Paducah KY010

supportedunresolved Hicks says his scouts brought no news of the enemy at noon and that the pickets were driven in within minutes of the alarm raised by a second scouting party; he says the enemy took position and planted a battery while the flag of truce was pending. Forrest gives the prevalence of smallpox as his reason for leaving the town.

Knowledge and reasons stated by each commander; no message log inspected.

disputedunresolved Hicks says 27,000 of the 30,000 rounds he began with were expended, so he ordered the rest shared and bayonets fixed, and that the loss in government stores was inconsiderable apart from a burned quartermaster's depot. Forrest says he captured many stores and horses and burned sixty bales of cotton, a steamer and the dry-dock, and on April 15 lists clothing, several hundred horses and medical stores; NPS says his command destroyed unwanted supplies and rounded up horses and mules.

Ammunition and stores reported by the two commanders and a summary; they differ on the extent of the stores taken, and neither is adopted. No return inspected.

supportedunresolved NPS describes a multipurpose expedition to recruit, re-outfit and disperse Union forces. Forrest's demand as printed by Hicks asked surrender of the fort, troops and public property, promising treatment as prisoners of war and threatening no quarter if the works were stormed; Hicks replied that his duty was to defend the post. Forrest wrote on March 27 that fifteen unmolested days would add 2,000 men to his command.

Stated aims from the demand and reply printed by Hicks, Forrest's dispatch and a summary.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Confederate victory. Hicks says three attempts to storm the fort were repulsed and the enemy withdrew for the night; Forrest says he held the town for ten hours and could have held it longer. NPS calls it a Confederate victory with no lasting results beyond the destruction of supplies and capture of animals. Forrest's March 27 dispatch dates the attack 'on the evening of the 26th', against the frozen March 25, Hicks's '25th instant' and Forrest's own surrender demand dated March 25 as printed by Hicks; the dispatch's date is kept and not reconciled.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. The fort held while the town was occupied; the result field is kept.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen and live casualty fields read 140 (US 90; CS 50). Hicks gives his casualties as 14 killed and 46 wounded, and the enemy's, from the most reliable information he could obtain, as 300 killed and 1,000 to 1,200 wounded, 'safely set down at 1,500'. Forrest's March 27 dispatch gives his loss at Union City and Paducah together as 25 killed and wounded as far as known and the enemy's loss in Paducah as 50 killed, wounded and prisoners, 'in all, 500'; his exchange letter printed by Hicks speaks of 35 or 40 Federal soldiers captured at Paducah, and Hicks says that all of those on Forrest's list, with one exception, were convalescents in the general hospital too feeble to get to the fort.

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. Forrest's 25 covers two actions and his 'in all, 500' appears to include Union City; neither side's figures match the frozen Confederate 50 or Union 90.

supportedunresolved The frozen commanders are Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest, Colonel Stephen G. Hicks and Lieutenant Commander James W. Shirk (navy). Hicks declined the surrender, ordered the remaining ammunition shared and bayonets fixed, and on the 26th ordered houses burned; he names the gunboats' captains as Smith and O'Neil and does not name Shirk. Hicks says Brigadier General A. P. Thompson was killed in the third assault; NPS calls the assaulting party a small segment of Forrest's command. The inspected passages do not say who ordered the assaults.

Command roles from the post commander and a summary; Forrest's inspected dispatches do not describe the assaults. Shirk's role is not established by the inspected passages. The listed commanders do not receive automatic sole credit.

unknownunresolved

No inspected return establishes matched personnel at a common opening boundary. Imported numerical estimates remain unchanged; this pass does not validate them as simultaneous opening forces.

disputedunresolved The frozen force field gives the Union garrison as approx. 650 men, with a side bound of 650; NPS says Forrest set out with fewer than 3,000 men and gives the garrison as 650, and the live field reads 3650 (US 650; CS 3000). Hicks lists three companies of the 122nd Illinois (120), the 16th Kentucky Cavalry (271) and the 1st Kentucky Heavy Artillery (colored, 274), 665 in all, against 6,500 under Forrest, Buford, Harris and Thompson. Forrest says he moved on Paducah with Buford's division, and on April 15 gave his whole command as four small brigades of about 5,000.

A post commander's count of his own force, his estimate of the enemy and an expedition-wide figure three weeks later; no return for the attackers. None is adopted as a matched opening strength.

supportedunresolved NPS says the garrison retired to Fort Anderson at the west end of town, supported by two gunboats on the Ohio. Hicks says Confederate sharpshooters used houses near the fort, which he had burned on the 26th, and that the gunboats Peosta and Paw Paw shelled the city and the enemy's flank. Forrest says he drove the enemy to their gunboats and forts.

Ground described by the post commander, the attacker and a summary; no map verification. The fort predates the attack; the phase is left unresolved because the house-burning altered the ground.