![]() | Battle of Bayou Fourche has been listed as one of the
Warfare good articles under the
good article criteria. If you can improve it further,
please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can
reassess it. Review: April 12, 2024. ( Reviewed version). |
This is the
talk page for discussing improvements to the
Battle of Bayou Fourche article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
![]() | This article is rated GA-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
GA toolbox |
---|
Reviewing |
Nominator: Hog Farm ( talk · contribs)
Reviewer: Johannes Schade ( talk · contribs) 18:47, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Good day Hog Farm. I propose to review your GA nomination “ Battle of Bayou Fourche”. Admittedly, I am only an apprentice-reviewer. I must also warn you that my English is 2nd language and that I am no subject-matter expert. I will propose corrections and suggest optional improvements. The corrections rely on the GA criteria (WP:GACR). Some are tentative. Please tell me when you disagree with a correction. I am probably wrong. You can ignore my suggestions. They have no effect on the article's promotion, but the reader might be confused.
I will start with the preliminaries and then go through the article’s sections, sometimes returning to previous sections when needed.
The names of the parameters |unit1=
and |unit2=
do not sound like military units. In adition the first (Arkansas expedition) has quotes around it whereas the second (District of Arkansas) has not. There might be good reasons that I will understand later.
The lead consists of one lang paragraph of 10 sentences. This is difficult to read. I would suggest to split the lead into 2 paragraphes. MOS:PARA does not suggest a paragraph but warns that "paragraphs that exceed a certain length become hard to read". I find that this applies here.
Besides, I am not American and not familiar with Americal history and geography. I will often struggle to understand what is obvious to you and will need to be guided along in small careful steps. Many readers will be in this case.
... took place ...– The predicate "took place" is semantically weak. I would prefer "was fought" as you did yourself in Battle of Brownsville, Arkansas.
... Pulaski County ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; To name the county and the state is certainly a good way to give a location, but in this case Little Rock, the state capital which lies in the county is much more known. Perhaps it could also be named in this same sentence.
... Little Rock Campaign ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; To name the campaign is certainly good, but I still do not know in which war this battle and campaign was: American Civil War should be mentioned.
Union Major General Frederick Steele ...– The links Union, Major General, and Frederick Steele form a MOS:SEAOFBLUE.
... from Helena, Arkansas, to ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; I did not know that Helena was east from Little Rock and expected Steele to come from the north. Perhaps you could add that he moved westwards.
... aside from the battle ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; Is not any battle more than little resistence? If Bayou Meta and Brownsville were battles of a similar rank as Bayou Fourche, they should probably be mentioned, otherwise they might fall under "little resistence" and can be passed by at the level of the lead.
... fortifications across the Arkansas River ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; I am still not entirely sure what "accross" means here, but it seem that Price's fortifications where on the left bank while the town was on the right bank. Perhaps at the level of the lead we only need to know that Price built fortifications along the river to defend the town.
... Steele split his command ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; I might be necessary to add "into two" to prepare what comes next. I also suspect that he rather split his troops than his command as Davidson commanded the cavalry before just like after the "split".
... advanced ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; I do not understand where Steele advanced along the north bank. You said he wanted to avoid the fortifications but here he seems to run into them. Perhaps he wanted to bind down the enemy forces by a fake attack? Steele's general strategy should probably be explained here.
... pontoon bridge ...– Perhaps an irrelevant detail at the level of the lead.
... Bayou Fourche ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; It should be explained was this Bayou Fourche is, a river, a lake? Add a link to explain what is a "Bayou"?
... Marmaduke ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; Why this change of command? Perhaps Marmaduke brought reinforcements?
... both sides ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; Probably the basic configuration of the Bayou Fourche needs to be explained. If it is a river, in with direction does it flow? Did Davidson cross this river?
... on the north side ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; was the south side still held by the confederates?
... abandon ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Perhaps we should be told something abous the surrender or successful retreat that allowed the confederates to continue the fight elsewere.
[—End of 2nd instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 18:12, 20 March 2024 (UTC)
@ Hog Farm:. Thank you for your replies. Here comes the next round.
