Hatcher's Run VA083

supportedunresolved Humphreys says he anticipated an attack on Smyth's right and posted McAllister there, and that the Confederate column emerged evidently expecting the ground unoccupied; Lee's first dispatch identified the crossing force as believed to be the Second and Fourth [Fifth?] Corps.

A participant's account of his own foresight and a first report; not a message log.

supportedunresolved Humphreys says supplies were reported to reach Petersburg by wagon from Hicksford via the Boydton plank road and that Gregg found the road little used; he describes Confederate troops in threadbare clothing on meagre food. Lee wrote on February 8 that some men had been without meat for three days, his chief commissary had not a pound of meat, and his cavalry was dispersed for want of forage.

A commander's contemporaneous letter and a history; no commissary return inspected.

supportedunresolved Humphreys says Gregg was sent to intercept the wagon trains and break up the route, with Warren and Humphreys supporting; he says Lee, sensitive to any movement on his right, concentrated parts of Hill's and Gordon's corps to meet it.

Stated aims from a participant history.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen result reads 'Union gained ground' and the live result Union Victory; NPS says the Union advance was stopped but the siegeworks were extended to the Vaughan Road crossing. Humphreys says Warren's line gave way on the 6th with little loss; Lee says Mahone drove the enemy back to his defences on the run and that he still retained his position.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. The live 'Union Victory' and the frozen 'Union gained ground' are different categories; not reconciled.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 2,700 total and the live field 2,539 (US 1,539; CS 1,000). Humphreys gives Warren's loss with the cavalry as 1,165 killed and wounded and 154 missing, the Second Corps' 138 killed and wounded and Wheaton's 17, relays Warren's view that the enemy's losses were nearly equal, and says Pegram was killed; Lee reported his loss small and the enemy's not supposed great.

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.

supportedunresolved Humphreys says he brought McAllister's brigade over and secured another from Miles with Meade's authority, and that Warren reconnoitred with Crawford on the 6th; Lee says Gordon ordered Evans's division to support Pegram. The frozen commanders are Major General Gordon (CS) and Major Generals Humphreys and Warren (US); the live page lists Humphreys and Gordon.

Direction attributed as stated; Humphreys writes of his own command. 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.

supportedunresolved The frozen and live force fields read 48,352 (US 34,517; CS 13,835). Humphreys gives the Army of Northern Virginia an effective force of infantry amounting to 50,000 (his footnoted December 20 return totals 3,609 officers and 50,155 enlisted men, excluding Wise's brigade) and says part of one of Warren's divisions was new troops. Lee says prisoners reported the Second and Fifth Corps, part of the Ninth, a division of the Sixth and Gregg's three brigades against him, and writes of the paucity of his numbers.

The frozen figures state no date or population; the army return is army-wide and earlier; Lee's is an order of battle from prisoners. None is adopted as a matched opening strength; live zeros are not measured absence.

supportedinherited Humphreys says the Vaughan road crossing was dammed and obstructed by fallen trees, that Smyth's right rested on a small wooded swamp, and that the enemy's new intrenchments were in full view about a thousand yards off.

The run, swamps and works predate the operation. No map verification.