Fort Davidson MO021

disputedunresolved Price says information he believed reliable led him to expect the place could be taken without great loss, and that it proved totally incorrect. Britton says Price's engineer Mackey advised bombardment from Shepherd's Mountain and Price concurred, but that a council of war chose an immediate assault because it was reported among Confederate officers that much of the garrison was colored soldiers and some officers wished to avenge Ewing's removal of Southern families; he also says Ewing learned from prisoners that evening that Price was present with two divisions. The frozen and NPS description instead says Price, considering the time involved, had dismissed mounting guns on the high ground to compel surrender or shell the garrison.

Attributed knowledge and reasons from an interested report, a history and a summary; no message log inspected. The two accounts of why bombardment was not used differ, and neither is adopted.

supportedunresolved Britton says Ewing sent all commissary and quartermaster stores not needed in the fort, and the rolling stock, up the railroad the night before. Price says the evacuated fort left him 16 guns, small-arms and army stores, which he distributed after destroying the guns he could not take.

Stores removed before and captured after the action; no supply or ammunition return for either side.

supportedunresolved NPS and Britton give Saint Louis as the expedition's objective. Britton says Ewing was instructed to hold Pilot Knob if practicable until it was known whether more than Shelby's division was present, and that he resolved to defend it as long as possible to delay the advance. Price says Shelby was sent to cut the railroad so that A. J. Smith could not reinforce the garrison.

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

supportedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Union victory. Price says his troops were repulsed and that the enemy evacuated the fort in the night; Britton says the repulse was complete and Price could not rally his men. NPS says the Federals evacuated the fort during the night.

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 1,684 total (US 184; CS 1,500); the live field reads 1,800 (US 800; CS 1,000). Britton gives Ewing's report of 200 killed, wounded and missing over the defence of the passes and the retreat to Leasburg, Ewing's estimate of 1,500 Confederate killed and wounded, and Mackey's statement of 1,164 lost in twenty minutes and not less than 1,500 in all; he says Price never reported his casualties. Price gives no figure for Fagan's division and 14 officers and 80 men killed and wounded in Marmaduke's, a figure that follows his account of the pursuit.

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.

supportedunresolved Price says he directed Marmaduke to take Shepherd's Mountain and that a charge was ordered about 2 p.m., without naming who ordered it; Britton says the council of war decided on an immediate assault, and that Ewing decided to evacuate the fort that night and blow up the magazine. The frozen commanders are Major General Sterling Price and Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr.; the live page names the same two.

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 Garrison and Army of Missouri; the live field reads zero. Price entered Missouri on September 19 with nearly 12,000 men, 8,000 of them armed, and fourteen guns, and reported that information at Fredericktown put the enemy at Ironton at about 1,500; he attacked with Fagan's and Marmaduke's divisions while Shelby's was detached. Britton gives Ewing's force as 489 recently organized infantry plus 562 men of experienced units, 1,051 in all, with about 100 armed citizens and a company of Black men, and says about 5,600 men made the assault.

An army-wide figure eight days earlier, a pre-battle intelligence estimate and a history's counts; no matched return at the assault. None is adopted as a matched opening strength. The live zero is not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Britton describes Fort Davidson as an irregular hexagonal work with a ditch ten feet wide and six feet four inches deep, overlooked from Shepherd's Mountain and Pilot Knob, which engineers had judged indefensible against a force with good batteries; Ewing added two rifle-pits and cleared the nearest hillsides. Price says Shepherd's Mountain completely commanded the fortifications and that Marmaduke placed artillery there.

Ground and works described by a history and an interested report; no map verification. The fort predates Ewing's arrival but he added works, so the phase is left unresolved.