Blackburn's Ford VA004

supportedunresolved Beauregard says he was informed of the Union advance in time and that his withdrawal deceived the enemy into expecting an unresisted crossing; he credits signals and local guides. Nicolay says the action confirmed Beauregard's belief that the main attack would come at his centre and convinced McDowell, from reports of rifle-pits and breastworks, that a direct assault was unwise.

Attributed knowledge from an interested report and a history.

supportedunresolved Beauregard says one of his guns was put out of action by an enlarged vent, that he halted two regiments bound for Winchester as a reserve, and asked Davis on July 17 for reinforcements by every possible means. Nicolay says two exposed Union field-pieces were extricated with difficulty.

Materiel and reinforcement statements; no ordnance or supply return inspected.

supportedunresolved NPS calls the action a reconnaissance-in-force. Nicolay says Tyler was under instructions to bring on no engagement but made a reconnaissance that drifted into a preliminary battle. Beauregard's July 17 telegram says he would make a stand at Mitchell's Ford on the line of Bull Run.

Stated aims from a summary, a history and a dispatch.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Confederate victory; NPS says McDowell was repulsed and afterwards chose a flanking movement. Beauregard says the enemy was baffled and could not force a passage, which led him into the flank movement of July 21. Nicolay calls the battle undecisive, with loss, damage and demoralization equal on both sides, while noting its effect on both commanders.

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 and live casualty fields read 151 (US 83; CS 68). Beauregard gives his loss as 68 killed and wounded, 15 of them killed (including two missing) and 53 wounded, and says 64 enemy dead were buried and at least 20 prisoners taken. Nicolay says some sixty Union men had fallen and gives the Confederate loss as 63 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. Beauregard's report covers the whole July 18 action, including the Mitchell's Ford demonstration.

supportedunresolved The frozen commanders are Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard and Brigadier General Irvin McDowell; the live page gives McDowell as Major General. Beauregard says Longstreet immediately commanded the troops engaged and that Early brought his brigade in; Nicolay says Tyler, a division commander, went beyond his instructions and later withdrew, and that McDowell ordered all divisions forward on hearing the cannonade.

Neither listed commander directed the fighting at the ford in the inspected passages; they receive no automatic credit, and 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 Brigades; the live field reads 57,000 (US 35,000; CS 22,000), figures that match the NPS description's army totals. Beauregard says Tyler pushed a column of over three thousand infantry against not more than twelve hundred bayonets under Longstreet, whose brigade covered the ford with three Virginia regiments and two guns. Nicolay puts Beauregard's army at over twenty thousand along the fords, Longstreet's brigade at five regiments, and says Tyler's reconnaissance began with a squadron and two companies and grew to Richardson's brigade and a reserve brigade.

The live totals are whole-army figures, not the forces at the ford; the report and history differ on Longstreet's regiments, though Nicolay also says three regiments of Longstreet's brigade bore the first assault. None is adopted as a matched opening strength.

supportedunresolved Beauregard describes Bull Run as a small, usually low stream with rocky, steep banks and many fords; at Blackburn's Ford the northern bank rose at least fifty feet and formed a natural parapet for the attackers, while the southern shore was almost a plain; and on July 18 not one yard of intrenchment sheltered his men there. Nicolay says Tyler could see the valley from the hill at Centreville.

Ground from an interested report and a history; no map inspected. The absence of works is Beauregard's own statement.