Salem Church VA033

supportedunresolved Sedgwick says Hooker's dispatch told him he could not relieve him and was too far away to direct his operations, and that a countermand of the order to withdraw arrived after his column was on the bridge. Lee says delay in deploying came partly from difficulty ascertaining the Union dispositions, and that dense fog slowed the pursuit.

Attributed dispatches and knowledge from the two opposing reports; no inspected message log.

supportedunresolved Sedgwick says a pontoon bridge had been laid at Banks' Ford the previous day and that the enemy shelled the bridges from commanding positions as he crossed. NPS says he withdrew across two pontoon bridges at Scott's Dam.

Crossing arrangements from one report and a summary; no inspected engineer record.

supportedunresolved NPS says Sedgwick marched out on the Plank Road to reach Hooker. Lee says he reinforced the troops facing Sedgwick in order to drive him across the Rappahannock; Sedgwick says he resolved to hold until dark and then fall back on Banks' Ford.

Stated aims from a summary and the two opposing reports; no inspected orders.

supportedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Confederate victory. NPS says Union assaults were repulsed with heavy casualties and that Sedgwick withdrew after dark. Lee says Anderson and Early drove Sedgwick toward the river and that he made good his escape and removed his bridges; Sedgwick says he withdrew under orders at 2 a.m. on the 5th.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. NPS's link to Hooker's abandonment of the campaign is campaign context.

supportedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 5,000 total; the live field reads zero. Sedgwick gives Sixth Corps losses in these operations as 4,925, footnoted to a revised statement, and says that, according to the best information he could obtain, the corps captured 5 battle-flags, 15 guns (9 brought off) and 1,400 prisoners.

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. Sedgwick's loss and capture totals also cover Fredericksburg II (VA034) and must not be assigned to this engagement or added to it.

supportedunresolved Lee credits Wilcox for impeding Sedgwick and for the stand at Salem Church, and says McLaws declined Early's proposal of a simultaneous attack as beyond his force. Sedgwick credits Howe's resistance for the safety of the command. The frozen commanders are Lee, as General, and Sedgwick; the live heading ranks Lee Major General.

Judgments are attributed; the frozen commanders do not receive automatic sole credit. The heading 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 Corps; the live field reads zero. Lee says the Union force at Salem Church was reported as one army corps and part of another under Sedgwick, and NPS says Lee detached two divisions from Chancellorsville to meet it. Sedgwick says he was told a column 15,000 strong from Richmond had occupied the Fredericksburg heights behind him, and that he faced vastly superior forces.

Unit-level and reported figures differ in scope; none is adopted as matched opening strength. Live zeros are not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Sedgwick says his line, with its left on the river, fronted in three directions and was necessarily weak for its length, and that the woods at Salem were strongly held. Lee says broken and irregular ground delayed his troops' deployment on the 4th.

Ground and positions from the two opposing reports; boundaries unset and no map verification.