Dalton II GA020

supportedunresolved Steedman says he learned at 3 p.m. that Wheeler was moving on Dalton, then of the surrender demand, and was told after midnight by a cavalry officer that the garrison had been captured, so he waited for daylight until firing showed the garrison still held.

Attributed knowledge from an interested report; no message log inspected.

disputedunresolved Steedman says trains running in from Dalton delayed his relief, that the track cut on the 14th was repaired by the 18th, and that the raiders had not captured an engine or car; he could not pursue for want of cavalry. Cox calls the damage trifling. NPS says the reports differ greatly on track and supplies destroyed.

Damage and repair statements from interested accounts and a summary; no quartermaster or railroad return inspected.

supportedunresolved NPS says Wheeler raided to destroy track and supplies. Steedman says his command's main duty was to keep the railroad open to the army. Cox says Wheeler went on into East Tennessee where he could not affect the campaign.

Stated aims and a later judgment; not a causal estimate.

supportedpost_outcome The frozen result is a Union victory (the Confederates withdrew); the live page reads Union Victory. Steedman says he cleared the town at daylight; Cox says Wheeler was repulsed. NPS calls the engagement inconclusive but a Union victory because the Confederates withdrew.

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 Unknown; the live field reads 0 (US 0; CS 0). Steedman gives his loss as 1 officer and 8 men killed, 1 officer and 29 men wounded and 1 officer and 23 men missing, total 63; says the enemy left 33 dead and 57 badly wounded and lost not less than 200; and records the surrender of a block-house detachment of the Seventeenth Iowa between Dalton and Tilton.

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. The block-house surrender is a separate loss and is not added. The live zeros are not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Steedman and Cox credit Colonel Laiboldt, commanding at Dalton, with holding out until Steedman's relief arrived; NPS says Laiboldt refused to surrender. The frozen commanders are Major General Joseph Wheeler and Major General James B. Steedman; the live page gives the same ranks.

Attributed judgments from interested accounts and a summary; Laiboldt is not a listed commander; the frozen 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 fields name the District of Etowah and Wheeler's cavalry without counts; the live field reads zero. Steedman gives the troops engaged (a list beginning with the Second Missouri, the regiment of Colonel Laiboldt, who commanded Dalton) as 1,800 effective in all; he says he readied rail transport for 2,000 men, that Wheeler's command was not less than 6,000 in detachments of 1,000 to 3,000, and that the force attacking Dalton numbered about 3,000. NPS says the garrison was greatly outnumbered. The passage gives no separate strength for the garrison or for the relief column.

Steedman's figure for all Union troops engaged (not shown to be the relief column alone) and his opinions of the enemy's size; none is a matched count and none is adopted. The live zero is not measured absence.

supportedunresolved NPS says the garrison withdrew to fortifications on a hill outside the town. Steedman says his relief came by rail to the bridge north of Dalton.

Ground from a summary and an interested report; no map verification. The fortifications' construction date is not established.