Aquia Creek VA002

supportedunresolved Ruggles reports agitation along the coast from fear of landings, but on June 2 says the enemy gave no indication of an intention to land; NPS says the feared landing did not materialize. Ward says the damage inflicted remained to be seen.

Contemporary expectations from reports and a summary; no intelligence record inspected.

supportedunresolved Ward says he expended all ammunition suitable for distant firing on May 31 and on June 1 went to Washington to repair damages and refill his exhausted magazines. He adds a cumulative figure: in all the cannonades 'in which we have been engaged' during the two weeks in commission, ten hours in all, they had fired upward of 300 shots and shells with 1,700 pounds of powder. Ruggles asked for heavy guns, a thousand volunteers and twenty thousand musket-rifle caps, and relays that the enemy threw 597 shots and shells on June 1 against 75 from the battery.

Supply statements from the two commanders; relayed shot counts are not measured expenditure returns. Ward's 300 shots and 1,700 pounds cover every cannonade of his two weeks in commission. Braine's May 22 statement (Navy Volume 5, read, not selected) records the Thomas Freeborn under Ward firing on the unfinished battery above Sewell's Point, without giving a date, so the total may include VA001. It is not assigned to this record or added across records.

supportedunresolved NPS says the batteries protected the northern terminus of the Richmond railroad. Ward doubts the heights could be reduced from ships and calls it unimportant. Ruggles's troops covered the batteries against a landing.

Stated aims and assessments from a summary and the two commanders.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen result reads Inconclusive and the live result Indecisive; NPS calls the bombardment inconclusive and says the batteries were later withdrawn. Ward says he silenced the three terminus batteries on May 31 and on June 1 found the heights abandoned and the shore fire feeble before discontinuing. Ruggles says the steamers hauled off on May 31, supposedly partly disabled, and that on June 1 no material damage was done to the batteries and the enemy hauled off to the Maryland shore.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. The two sides' timings differ and are not reconciled: for May 31 Ward reports two hours of firing and then nearly an hour under fire from the heights, Ruggles about 10 a.m. to about 1 p.m.; for June 1 Ward gives 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Ruggles about 9 a.m. to about 4 p.m.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 10 total; the live field reads zero. Ruggles reports one man slightly wounded on the 29th and nobody hurt on June 1; Ward reports one man wounded on May 31 and neither killed nor wounded on June 1, the Freeborn leaking badly from shot.

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 frozen 10 has no inspected basis.

supportedunresolved The frozen commanders are Colonel Daniel Ruggles and Commander James H. Ward (navy); the live page gives Ruggles as Brigadier General, and Ruggles signs as colonel of the Provisional Army. Ruggles says the batteries were commanded by Captain Lynch and other naval officers, and his supporting force by Colonel Bate until he arrived about midday on June 1. Ward commanded the flotilla and says he was its only Regular Navy officer, the others being acting officers from civil life.

Command roles from the two reports; the battery commander is not a listed commander. No automatic sole credit; the live rank is not adopted.

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 '3 gunboats [US]; battery garrison [CS]'; the live field reads zero. Ruggles reports two small steamers on the evening of the 29th, three war steamers on the 31st, and on June 1 first a report of five steamers with two transports and then four armed steamers; he took some seven hundred men toward the battery on the 29th, with five hundred more at the camp, and four companies of infantry, one of cavalry and the Walker Legion on the 31st. Ward reports the Freeborn supported by the Anacostia and Resolute on May 31 and the Pawnee joining him for June 1.

Vessel counts and supporting-force figures, not the battery garrison. None is adopted as a matched opening strength. The live zero is not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Ward says he silenced the three batteries at the railroad terminus on May 31 but that new batteries on the heights behind were above the elevation of his guns, remote from the ship channel and commanding only the railroad terminus; on the 29th the tide was out and neither side reached with certainty. NPS says the batteries were built to protect the northern terminus of the railroad to Richmond.

Ground and works from an interested naval report and a summary; no map inspected.