Big Black River Bridge MS010

supportedunresolved Pemberton says he held on while there was yet hope of Loring's arrival and has had no report from Loring or Vaughn; Bowen and Green died before reporting, so his account of the action rests on Gates's and Cockrell's reports. Greene says there seemed to be no one in command on the Confederate side.

Attributed knowledge and sourcing from the commander's report; Greene's statement is his judgment.

supportedunresolved Pemberton says he had the railroad bridge floored and the steamer Dot laid across the river as a second bridge, and that he does not know by whose order the battery horses were removed from the guns. Greene says the horses had been sent across the river, so the guns would have to be abandoned in a retreat.

Supply and movement statements from the commander's report and a history; no inspected order.

supportedunresolved Pemberton says he held the position so that Loring could cross if pursued; NPS says Bowen was ordered to man the works and impede any Union pursuit; Greene says the object was to cover Loring's crossing.

Stated aims from the commander's report, a summary and a history; no inspected order text.

supportedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Union victory. NPS says the Confederates burned the bridges after crossing, preventing close pursuit; Greene says the affair was over soon after 9 a.m.; Pemberton says he then ordered the army back within the Vicksburg defenses.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. NPS's statement that the battle sealed Vicksburg's fate is campaign context.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 2,273 total (US 273; CS 2,000); the live field reads 2027 total (US 276; CS 1751;). NPS says about 1,800 were captured; Greene says 1,751 were made prisoners, 18 guns abandoned and over 1,400 small arms thrown away, with Federal losses of 273 killed and wounded.

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 Confederate figures are dominated by prisoners and are not an opening strength.

supportedunresolved Pemberton says a strong, amply manned position was shamefully abandoned almost without resistance, that the troops of the center did not do their duty, and that he does not hold Bowen responsible for the battery horses. NPS says Lawler's brigade surged into the breastworks held by Vaughn's brigade. Greene judges that every man felt he was in a position where he ought never to have been placed.

Judgments are attributed; the frozen commanders McClernand and Bowen 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 names the XIII Army Corps and a Bridgehead Defense Force of three brigades without counts; the live field reads zero. Pemberton puts the line's defenders at about 4,000 with about twenty field pieces; Greene says there were not more than 5,000 in the trenches against fully double that number. NPS says three divisions of McClernand's corps moved out that morning.

Defender and attacker figures differ in scope and source; none is adopted as matched opening strength. Live zeros are not measured absence.

supportedinherited Greene says the trenches ran across the open, flat ground of a horseshoe bend behind a narrow but deep bayou, with bluffs 40 or 50 feet high on the far bank, and that work on them ran from May 12 to 15. Pemberton says the bayou was a serious obstacle but that the three-quarters of a mile between the works and the bridge was open and gave no cover.

Inherited relative to the May 17 start; the works were built on Pemberton's orders beforehand and may be commander-created under a campaign boundary. No map verification or numerical effect.