... and had won ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This sentence might lack precision and be confusing. It says that Helena was occupied before 1863 and that the Union won major victories at unknown locations and times in northwestern Arkansas. Why not give dates and names in chronological order? The battles of Pea Rifge (March, 1862), Cane Hill (November 1862), and [Battle of Prairie Grove|Prairie Grove]] (December 7, 1862) probably are the major Union victories in northwestern Arkansas that are meant. Helena was occupied on July 12, 1862.
... multiple ...– Criterion 1a, "grammar". This should be "several" as they have not much in common beyond being Union vicories as stated. Look up what is the difference.
|url=
parameter. So I am left wondering whether it is available online. I have to try Google books, Internet Archive, Hathi, etc. and make searches by title or author. Could you please add URLs to the descriptions in the list of sources?
... Arkansas River ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Readers probably do not know where Arkansas Post was, better: lower Arkansas River, or near the junction.
... involved participated ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". It took me time to understand the "participated" immediately following the "involved". Possibly better "However, instead of pushing up the Arkansas River, the troops were withdrawn to fight at the Vicksburg Compaign."
Additional Union troops ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This is not very helpfull. Can't they be named, or at least the most important one? Otherwise "Other" would be better than "Additional".
Additional Union troops ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Thid is not very helpfull. Can't they be named, or at least the most important one? Otherwise "Other" would be better than "Additional".
... suffered over 1600 casualties.– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This should have been mentioned not here but above when the Battle of Helena was discussed.
... fortifications accross ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This should probably be explained in more detail instead of jusr repeating what the lead says. Placing oneself with the back to a river is not normally recomended.
... Witsburg Clarendan ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Could something be done to help the reader to understand approximately where these places are, and in which direction Davidson moved. For example, he moved westwards. Witsburg is north of Helena, he crossed the White River at Clarendon.
... but met minor ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". After having distinguished between Davidson's and Steele's troops advancing on different routes, one might expect that resistence also differed between the two routes, or did they join together at some stage? As said before, if it is colled a battle, it cannot have been so minor. Otherwise avoid calling it a battle. What about the Battle of Brownsville that was closely related to the one at Bayou Meta?
... outflank ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I propose to clarify which wing was outflanked: the Confederates right wing.
—End of 3rd instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 21:47, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
@ Hog Farm:. This is much improved and easier to understand for a foreigner like me. Here comes the next round.
... September 10 ...– MOS:NBSP. At least on my machine, a carriage return intervenes between "September" and "10". Probably insert a non-breaking space: September 10.
... Davidson's men ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". The second half of the sentence reads "Davidson's men advanced with troops on both sides of Bayou Fourche". The "men" and "troops" seems to be repetitive. I propose "Davidson advanced with troops on both sides of bayou".
... rather than push ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". The last part of the semtence "rather than a push up the Arkansas River" seem to duplicate its beginning.
... caualties ...– Criterion 1a, "spelling".
... XIII Corps ...– MOS:NBSP. At least on my machine, a carriage return intervenes between "XIII" and "Corps". Probably insert a non-breaking space: XIII Corps.
I thought the Bayou Battlefield map was difficult to read even when magnified, but I only found out today how to zoom in properly and to move the visible window around. I always double-clicked. I understand that this map comes from some official battlefield conversation program and can hardly be changed. I would guess that the yellow area is the one indicated on the legend as the Potential Notianol Register Boundary but where the yellow is very faint. I am surprised to see that this yellow area lies on the left bank of the river. I wonder whether this area is where the left abutment of the pontoon bridge was or whether it represents the location of the Skirmish at Ashley's Mills that the article mentions above. If possible, the caption should be enhanced to explain that yellow area on the left bank. The map also shows quite interestingly that the battle field is partly under the Clinton National Airport and near to Interstate 440 (Arkansas) (if I understand this right).
... across the river ...– The Confederate cavalry was "across the river" as seen by the Union cavalry.". It is not made clear from which side you are looking. Also, should not better to avoid the passive voice? Possibly: "Davidson's men greatly outnumbered the Confederate cavalry, which opposed it across the river and was forced to thinly guard several potential crossing points[24] with only about 1,200 men."
... fortications ...– Criterion 1a, "spelling".
... those of Colonels John ...– Criterion 1a, "grammer". Those of Colonel John
... Newton were ordered by Dobbins ...– Unnecessary passive voice. There are of course many occasions for good use passive voice, but not this one.
