Fort Blakely AL006

supportedunresolved Andrews says the besiegers wrongly supposed part of the garrison had evacuated, while Liddell, warned by signal from Battery Tracy that heavy columns were crossing Bay Minette, ordered his commands to be ready for an assault.

Attributed knowledge from a participant history quoting Confederate dispatches; no message log inspected.

supportedunresolved Andrews says Hawkins's division was still on slender rations of parched corn on April 2 and that spades were few for the first night's entrenching. Canby says Steele's column had been pressed by bad roads and want of subsistence on its march.

Ration and tool statements; no supply return.

supportedunresolved Canby says Steele was instructed to advance strongly supported and, if possible, carry the works. Andrews says it was a mistake to keep the garrison at Blakely after Spanish Fort fell, and that Canby did not intend to besiege Mobile from the land side.

Stated aims from the Union commander and a participant history.

supportedpost_outcome The frozen result reads Union victory (Fort Blakely surrendered.) and the live result Union victory. Canby says the works were carried in about twenty minutes, each division taking the works in its front; Andrews says the assault was not repulsed at any point.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads Total 4,475, April 9 only 3,529 (US 629; CS 2,900), and the frozen side rows give 798 US and 3,677 CS; the live field reads 4,475 (US 775; CS 3,700). Canby reports 3,700 prisoners, three of them generals; the Blakely block of his comparative statement is garbled in OCR and ends with the figures 116, 655 and 4, whose columns are not verified. Andrews gives the assaulting troops' loss as 127 killed and 527 wounded, 654 in all, and 3,423 prisoners, and guesses the garrison's killed and wounded at about a third of the besiegers'.

Original casualty returns were not inspected; preserve totals, categories, cutoffs and differences. No canonical reconciliation or casualty-based opening count; related actions must not be added without resolving population overlap.

supportedunresolved Canby says he ordered Smith's two divisions to the left of the Blakely line on the morning of the 9th and instructed Steele to time the advance with them; Andrews says Steele fixed 5:30 p.m. and that Canby and Steele were at Hawkins's headquarters when the general advance was set. Andrews commanded one of the assaulting divisions. The frozen commanders are Major General John R. Liddell and Major General E. R. S. Canby; the live page gives both as Brigadier General.

Command roles from the Union commander and an interested participant history; no automatic sole credit, and live ranks are not adopted.

unknownunresolved

No inspected return establishes matched personnel at a common opening boundary. The frozen side-specific numerical strength bounds are blank (missing_numeric_strength). No figure in this pass is adopted as a simultaneous opening force.

disputedunresolved The frozen force field reads XIII and XVI Corps and Fort Blakely Garrison; the live field reads 20,000 (US 16,000; CS 4,000) and NPS says Liddell held with about 4,000 men against 16,000 concentrated for the assault. Andrews says the garrison of Cockrell's (French's) division and Thomas's Alabama reserves numbered about 3,500, and that thirty-five regiments, fully 16,000 troops, took part in the assault, with fifteen or twenty thousand more come up from Spanish Fort in camp two miles back. Canby gives Steele's Pensacola column as 13,200 in mid-March.

A summary's figures and a participant history's figures for the garrison and the assaulting force, and a mid-March column figure; no matched return. None is adopted as a matched opening strength.

disputedunresolved Andrews says the works ran nearly three miles in a semicircle with nine redoubts and about forty guns, shallow ditches, felled timber six to eight hundred yards out and two lines of abatis; Canby gives the enemy line as two and a half miles, nine redoubts with rifle-pits, palisades, abatis, wire and torpedoes. Andrews says Harris's brigade had six hundred yards of broken, obstructed ground to charge over.

Works described by a participant history and the Union commander; no map verification. The line lengths differ.