Fort Sumter SC008

supportedunresolved Gillmore reported the practical demolition of Sumter after seven days, saying reliable information left only one serviceable gun in the casemates; Jones says the flag still flew and the evening gun was still fired.

Assessments by the besieger and a historian; not an inspection record. No original reconnaissance, order or message chain was inspected to establish contemporary knowledge. Surprise in a summary does not independently establish what each commander knew.

supportedunresolved Gillmore says the inferior quality of the only heavy-gun powder in the department delayed the opening until powder was borrowed from the navy. Jones says Beauregard had been removing Sumter's long-range guns nightly and strengthening its gorge wall with damp cotton bales and sand-bags.

Statements of supply and preparation; no ordnance returns inspected.

supportedunresolved Gillmore says the demolition of Sumter was the object preliminary to the ironclads' entrance, Wagner and Gregg being outposts of Sumter; Jones says Gillmore regarded his part as done once Sumter's offensive power was destroyed, while Dahlgren did not.

Stated aims from an interested report and a history.

supportedpost_outcome The frozen result reads Inconclusive and the live result Indecisive. Gillmore reported to the General-in-Chief on August 24 the practical demolition of Sumter after seven days' bombardment, and his February 1864 report describes it as reduced to a mere infantry outpost and the southeast face as a ruin after the second bombardment, which ended aggressive operations for the season; Jones says the fort's garrison held out and the campaign virtually ended with the second bombardment.

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 Unknown; the live field reads zero. Jones gives the first day's Sumter loss as one man killed and three lieutenants and ten men wounded, and says that during the Morris Island operations the fire that demolished Sumter killed only 3 and wounded 49; he also reports Captain Rodgers killed in the Catskill on August 17.

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. Jones's 3 and 49 cover a period that ends on September 7, not the frozen interval.

supportedunresolved Gillmore ordered the breaching batteries opened on August 17 under the chief of artillery and opened the second bombardment on October 26. Jones says Beauregard directed the disarmament and Ripley the strengthening of the fort, which Rhett and then Stephen Elliott commanded. The frozen commanders are Major General Quincy Gillmore (US) and General P. G. T. Beauregard (CS).

Command roles from an interested report and a history; neither listed commander receives 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.

supportedunresolved The frozen force text names the Morris Island batteries (US) and the Fort Sumter garrison (CS); the live field reads zero. Gillmore lists the breaching batteries by name and caliber; Jones says twelve batteries mounted twenty-eight heavy rifles and twelve mortars, forty pieces, and that the garrison was Rhett's First South Carolina Artillery until it was replaced by the Charleston Battalion on September 4.

Gun counts and unit identifications only; no garrison strength. None is adopted as a matched opening strength. The live zero is not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Gillmore gives the breaching guns' distances from Sumter's gorge wall as 3,428 to 4,290 yards; Jones gives an average of 3917 yards and compares them with the mile-range breach at Pulaski.

Distances from an interested report and a derivative history that agree.