Waynesboro VA123

supportedunresolved Sheridan says Early, learning of his approach, retreated to Waynesboro and left word in Staunton that he would fight there, and that Custer attacked without waiting for a careful reconnaissance; Pond says Sheridan found at Staunton that Early had taken post at Waynesboro.

Attributed knowledge from an interested report and a dependent history.

supportedunresolved Sheridan says the column left Winchester with five days' rations in haversacks, fifteen days' coffee, sugar and salt in wagons and thirty pounds of forage on each horse, and that rain had poured for two days before Waynesboro, making the roads bad beyond description; Pond says the spring thaws and hard rains had made the roads heavy and the streams swollen.

Expedition supply and road statements; no return inspected.

supportedunresolved Sheridan says his orders were to destroy the Virginia Central Railroad and the James River Canal, take Lynchburg if practicable and join Sherman or return to Winchester, and that he chose to fight Early to open a way through Rockfish Gap; Pond gives the same orders.

Stated aims from an interested report and a dependent history.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Union victory. Sheridan says the works were carried and the enemy threw down their arms and surrendered; Pond says the position was carried in an instant and the victory left Sheridan master of the Valley. NPS says the attack rolled up Early's right flank, while Sheridan and Pond put the turning column on his left.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. The flank named by NPS conflicts with both inspected accounts; not reconciled.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 1,800 total and the live field 1,630 (US 30; CS 1,600); NPS says more than 1,500 surrendered. Sheridan gives the results as 11 guns, about 200 wagons, 17 battle-flags and 1,600 officers and men, and elsewhere about 1,600 prisoners and not over 100 men lost for the whole march; Pond gives little if any loss on either side, seventeen flags, eleven guns (five found in the town) and 'first and last, about 1,600 officers and men'.

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. Sheridan's two 1,600 figures (Waynesborough and the whole march) and Pond's 'first and last' may count the same prisoners on different scopes; the march-wide loss is not assigned to this record.

supportedunresolved Sheridan says he decided to fight Early and directed Custer's division to take up the pursuit, and that Custer made his dispositions at once, sending three regiments around the enemy's left; Pond says the same and that Early and the other Confederate generals fled into the woods. The frozen commanders are Early (CS, Lieutenant General) and Sheridan (US); the live page lists Sheridan and 'Major General Jubal Early'.

Custer, not a frozen commander, directed the attack in both accounts; Early's own dispositions are not described beyond his position. 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 and live force fields read 4,100 (US 2,500; CS 1,600). Sheridan gives the effective force of his two cavalry divisions on February 28 as 503 officers and 9,484 men (9,987), and says Custer's division led the attack against Early's two infantry brigades and some cavalry under Rosser; Pond gives 10,000 sabres, Custer's division 4,840 and Devin's 5,047 aggregate effective, against Wharton's two brigades, Nelson's battalion of six guns and Rosser's cavalry.

The frozen figures state no date or population; the frozen Confederate 1,600 equals the prisoner count both accounts give, an observation only. Sheridan's and Pond's Union figures are the whole expedition's effective strength at the start, not the troops engaged; the Confederate side is by formation. None is adopted as a matched opening strength; live zeros are not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Sheridan says Early held a well chosen position with his infantry behind breastworks, but with his left flank somewhat exposed because it was advanced from, not resting on, the river bank, and the South Fork of the Shenandoah immediately in his rear; Pond says Early was posted on a ridge west of Waynesboro.

The ridge and river predate the action; when the breastworks were built is not stated. Not tagged inherited as a whole. No map verification.