Kernstown, Second VA116

supportedunresolved Pond quotes Crook's July 22 hope that the enemy would think he would not follow and send part of his force to Richmond, and Hunter's report that Crook's information and Averell's reconnaissances tended to show Early falling back. NPS says Wright had judged Early no longer a threat in the Valley.

Attributed knowledge from despatches quoted by a history and a summary; no message log inspected.

disputedunresolved Crook says he got off all his artillery and wagons, and that wagons cut loose by stampeded teamsters were destroyed so that nothing fell to the enemy. Pond says a flanking cavalry brigade caused many wagons and caissons to be abandoned and burned, the enemy counting the lost portion as twelve caissons and seventy-two wagons. Crook judged Early's troops unable to make hard marches.

Interested and retrospective accounts of trains; losses to destruction and to capture are not separated.

supportedunresolved NPS says Early, under orders to prevent reinforcements going to Grant, marched against Crook; Pond says Early resolved to attack without delay on learning the Sixth Corps had gone. Crook hoped the enemy would divide, and ordered Averell around Early's right to attack his trains.

Stated aims from a summary, a history and a despatch it quotes.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen result reads Confederate victory and the live result Confederate Victory. Crook says the enemy partially turned his left and threw it in some confusion before he ordered the withdrawal, and that his left soon reformed and the whole line moved back in good order with the enemy pressing; Pond says the whole line broke into retreat, and NPS that the divisions streamed back in disarray. Crook crossed the Potomac on the 26th.

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 casualty text reads 1,800 total (US 1,200; CS 600); the live field reads 1785 (US 1185; CS 600). Pond says Crook's loss could hardly have been less than 1,200, giving Duval's Second Division 513, of which Hayes's brigade, one of its two brigades, reported 396 (a component of the 513, not an addition), and, from Colonel Campbell, Mulligan's Third Division 317; he calls the loss somewhat uncertain because of fugitives, part of whom afterward returned, and says the Confederate loss was light. Mulligan was mortally 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. The compiled Union return (No. 55) is garbled in OCR and was not selected; no Confederate figure was inspected. Hayes's 396 is part of Duval's 513; the component figures must not be summed toward Pond's 1,200.

supportedunresolved Crook says he gave the order to fall back when a column moved around his right. Pond says Early, seeing Crook's left assailable, directed Breckinridge to send Wharton's division against it, and that Ransom, ill, could not take active command of Early's cavalry. The frozen commanders are Lieutenant General Early and Brigadier General George Crook; Crook signs as brevet major general.

Command roles from an interested report and a history; neither 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 and live force fields read 23,000 total (US 10,000; CS 13,000); the source basis is not given. Crook says 3,000 or 4,000 of his dismounted cavalry and some infantry broke to the rear at the first fire, and that the attacking force was Early's raiding force joined by the troops left in the Valley. Pond says Crook's line held the divisions of Sullivan, Duval and Mulligan with Averell's and Duffie's cavalry on the flanks, and that the force later assembled to match Early was thrice Crook's at Kernstown. Pond quotes Crook's July 22 dispatch that he had not force sufficient to meet all the enemy in the open Valley.

No inspected passage gives a count for either side on July 24; the imported figures are unvalidated. None is adopted as a matched opening strength.

supportedunresolved Pond says Crook stood on the ground Shields had held against Jackson in 1862, in open country broken with hollows to the east, where the open fields and broad pike favoured a rapid retreat; he criticises confronting the enemy in so open a position.

A history's description and judgment; no map verification.