after gordon's surprise attack on fort stedman in the pre-dawn hours of march 25, 1865 captured the fort, three adjacent batteries and over 500 men while killing and wounding about 500 more, the union ix corps (ninth corps) under major general john g. parke promptly counterattacked. the ix corps recaptured the fort and batteries, forced the confederates to return to their lines and to give up their advance picket line and inflicted about 4,000 casualties, including about 1,000 captured, which the confederates could ill afford.