Mansfield LA018

supportedunresolved Irwin says events on both sides precipitated a battle in the plans of neither, and that Franklin's first suggestion of it was Banks's order to bring the infantry forward. Taylor says he found the enemy weakening his left and massing on his right, and that captured orders showed Banks expected to reach Shreveport on the 11th.

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

disputedunresolved Irwin says Banks was encumbered by twelve miles of wagons, that the retreat met the cavalry train stuck in a slough, and that twenty guns were lost, seventeen at the jam, with wagons, ambulances and draught animals (the counts are garbled in OCR). Taylor says the captured property was taken to Mansfield and turned over, and his April 11 order claims 250 wagons.

Train and loss descriptions from a history and interested Confederate documents; not supply returns.

supportedunresolved NPS says Taylor decided without instructions from Kirby Smith to stem the Union drive; Taylor says he announced to department headquarters his intention to fight the next day unless positively ordered not to; Irwin says he acted regardless of Kirby Smith's purpose of concentrating nearer Shreveport. Irwin says Banks meant to be at Mansfield holding the converging roads, and on seeing the enemy ordered Lee to hold his ground and Franklin to bring forward the column.

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

disputedpost_outcome The frozen result reads Confederate victory and the live result Confederate Victory. Taylor's order calls it the most complete victory in war and his report says his men camped on the creek with the enemy forced back some 400 yards; Irwin says Emory's twenty-minute fight rolled back the pursuit, and NPS that a third Union division halted the attack after more than an hour.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. The final phase at the creek is described differently.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 4,400 total (US 2,900; CS 1,500); the live field reads 3235 (US 2235; CS 1000). Irwin's table gives Banks's loss as 115 killed, 648 wounded and 1,423 missing, 2,186 in all, and says Taylor put his own loss at 1,000; twenty Union guns were lost. Taylor's April 11 order claims twenty-one guns, 2,500 prisoners and 250 wagons. His report says a consolidated report of the casualties of the two battles accompanies it (the OR compiler's footnote reads 'Not found') and that the casualties of the cavalry will swell the whole loss, in context the Confederate loss, to 2,500; it also claims the Union army was routed with a loss of at least 10,000 men, an interested claim spanning the two days. Irwin's appendix says the War Department could not separate the losses of April 8 and 9.

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 two-day totals belong to both LA018 and LA019 and are not split or added. Irwin's chapter table gives a one-day Sabine Cross-Roads figure (2,186); its basis is not stated in the inspected passage, and it is not the War Department return, which his appendix says could not separate the losses for each day.

supportedunresolved Taylor says he ordered Mouton to open the attack and that the left-wing movements were under Green's immediate direction; Irwin says it is not clear whether Taylor ordered Mouton's attack or Mouton attacked without his orders. Irwin says Banks rode to the extreme front, that his staff's direct action sandwiched Ransom's regiments, and that Emory's division, formed under Emory's orders, checked the pursuit. The frozen commanders are Major Generals Richard Taylor and Nathaniel P. Banks, as on the live page.

Command roles from an interested report and a history; the opening of the attack is disputed, and 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 Banks's Red River Expeditionary Force [US] and District of West Louisiana (two divisions) [CS]; the live field reads zero, and NPS says Taylor attacked though outnumbered. Irwin puts Ransom's infantry on the field at about 2,400, Banks's fighting line below 3,500 and the force at hand not above 5,000, against nearly 10,000 advancing under Taylor; Cameron's division barely 1,300; and Emory's division five thousand against a force half as large again. He says Taylor had at least sixteen thousand including Churchill's and Parsons's divisions, which Taylor says numbered about 4,000 bayonets and were ordered up from 20 miles away that morning. Irwin summarizes the Union as outnumbered almost two to one.

Retrospective estimates by a Union staff officer for different phases and an interested report; the reinforcing divisions are not shown on the field on April 8. None is adopted as a matched opening strength. The live zero is not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Taylor says his line stood in the edge of a wood with cleared fields about 1,000 yards across on both sides of the Pleasant Hill road, in wooded country offering no field for many guns. Irwin describes the clearing as barely half a mile wide in a wilderness of pines, Taylor's position covering the crossing of the roads to Pleasant Hill, Shreveport, Bayou Pierre and the Sabine, and the Union column strung on a single narrow road. NPS places the position just below Mansfield near Sabine Cross-Roads.

Ground described by an interested report, a history and a summary; no map verification. Taylor chose the position, so it is not tagged inherited.