Remark: Picture on third paragraph. This map is oriented oblique as can be seen on the faintly marked oblique north-arrow on the right inside the map. Perhaps the reader should be warned. The map gives a lot of interesting detail. It also shows Price's fortifications (or at least a part of them?) on the left bank.
... were traveling on ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". "The Union soldiers' road forked ..."
... forked ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". The text mentions two forks, but the map shows three, two of which pass the boyou between the boyau and the river while the third passes it on its upper (SW) end. Wich ones were the two forks used by the Union troops in their advance?
... right (north) ... left (south)– Criterion 1a, "understanding". What does "north" mean on a fork? I would describe the direction where the road leads. However, the roads on these foarks are all quite bent. I would remove the (north) and (south) which are more confusing than helpfull. Defenitively, none of these forks is leading south.
—End of 4th instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 20:01, 24 March 2024 (UTC)
@ Hog Farm:. Here comes the next round.
... a body of water called Bayou Fourche ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Would I be right to say the Bayou Fourche or Fourche Bayou is a boggy pool on the Fourche Creek? Or is it just another name for the entire Fourche creak?
Map on 3rd paragraph. I had not understood that Glower's map mostly ignores Merrils fight against Newton on the Union left. Perhaps you can find a way how to make this clear.
... Davidson fainted ... downstreem ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". You cite Huff for this, who mentions Terry's Ferry downstreem but does, as far as I can find, not say that Davidson made a diversion there, whereas Arkansas Heritage says he made a diversion upstreem "diversionary attack upriver at Buck's Ford". So I would think the diverson was upstreem and Arkansas Heritage should be cited.
... forked ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I thought about this some more and find that talking about forks on roads is not satisfactory as we cannot identify them on a map. The Arkansas Heritage text calls the two battles Union-right and Union-left. One might also call them Glower vs. Jeffers and Merrill vs. Newton. The battle on the Union-right was bigger and therefore gets more attention. The two battles were separated by a pool (the Bayou Fourche), a reach where of the Fourche creak was unusually wide and impossible to cross. Looking at Google Maps this bayou does not seem to exist any more.
Now we move forward again.
... left (south) fork ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This is difficult to understand because it referrs to a road fork. I suggest "deployed on the next possible crossing of the Fourche Creek upstream of the pool (or bayou)."
... ordered on the southern fork ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suggest "ordered to the left wing"
... northern fork ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suggest Union-right between the bayou and the Arkansas River.
... and were veteran troops ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". I suggest "both veteran troops".
... To the south ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suggest "On the Union left, opposing Merrill". At this place the description changes to the Union left. A possible place for a break.
... The Confederates ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Not all the Confederates. I suggest "Newtown's troops".
... a levee ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". The Fourche Creak's levee.
... the Confederates ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suppose these are Newtons's confederates.
... and was overrun ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". I suggest "and overrun".
... from the other side of the bayou ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suggest "from the Union left wing." I first misunderstood this to mean from the other bank of the bayou.
... After the battle ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I do not understand why this is relevant and why it appears at this place. If I understand it right, Merril never managed to cross the Fourche Creek during the battle, which he would have to do to attack Jeffers back. The reader would probable at that point want to hear what effects Glover's change of tactics produced.
... broke through ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This break-through surprises. The last three sentences tell us about Confederate reinforcement arriving.
... with the terrain of the battlefield ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". Good enough: "with the terrain."
... destroyed during the Confederate retreat.– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Not really during the retreat but in its preparation: "were destroyed so that they would not fall into the enemy's hands."
... city, with ...– Criterion 1a, "grammar". Thr preposition "With" is used as a conjunction. I would cut this into two sentences "... city. Davidson's ..."
... especially demoralized ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". Remove "especially" demoralized is enough.
—End of 5th instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 17:51, 25 March 2024 (UTC)
@ Hog Farm:. Here comes the next round.
Dear Hog Farm, somehow I did not get an email message or ping about your replies. That seems to happen sometimes.
... division of Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke's division ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Twice division. Please remove one.
... communications problems ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I think it should be "communication problems".
This should be all. I think I can pass your nomination as soon as you have fixed the last problemws.
