I'll have to find out more about Shelby's adjutant. Normally, official reports were dictated by the commanding officer to the adjutant and one or more clerks (in order to have copies) and signed by the commander. Documents signed by the adjutant were normally composed by the adjutant pursuant to the order of the commander, e.g., general and special orders, circulars, etc.

Since Shelby's reports were signed by himself, I would assume that he composed them. But I really don't know for sure. His personal correspondence was pretty high-flying, but not as flowery as his reports, so.... who knows?

I'm not a Churchill expert, but from everything I've read he strikes me as a fairly average officer (I was going to say mediocre, but that has more negative connotations than I intend). He was a good disciplinarian and fairly well liked by his men, so he was probably a good leader, but he has never struck me as being particularly aggressive or highly motivated.

However, one thing I always try to keep in mind when sizing up Trans-Mississippi officers, particularly in comparison to officers in the eastern theater, is that success and reputation have a lot to do with opportunity. It was just a different kind of war on this side of the river.