Talk:Battle of Plains Store/GA1

GA Review[edit]

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Reviewer: Kges1901 (talk · contribs) 11:24, 27 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Always nice to see the increasing coverage of the Trans-Mississippi.

Seems intricately detailed and unbalanced to describe the exact Union regiments in the lead but not the Confederates. I don't think it's necessary to mention individual regiments in the lead either way
- Removed mention of individual regiments. I think it's sometimes useful (like the mauling suffered by the Corn Exchange Regiment at Shepherdstown) but not really here
Explain why the Plains Store crossroads was significant relative to Port Hudson, this isn't clear from the article
- Noted from Kennedy
What was the strength of Augur's division, not helpful to write '1 division in the infobox' when exact CSA strength is provided
- According to the ORs, 3,500

Ok, but if the Confederate batteries are mentioned in the infobox than the Union ones should be too

I've removed the mention of Confederate batteries in the infobox, as it's not entirely clear exactly how much artillery the Union had

Is there a full order of battle for Augur's division in the Official Records? Might be worth checking. There might also be more detailed battle reports in the Official Records as well
- Just a partial one for Dudley's brigade (who fought Powers, but not really Miles)
  - Not sure - Kennedy, Winters, and Blount don't name it and I couldn't find a report from Powers in the ORs. Hog Farm _Talk 05:23, 28 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Disambiguate 14th Arkansas Infantry Regiment to 14th Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Powers')
- Should've remembered that myself; I'm the one who flagged that article as copyvio
What was the identity of the cavalry force initially with Powers?
- Not stated, will need to check the ORs
  - Didn't notice it in the ORs
Do we know what batteries the Union artillery had and what battery Coleman overran? This is the sort of detail that could be in the ORs
- Didn't see it in the ORs - could only find the reports for Miles (who didn't have much detail to describe the action with) and Union brigade commander Dudley, whose troops didn't participate much in the later stages. Secondary sources don't even agree on how much artillery was overran by Coleman - Kennedy says one gun, Blount says a whole battery, and Winters says a section. (Dudley's report aligns best with Winters)
Per Bergeron's Louisiana Confederate Units, Miles' troops were known as Miles' Legion. I suspect that this is also in the ORs
- Cited to Bergeron (the copy I ordered arrived today)
they were forced by Confederate artillery fire to lie down for cover --> Confederate artillery forced them to take cover
- Done
Confederates suffered 89 men - Missing a key word here
- Noted that this is killed/wounded/missing
The distinction in casualty numbers between the authors is likely based on what documents they have access to and are citing. Could this be clarified?
- Was running Blount off the gbooks preview and can't see the right page for that footnote. Winters has a single cite for the whole battle description, and cites a couple Union regimental histories, an officer's memoirs from each side, a 1905 article from the Southern Historical Society about Confederate cavalry, a history of XIX Corps, the ORs, and something called "Fortification and Siege of Port Hudson" by Smith and Freret. It's not clear what comes from what. Hog Farm _Talk 04:57, 28 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
- The Confederate casualty return in the ORs for Plains Store is marked as incomplete, so that doesn't appear to be of use for us. Miles's official report agrees with Winters. Hog Farm _Talk 05:23, 28 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
What sources does Kennedy use for her account of the battle? Might not be equivalent to Winters and Blount if she is effectively a tertiary source. However, the book is also under the editorship of Kennedy, so who is the original author of the relevant text on Plains Store?
- She's effectively a tertiary source here. There's no byline for the Plains Store entry, so I'm assuming she wrote it herself. It appears to be a modified version of the 1990s CWSAC summary. Hog Farm _Talk 18:55, 27 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  - I've removed the reference to Kennedy's casualty estimates as it's not really comparable to the trained historians in Winters and Blount
    - Banks' post-campaign report says about 150 Union losses of all causes, so I've used that.
Last sentence could be rephrased to something like The siege of Port Hudson began, in which the Confederate soldiers reduced to eating rats and mules. Gardner surrendered on July 9, five days after Vicksburg fell. Kges1901 (talk) 11:24, 27 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
- Done

@Kges1901: - I've tried to address all of these as best as possible. The ORs weren't as useful as normal though (apparently only one Union brigade commander and Miles filed official reports for this action specifically). Hog Farm _Talk 00:10, 29 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]