—End of 6th instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 20:43, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
![]() | Battle of Bayou Fourche has been listed as one of the
Warfare good articles under the
good article criteria. If you can improve it further,
please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can
reassess it. Review: April 12, 2024. ( Reviewed version). |
This is the
talk page for discussing improvements to the
Battle of Bayou Fourche article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
![]() | This article is rated GA-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
GA toolbox |
---|
Reviewing |
Nominator: Hog Farm ( talk · contribs)
Reviewer: Johannes Schade ( talk · contribs) 18:47, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Good day Hog Farm. I propose to review your GA nomination “ Battle of Bayou Fourche”. Admittedly, I am only an apprentice-reviewer. I must also warn you that my English is 2nd language and that I am no subject-matter expert. I will propose corrections and suggest optional improvements. The corrections rely on the GA criteria (WP:GACR). Some are tentative. Please tell me when you disagree with a correction. I am probably wrong. You can ignore my suggestions. They have no effect on the article's promotion, but the reader might be confused.
I will start with the preliminaries and then go through the article’s sections, sometimes returning to previous sections when needed.
The names of the parameters |unit1=
and |unit2=
do not sound like military units. In adition the first (Arkansas expedition) has quotes around it whereas the second (District of Arkansas) has not. There might be good reasons that I will understand later.
The lead consists of one lang paragraph of 10 sentences. This is difficult to read. I would suggest to split the lead into 2 paragraphes. MOS:PARA does not suggest a paragraph but warns that "paragraphs that exceed a certain length become hard to read". I find that this applies here.
Besides, I am not American and not familiar with Americal history and geography. I will often struggle to understand what is obvious to you and will need to be guided along in small careful steps. Many readers will be in this case.
... took place ...– The predicate "took place" is semantically weak. I would prefer "was fought" as you did yourself in Battle of Brownsville, Arkansas.
... Pulaski County ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; To name the county and the state is certainly a good way to give a location, but in this case Little Rock, the state capital which lies in the county is much more known. Perhaps it could also be named in this same sentence.
... Little Rock Campaign ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; To name the campaign is certainly good, but I still do not know in which war this battle and campaign was: American Civil War should be mentioned.
Union Major General Frederick Steele ...– The links Union, Major General, and Frederick Steele form a MOS:SEAOFBLUE.
... from Helena, Arkansas, to ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; I did not know that Helena was east from Little Rock and expected Steele to come from the north. Perhaps you could add that he moved westwards.
... aside from the battle ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; Is not any battle more than little resistence? If Bayou Meta and Brownsville were battles of a similar rank as Bayou Fourche, they should probably be mentioned, otherwise they might fall under "little resistence" and can be passed by at the level of the lead.
... fortifications across the Arkansas River ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; I am still not entirely sure what "accross" means here, but it seem that Price's fortifications where on the left bank while the town was on the right bank. Perhaps at the level of the lead we only need to know that Price built fortifications along the river to defend the town.
... Steele split his command ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; I might be necessary to add "into two" to prepare what comes next. I also suspect that he rather split his troops than his command as Davidson commanded the cavalry before just like after the "split".
... advanced ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; I do not understand where Steele advanced along the north bank. You said he wanted to avoid the fortifications but here he seems to run into them. Perhaps he wanted to bind down the enemy forces by a fake attack? Steele's general strategy should probably be explained here.
... pontoon bridge ...– Perhaps an irrelevant detail at the level of the lead.
... Bayou Fourche ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; It should be explained was this Bayou Fourche is, a river, a lake? Add a link to explain what is a "Bayou"?
... Marmaduke ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; Why this change of command? Perhaps Marmaduke brought reinforcements?
... both sides ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; Probably the basic configuration of the Bayou Fourche needs to be explained. If it is a river, in with direction does it flow? Did Davidson cross this river?
... on the north side ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding"; was the south side still held by the confederates?
... abandon ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Perhaps we should be told something abous the surrender or successful retreat that allowed the confederates to continue the fight elsewere.
[—End of 2nd instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 18:12, 20 March 2024 (UTC)
@ Hog Farm:. Thank you for your replies. Here comes the next round.
... and had won ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This sentence might lack precision and be confusing. It says that Helena was occupied before 1863 and that the Union won major victories at unknown locations and times in northwestern Arkansas. Why not give dates and names in chronological order? The battles of Pea Rifge (March, 1862), Cane Hill (November 1862), and [Battle of Prairie Grove|Prairie Grove]] (December 7, 1862) probably are the major Union victories in northwestern Arkansas that are meant. Helena was occupied on July 12, 1862.
