manassas, where Confederate forces were being assembled. Ball's cavalry was assigned to protect the withdrawal to Manassas Junction. Unfortunately, Ball and about 35 of his troopers were captured by the Union forces at about 6:30 a.m. on May 24, before they could leave Alexandria. Earlier that morning, an officer of the USS Pawnee, a gunboat in the Potomac River opposite Alexandria, had come under a flag of truce to inform the Alexandria garrison that it had until 9 a.m. to evacuate or surrender. Ball, therefore, was taken by surprise when confronted by the Union demand to surrender at 6:30 a.m. His protest that he and his men were protected by the terms of the flag of truce fell on deaf ears. Ball and his men were coerced into taking the oath of allegiance to the United States as a condition of their release. The Confederate government, however, refused to recognize Ball and his men as legitimate soldiers of the Confederacy because of the oath they had taken to the United States. Most of Ball's men changed their names and joined other Confederate units. Ball, however, protested that he had taken the oath under duress and insisted that he be exchanged as a prisoner of war and restored to active service as an officer. While he was waiting for an official determination of his status, Ball volunteered to serve the South and proved himself to be a loyal soldier. At the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861, Ball was commended for his participation in a charge that resulted in significant Union losses. After the Battle of Yorktown in May 1862, Gen. John Bankhead Magruder said, "His [Ball's] conduct on the 5th in my immediate presence, and under severe fire of the enemy, was very gallant and worthy of the high reputation which he won at Manassas." In September 1862, Ball finally was exchanged as a prisoner of war for a Union cavalry officer and reinstated as a captain. In December, he was assigned to Company F of the 5th Virginia Cavalry. Shortly thereafter, his company was transferred to the newly formed 11th Virginia Cavalry as part of Gen. Tom Rosser's famous Laurel Brigade. Ball served with much distinction with that brigade to the end of the war. On April 29, 1863, Ball, then a major, led the charge that broke the Union line occupying the heights above Fairmont (in what is now West Virginia). He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on July 23, 1863, and commanded the 11th at the rout of Union troopers at Buckland, Va., in October 1863, a defeat so overwhelming that Gen. J.E.B. Stuart described it as ". . . the most signal and complete that any cavalry has suffered during the war." At Sangster's Station along the Orange Railway, near what is now Burke, Ball's command in December 1863 again routed Union forces, leading Rosser to praise the "intelligence, valor and promptness displayed by Colonel M.D. Ball . . ." From that day "to the close of the war . . . Ball and [his] gallant followers never faltered or failed when called upon on the battlefield to carry their sabers into the ranks of the enemy." Ball officially took command of the 11th Virginia Cavalry on Jan. 25, 1864, when Col. Oliver R. Funsten resigned for health reasons and Ball was promoted to colonel. Ball himself was plagued by wounds and other maladies throughout 1864 and was in and out of hospitals in Charlottesville and Richmond during much of that year. He returned to active service in command of the 11th shortly before the surrender at Appomattox. While covering the retreat of Lee's forces from Petersburg, Ball's command challenged the Union forces at Deep Creek, on April 3, 1865, and also at Amelia Springs in a valiant effort to ward off the inevitable Union victory. Ball and his men did not surrender at Appomattox. Along with other members of the Laurel Brigade, the 11th joined Rosser at Lynchburg, with the hope of linking up with Gen. Joseph Johnston, then fighting in North Carolina. After Rosser was captured in early May, the survivors of the Laurel Brigade, including Ball and what was left of the 11th Virginia Cavalry, surrendered and went home. Home was not a pleasant sight. Elmwood, the Ball family residence near what is now the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Ball's Hill Road in McLean, had been torn down "and its fine timber used for other purposes." There was "nothing left save the foundations of the building to show that it had been a home. The splendid trees all gone." The house at Elmwood was rebuilt by Dr. William Selwyn Ball, Ball's younger brother, in 1900. Ball completed his law training at the College of William and Mary in 1867 and went into practice with his first cousin, William H. Dulany. Ironically, Ball and Dulany frequently defended local blacks charged with crimes by the county government then under the control of Unionists from the North. Ball was appointed U.S. attorney for the Territory of Alaska in 1876 and served there until his death in September 1887 at the age of 52. His body was brought back and buried at the Old Falls Church Episcopal Cemetery just past the present-day intersection of Lee Highway and Route 7. He rests there with his parents and his children. His tombstone reads, "MOTTROM DULANY BALL, COL. 11 VA CALVARY C.S.A." Francis A. O'Brien, a member of the Alexandria Civil War Round Table, is a lawyer who lives in McLean. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM