[cp124]

Probably was fake news back then too.

[Chewbarkah]

It was definitely fake news. Confederate command in the West was not great, but the CW would have been over in a few weeks if the NYT reports were accurate. They remind me of CBS broadcasting nightly “Body Counts” during the Vietnam War. (”3,057 Viet Cong killed, and 2 Americans lightly wounded”. As a child, I remember wondering how the whole country wasn’t depopulated.)

[BroJoeK]

cp124: "Probably was fake news back then too."

Naw, just the fog of war.
"Yesterday" the Times reported a Union victory at Wilson's Creek, in southwest Missouri.
"Today" they say it was a draw.

Historians say it was a Confederate victory, even though losses on both sides were roughly the same.
Confederates were too disorganized to capitalize on their victory and failed to pursue fleeing Union troops.

So far the Union has not won a single battle in a Confederate state, but did win 13 engagements in four Union states or territories.
Confederate won 7 engagements in two Confederate states plus 8 in the Union, and roughly 60% of Confederate losses so far have been in Union states.

It will be some time in 1862 before Confederate losses within the Confederacy are greater than their losses from invading the United States.