... multiple ...– Criterion 1a, "grammar". This should be "several" as they have not much in common beyond being Union vicories as stated. Look up what is the difference.
|url=
parameter. So I am left wondering whether it is available online. I have to try Google books, Internet Archive, Hathi, etc. and make searches by title or author. Could you please add URLs to the descriptions in the list of sources?
... Arkansas River ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Readers probably do not know where Arkansas Post was, better: lower Arkansas River, or near the junction.
... involved participated ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". It took me time to understand the "participated" immediately following the "involved". Possibly better "However, instead of pushing up the Arkansas River, the troops were withdrawn to fight at the Vicksburg Compaign."
Additional Union troops ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This is not very helpfull. Can't they be named, or at least the most important one? Otherwise "Other" would be better than "Additional".
Additional Union troops ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Thid is not very helpfull. Can't they be named, or at least the most important one? Otherwise "Other" would be better than "Additional".
... suffered over 1600 casualties.– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This should have been mentioned not here but above when the Battle of Helena was discussed.
... fortifications accross ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This should probably be explained in more detail instead of jusr repeating what the lead says. Placing oneself with the back to a river is not normally recomended.
... Witsburg Clarendan ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Could something be done to help the reader to understand approximately where these places are, and in which direction Davidson moved. For example, he moved westwards. Witsburg is north of Helena, he crossed the White River at Clarendon.
... but met minor ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". After having distinguished between Davidson's and Steele's troops advancing on different routes, one might expect that resistence also differed between the two routes, or did they join together at some stage? As said before, if it is colled a battle, it cannot have been so minor. Otherwise avoid calling it a battle. What about the Battle of Brownsville that was closely related to the one at Bayou Meta?
... outflank ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I propose to clarify which wing was outflanked: the Confederates right wing.
—End of 3rd instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 21:47, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
@ Hog Farm:. This is much improved and easier to understand for a foreigner like me. Here comes the next round.
... September 10 ...– MOS:NBSP. At least on my machine, a carriage return intervenes between "September" and "10". Probably insert a non-breaking space: September 10.
... Davidson's men ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". The second half of the sentence reads "Davidson's men advanced with troops on both sides of Bayou Fourche". The "men" and "troops" seems to be repetitive. I propose "Davidson advanced with troops on both sides of bayou".
... rather than push ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". The last part of the semtence "rather than a push up the Arkansas River" seem to duplicate its beginning.
... caualties ...– Criterion 1a, "spelling".
... XIII Corps ...– MOS:NBSP. At least on my machine, a carriage return intervenes between "XIII" and "Corps". Probably insert a non-breaking space: XIII Corps.
I thought the Bayou Battlefield map was difficult to read even when magnified, but I only found out today how to zoom in properly and to move the visible window around. I always double-clicked. I understand that this map comes from some official battlefield conversation program and can hardly be changed. I would guess that the yellow area is the one indicated on the legend as the Potential Notianol Register Boundary but where the yellow is very faint. I am surprised to see that this yellow area lies on the left bank of the river. I wonder whether this area is where the left abutment of the pontoon bridge was or whether it represents the location of the Skirmish at Ashley's Mills that the article mentions above. If possible, the caption should be enhanced to explain that yellow area on the left bank. The map also shows quite interestingly that the battle field is partly under the Clinton National Airport and near to Interstate 440 (Arkansas) (if I understand this right).
... across the river ...– The Confederate cavalry was "across the river" as seen by the Union cavalry.". It is not made clear from which side you are looking. Also, should not better to avoid the passive voice? Possibly: "Davidson's men greatly outnumbered the Confederate cavalry, which opposed it across the river and was forced to thinly guard several potential crossing points[24] with only about 1,200 men."
... fortications ...– Criterion 1a, "spelling".
... those of Colonels John ...– Criterion 1a, "grammer". Those of Colonel John
... Newton were ordered by Dobbins ...– Unnecessary passive voice. There are of course many occasions for good use passive voice, but not this one.
