Independence MO014

supportedunresolved Britton says Captain Breckenridge returned from an eleven-day scout reporting no organized enemy, that on the night before the attack Mrs. Wilson and General Lucas warned Buel of a large column, that Buel dismissed the warning and issued no extra precautions, and that the camp was taken completely by surprise. Buel's report does not mention a warning; he says the attack came at daybreak and that he learned from a prisoner that Thompson had succeeded the killed Hughes.

Britton's account of the warning rests on participants' statements; Buel is silent on it, which is not a denial. No message chain inspected.

supportedunresolved Britton says the Confederates carried off arms, ammunition and quartermaster and commissary stores in a train of fifteen to twenty wagons, and that these stores were much needed to arm and equip new recruits. Buel gives no supply details.

Post-action captures from a participant history; no return inspected. Phase unresolved.

disputedunresolved Buel says he resolved to hold out as long as possible while expecting Major Linder. NPS says the Confederates headed for Kansas City after taking Independence; Britton says they marched out toward Blue Springs about five in the afternoon.

Stated aims and movements; the NPS and Britton directions differ and are not reconciled.

supportedpost_outcome The frozen and live results are Confederate victory. Buel agreed terms of capitulation making his command prisoners of war; Britton says all companies surrendered except about forty men under Herrington and fifteen to twenty under Meryhew, who escaped to Kansas City. NPS says Confederate dominance in the Kansas City area continued, but not for long.

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

disputedpost_outcome Frozen: total unknown (US approx. 344; CS unknown). Live: 344 total (US 344; CS 0). Buel gives 26 killed or since dead and 30 wounded, about 150 paroled, and says the enemy's loss could not be ascertained. Britton gives 26 Union killed and 74 wounded, eleven mortally, and 23 Confederate killed (ten officers) and nine mortally wounded left in town; he says somewhat over 150 paroled men left for Kansas City.

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 wounded counts differ (30 against 74). The 344 is not found in the inspected passages. The live CS zero is not measured absence.

disputedunresolved The frozen rows list Hughes and Thompson (Colonels) for the Confederates and Buel (Lieutenant Colonel) for the Union. Buel says he arranged the capitulation with Thompson by flag of truce, and that Captain Breckinridge repeatedly raised a token of surrender in the camp. Britton says that after Hughes was killed and Thompson wounded, Upton Hays commanded and returned with the flag, yet also calls Thompson the senior officer commanding after Hughes's death and says he paroled the prisoners; NPS names Thompson as the commander Buel met; Captain Axline rallied the camp behind the stone fence. Britton reports the charge that Buel and Breckenridge had an understanding with the enemy and Rodewald's sworn belief that Buel acted in good faith.

Accounts differ on who commanded the Confederates at the surrender; the collusion charge is reported, not adjudicated. No listed commander receives 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 reads 'Garrison (approx. 300 [US]; 700-800[CS])'; the frozen numeric bounds are 344 for the Union and 700 (as both minimum and maximum) for the Confederates, and the Union 344 equals the frozen Union casualty figure. The live field reads 1,062 (US 312; CS 750). Buel says officers of his command estimated the attackers at 700 to 800 and that his command numbered 312 effective men that morning, with a provost guard of 24 and an armory guard of 21. Britton says 400 to 500 would have been present for duty when none were detached, gives Rodewald's company as ninety-one, and reports Mrs. Wilson's warning of a column of 1,000 to 1,200 near Blue Springs. Buel says Lieutenant Herington was detached with 65 men to open communication with headquarters; Britton says Axline sent Herrington with forty men.

An effective count, a garrison estimate, and estimates of the attackers from Buel's officers and a civilian warning; the frozen numeric bounds do not match their own text. None is adopted as a matched opening strength.

supportedunresolved Buel says the camp lay nearly 80 rods from his bank-building headquarters, and the attack on both cut him off from it. Britton says the camp was in a depression without defences, near a stone fence nearly half a mile long; Axline's men rallied behind the fence, a position Britton calls impregnable unless flanked on the right. Buel also says the hard-pressed camp companies fell back to a stone wall running parallel with the south side of the camp and retired along it (Britton relies on the official reports, so this is not independent confirmation). He says the wooded breaks of the Blue rivers and the Sni hills suited guerilla operations.

Ground and dispositions described by an interested report and a participant history; the stone fence predates the action but its use was improvised. Phase unresolved.