Prairie Grove AR005

supportedunresolved Hindman says he learned on the night of the 6th that Herron's reinforcement was at Fayetteville, and changed plan because attacking Blunt would only make him fall back on Herron; he waited with Parsons' brigade for intelligence from Newburg and received none. Britton says Monroe's brigade was left skirmishing on the mountain to deceive Blunt, that Blunt's couriers to Herron were cut off, and that Herron attacked not fully advised of the Confederate strength.

Attributed knowledge from an interested report and a history; no original messages inspected.

supportedunresolved Hindman says lack of shoes and arms kept part of his force behind, that he had barely ammunition for one battle and not enough subsistence and forage for seven days at half rations, that his men had not eaten since the day before and had been short of rations for over thirty days, and that he retired because his men were without food, his ammunition was too low for another day and his battery animals were starving. Britton says Herron's divisions marched about a hundred miles from Wilson Creek with their knapsacks carried in the trains, at the rate of thirty-five miles a day.

Interested and retrospective descriptions; no ordnance or commissary return inspected.

supportedunresolved NPS says Hindman sought to destroy Herron's and Blunt's divisions before they joined. Hindman says he intended to attack Blunt on Cane Hill and then saw a chance to destroy the reinforcements and afterwards fight the main body on equal terms. Britton says Herron attacked at once, hoping the firing would bring up Blunt.

Stated aims from a summary, an interested report and a history.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen result reads Union strategic victory and the live result Union Victory (strategic). Hindman's December 9 dispatch says he held the battlefield, and his report that the battle closed leaving him master of every foot of ground, before he retired for want of food and ammunition. Britton says night left the contest apparently undecided and Hindman withdrew about midnight; NPS says neither side had won by night but Hindman retreated to Van Buren.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. Hindman's claim to the field is an interested statement; the withdrawal is not disputed.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 2,568 total (US 1,251; CS 1,317), as does the live field. Hindman's December 9 dispatch gives his loss as about 350 and the Federal loss as about 1,000 killed and wounded and 300 prisoners; his report gives 164 killed, 817 wounded and 336 missing, claims at least 400 Federal dead and over 1,500 wounded, and 275 prisoners, and a compiler's footnote says the casualties are embodied in a revised statement. Britton gives Blunt's report of 167 killed, 798 wounded and 183 missing (1,148 as printed components) and Hindman's 164, 817 and 336, and says Blunt issued rations for one thousand Confederate wounded the next day.

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. Hindman's two figures are two days apart; his claims of Federal loss are interested. Britton's Union components do not match the frozen US 1,251, and the revised statement was not inspected.

supportedunresolved Hindman ordered Marmaduke, Shoup and Frost forward in that order and remained with Parsons' brigade; he says Shoup chose the position and that the line of battle determined on was nearly a horseshoe. Britton says Herron decided to cross Illinois Creek and attack, that Blunt, commanding the three divisions of the Army of the Frontier, arrived on the Union right in the afternoon, and that Hindman withdrew after a council with his generals. The frozen commanders are Major General Thomas C. Hindman and Brigadier Generals Francis J. Herron and James G. Blunt; the live page styles Hindman a Brigadier General and lists only Herron and Hindman.

Command roles from an interested report and a history; the listed commanders do not receive automatic sole credit.

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 Army of the Frontier [US] and I Corps, Trans-Mississippi Army [CS], with no numerical bounds; the live field reads zero. Hindman says he marched from near Van Buren on December 3 with 9,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 22 guns, that Blunt was reported to have 7,000-8,000 men and 30 guns, then 3,000-4,000 more, that Herron was bringing 4,000-6,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 30 guns, and that his own detachments left him less than 10,000 men of all arms for the fight. Britton says Blunt was told Hindman had upwards of twenty thousand, that Herron's artillery companies were bringing up his twenty guns (elsewhere he writes of Herron's eighteen guns) and Hindman had twenty-two, that Blunt arrived with three thousand cavalry and twenty guns, and that about three thousand of Blunt's cavalry were not brought into action.

Marching strengths, intelligence estimates and gun counts at different times; Hindman's figures are interested. Britton's twenty and eighteen guns for Herron are left as he gives them. None is adopted as a matched opening strength. The live zero is not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Hindman describes the position Shoup took as the edge of a densely wooded hill falling steeply to Crawford's Prairie, half a mile wide, with the Cane Hill and Fayetteville road crossing it at Prairie Grove Church. Britton describes a high ridge with a thick growth of young timber and underbrush about three-quarters of a mile south of the Illinois Creek ford, with fields and open ground in front, and says Herron cut a road through the timber to cross half a mile below the ford. NPS names a wooded high ridge northeast of Prairie Grove Church.

Ground from an interested report, a history and a summary; no map inspected. The ridge was occupied on the day, after Marmaduke fell back.