Remark: Picture on third paragraph. This map is oriented oblique as can be seen on the faintly marked oblique north-arrow on the right inside the map. Perhaps the reader should be warned. The map gives a lot of interesting detail. It also shows Price's fortifications (or at least a part of them?) on the left bank.
... were traveling on ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". "The Union soldiers' road forked ..."
... forked ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". The text mentions two forks, but the map shows three, two of which pass the boyou between the boyau and the river while the third passes it on its upper (SW) end. Wich ones were the two forks used by the Union troops in their advance?
... right (north) ... left (south)– Criterion 1a, "understanding". What does "north" mean on a fork? I would describe the direction where the road leads. However, the roads on these foarks are all quite bent. I would remove the (north) and (south) which are more confusing than helpfull. Defenitively, none of these forks is leading south.
—End of 4th instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 20:01, 24 March 2024 (UTC)
@ Hog Farm:. Here comes the next round.
... a body of water called Bayou Fourche ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Would I be right to say the Bayou Fourche or Fourche Bayou is a boggy pool on the Fourche Creek? Or is it just another name for the entire Fourche creak?
Map on 3rd paragraph. I had not understood that Glower's map mostly ignores Merrils fight against Newton on the Union left. Perhaps you can find a way how to make this clear.
... Davidson fainted ... downstreem ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". You cite Huff for this, who mentions Terry's Ferry downstreem but does, as far as I can find, not say that Davidson made a diversion there, whereas Arkansas Heritage says he made a diversion upstreem "diversionary attack upriver at Buck's Ford". So I would think the diverson was upstreem and Arkansas Heritage should be cited.
... forked ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I thought about this some more and find that talking about forks on roads is not satisfactory as we cannot identify them on a map. The Arkansas Heritage text calls the two battles Union-right and Union-left. One might also call them Glower vs. Jeffers and Merrill vs. Newton. The battle on the Union-right was bigger and therefore gets more attention. The two battles were separated by a pool (the Bayou Fourche), a reach where of the Fourche creak was unusually wide and impossible to cross. Looking at Google Maps this bayou does not seem to exist any more.
Now we move forward again.
... left (south) fork ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This is difficult to understand because it referrs to a road fork. I suggest "deployed on the next possible crossing of the Fourche Creek upstream of the pool (or bayou)."
... ordered on the southern fork ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suggest "ordered to the left wing"
... northern fork ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suggest Union-right between the bayou and the Arkansas River.
... and were veteran troops ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". I suggest "both veteran troops".
... To the south ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suggest "On the Union left, opposing Merrill". At this place the description changes to the Union left. A possible place for a break.
... The Confederates ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Not all the Confederates. I suggest "Newtown's troops".
... a levee ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". The Fourche Creak's levee.
... the Confederates ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suppose these are Newtons's confederates.
... and was overrun ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". I suggest "and overrun".
... from the other side of the bayou ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I suggest "from the Union left wing." I first misunderstood this to mean from the other bank of the bayou.
... After the battle ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I do not understand why this is relevant and why it appears at this place. If I understand it right, Merril never managed to cross the Fourche Creek during the battle, which he would have to do to attack Jeffers back. The reader would probable at that point want to hear what effects Glover's change of tactics produced.
... broke through ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". This break-through surprises. The last three sentences tell us about Confederate reinforcement arriving.
... with the terrain of the battlefield ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". Good enough: "with the terrain."
... destroyed during the Confederate retreat.– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Not really during the retreat but in its preparation: "were destroyed so that they would not fall into the enemy's hands."
... city, with ...– Criterion 1a, "grammar". Thr preposition "With" is used as a conjunction. I would cut this into two sentences "... city. Davidson's ..."
... especially demoralized ...– Criterion 1a, "concise". Remove "especially" demoralized is enough.
—End of 5th instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 17:51, 25 March 2024 (UTC)
@ Hog Farm:. Here comes the next round.
Dear Hog Farm, somehow I did not get an email message or ping about your replies. That seems to happen sometimes.
... division of Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke's division ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". Twice division. Please remove one.
... communications problems ...– Criterion 1a, "understanding". I think it should be "communication problems".
This should be all. I think I can pass your nomination as soon as you have fixed the last problemws.
—End of 6th instalment— Best regards, Johannes Schade ( talk) 20:43, 2 April 2024 (UTC)