Proctor's Creek VA053

supportedunresolved Humphreys says Ransom completely surprised Heckman's brigade in the fog, that reports from Weitzel's picket that the enemy was forming were not passed to him, and that Whiting's column heard no sound of the battle and received no despatch; Beauregard says Whiting's guns were heard about 8 a.m. and then fell silent.

Attributed knowledge from an interested history and report; the telegram chain is garbled in OCR and not relied on.

supportedunresolved Humphreys says the armored ships could not pass the Trent's Reach bar, with thirteen feet at high tide, so Butler's request for the monitors could not be met, and that Ransom's ammunition was nearly exhausted by mid-morning on May 16.

Operational statements from an interested history; no transport or ordnance return inspected.

supportedunresolved Humphreys says Butler's advance of May 12 aimed to develop the enemy's full strength and force him into or around his intrenchments; Beauregard says his plan was to cut Butler off from his base and capture or destroy him, or else lock him up at Bermuda Hundred Neck, and that possession of the line of communication southward was the main point.

Stated aims from interested accounts.

supportedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Confederate victory; the frozen description says the battle stopped Butler's offensive. Humphreys says Butler fell back toward the Bermuda Hundred intrenchments toward evening; Beauregard says the enemy retired during the night, leaving some 1,400 prisoners, 5 guns and 5 colors, and that his lines now covered the capital's southern communications.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. Humphreys' evening withdrawal and Beauregard's night retreat with prisoners are kept as given.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 6,660 total; the live field reads 4,004 (US 3,004; CS 1,000). Humphreys gives Beauregard's report of 354 killed, 1,610 wounded and 220 missing (2,184) on May 16, and Badeau's Union figure for May 16 of 390 killed, 1,721 wounded and 1,390 missing (3,500), excluding earlier days, noting that Smith's and Gillmore's statements are incomplete. Beauregard claims 1,400 prisoners; his headquarters' casualty list is incomplete and garbled in OCR, and the prisoner list, also incomplete, appears to end with 43, 1,345 and 1,388 (column assignment not established in OCR).

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. Several figures cover May 16 only; the prisoner count and the Union missing overlap and are not reconciled.

supportedunresolved Beauregard organized three divisions and a Petersburg column, withheld Ransom's advance at 10 a.m. when Ransom judged it unsafe, and blamed the incomplete result on the left wing's hesitation and Whiting's premature halt; his June 14 letter explains why he had first commended the left-wing commander. Humphreys says Davis approved the plan except Whiting's part, and that Butler ordered Gillmore to fall back at about 10 a.m. The frozen commanders are Major General Butler and General Beauregard; the live page gives Beauregard as Brigadier General.

Direction and blame attributed as stated; Beauregard's criticism of his subordinates is an interested judgment. The live rank is not adopted. No listed commander receives automatic sole credit.

unknownunresolved

No inspected return establishes matched personnel at a common opening boundary. Imported numerical estimates remain unchanged; this pass does not validate them as simultaneous opening forces.

disputedunresolved The frozen force field reads 48,000 (US 30,000; CS 18,000), matching the frozen description; the live field reads 57,000 (US 39,000; CS 18,000) while its description keeps Butler's 30,000. Humphreys gives Beauregard not less than 17,000 enlisted infantry in three divisions at Drury's Bluff (Ransom about 5,400, Hoke about 7,000, Colquitt about 4,900) and Whiting not less than 4,600 muskets at Petersburg, reconstructs 22,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry by May 15, and says Butler's infantry before the intrenchments did not exceed the enemy's, with Ames's 5,000, Hinks's 5,000 and about 3,000 detached. Beauregard writes of the enemy's advantage in numbers.

Mixed reconstructions of effective infantry, detached forces and commanders' comparisons; the Union and Confederate scopes differ. None is adopted as a matched opening strength; live zeros are not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Humphreys says the advanced Drury's Bluff line crossed Proctor's Creek and rested on Wooldridge's Hill, that Beauregard held an unassailable line with open ground in front while Butler's right had no strong ground and was a mile from the river, and that a dense fog on May 16 hid a horseman at fifteen paces. Beauregard calls the enemy's right, in Gregory's woods, its weakest point.

Mixed claim: the intrenched lines predate the battle, but the fog formed during it (just before day on May 16), so the claim as a whole is not tagged inherited. No map verification.