Union Invades Middle Tennessee
Fort Henry falls! Tennessee River open to Union forces!
Tennessee River - February 6, 1862
Order of
Battle
On January 30, 1862, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
at last received the reluctant permission of Gen. Henry W. Halleck to attempt to
capture Fort Henry, a Confederate earthwork fort on the Tennessee River just
south of Kentucky that was one of a string of outposts built to protect
Confederate territory. Grant was to be assisted by Flag Officer Andrew H.
Foote's flotilla of seven gunboats in this first attempt to penetrate the
western Confederacy by using the major rivers as lines of operations.
Confederate Gen. Lloyd Tilghman, commander of the 3,400 Rebel troops at
Fort Henry, knew his post was indefensible. Located on low ground on the edge of
the river, Fort Henry was subject to flooding and was dominated by high ground
on both sides of the river. Tilghman was determined not to give up his position
without a fight, but he wisely decided not to sacrifice his men in the effort.
Holding back 100 artillerymen, he sent the rest of the garrison to Fort
Donelson, 10 miles away on the Cumberland River. With 11 of the fort's 17 guns
placed where they commanded a three mile stretch of the main channel, Tilghman
and his brave gunners gamely defended their post.
At 12:00 noon on
February 6, while Grant's infantry was still approaching the fort overland,
Foote's powerful flotilla steamed upriver, firing rapidly into the open fort.
The courageous defenders returned the fire when the approaching gunboats were
still a mile distant, but the Rebels were severly outgunned, and the Union fire
knocked one Rebel cannon after another out of action. After two hours of furious
cannon fire, and with only four cannon still operating, Tilghman had done all
that honor demanded; he struck the flag and surrendered the fort to Foote. The
Confederates had suffered 5 killed and 11 wounded; the Union sailors lost 11
killed and 31 wounded. Grant and his army, much to the navy's delight, did not
arrive on the scene until after the fort had surrendered.
Grant continues march.....Fort Donelson captured!
Cumberland
River - February 11-16, 1862
Order of
Battle
After the surrender of Ft. Henry, Grant marched
his troops toward Donelson, which lay some ten miles across the expanse of
thickly wooded land that separated the Tennessee River from the Cumberland
River. The fort was two miles north (or down river) from the village of Dover
and embraced about one hundred acres of land. Like a fortress, it stood on high
ground, well above the river.
On the east, it fronted the Cumberland
River; to the north, it faced Hickman's Creek, and on the south, there was
Indian Creek, little more than a ravine of black water from the Cumberland
River.
Early on Friday morning, February 14th, the first wash of Union
troops poured forth against the Confederate fort only to fall back, withdraw,
and be replaced by others. Nevertheless, the Rebels of the fort were not ready
to give up the fight as easily as Henry had been lost.
Fort Donelson had
been under the command of John Buchanan Floyd, formerly President James
Buchanan's War Secretary whose scandalous dealings in that administration had
been a humiliation to the Buchanan and the nation. Next in command was Gideon
Pillow, a political appointee who had performed miserably in the the Mexican
War. Pillow had proven to be a most inept soldier, having been branded a spy and
tried for insubordination. Not ones to wander too far from their ignominious
nature, the egregious pair soon showed their true lack of mettle when, faced
with inevitable defeat and capture with the fall of Ft Donelson, both men
quickly deserted the fort.
Simon Bolivar Buckner and some 13,000
Confederate troops had been left to stand against Grant. Buckner had been a year
behind Grant at West Point and the two had been friends, but friendship in war
was a fleeting thing, as Buckner would later learn. Years later, the friendship
would be renewed when Buckner would come to the financial aid of his friend
Grant and would even serve as pall bearer at Grant's funeral. By Friday night,
the weather had worsened. Many of the troops on both sides were suffering frost
bite; others had frozen to death where they had fallen when no longer able to
walk. In some cases, the fallen Federal troops were ministered to by the very
Rebels they fought. On Saturday, snow lay on the ground 3 inches deep and a
cold, blinding sleet poured over the land, yet in spite of the adversity of the
situation, both sides continued to fight until..."...the dead lay in heaps,
their gore trickling red lines along the snow in every direction." This was
according to a reporter for the Richmond Dispatch, who wrote in an effort to
prepare the South for what was to be an inevitable defeat; for the battle lines
had already shifted. Strong reinforcements for the Union Army had arrived, which
some sources estimated to total to be 27,000, while others were more generous,
suggesting it was closer to 35,000 fresh Federal troops.
Sunday morning
brought only the sheer futility of the fight to light when the confederate
troops found themselves and their fort completely surrounded by the Union
offense. In one last attempt by the rebels to stave away surrender, the fighting
resumed in the early morning hours, but it proved futile. For the Confederates,
there seemed nothing more to do than to ask for the conditions of surrender.
Buckner was not prepared for Grant's terms for the fort ... "Unconditional and
immediate surrender." The words gave rise to a new meaning for the General
Grant's initials of U.S.
On Sunday, February 16, 1862 at the Dover
Hotel, what would become known as Surrender House, which was located on a hill
overlooking the serene Cumberland River in Dover, Tennessee, Ft Donelson was
passed to Union hands. The fight was over. When all was said and done, the
accounting began. Federal losses had amounted to 2500 killed, wounded and/or
missing. The Confederates had lost 1420
As for Floyd and Pillow, they
were later suspended for their lack of bravery at Ft Donelson, and only Pillow
held command again, in which he once more showed his cowardice by hiding behind
a tree during a battle. Buckner was held prisoner after the capture of the fort,
but he was eventually released to return to his home.
One noteworthy
Confederate general at the fort who refused to surrender to the Yankees or to
slink away quietly in the night was a man with a portentous future as a daring
confederate leader. He was Nathan Bedford Forrest , who, along with 500 men and
supplies, staged a breakout from the fort before it fell to enemy hands. He and
the others made their way to Nashville. Forrest would meet up with the Yankees
more than once down the road, such as in a place called Shiloh but it was the
Battle at Ft. Donelson that brought his name to prominence.
Beyond all
that, something more far reaching and monumental had transpired that surpassed
all else and would inadvertently change the balance of the war; Grant's great
victory had made an impression where so many others in the Union Army had not.
Lincoln saw in the once unimportant, hard drinking General Grant what he'd been
seeking all along ... an aggressive, capable leader who would turn the war
around and lead the Union to victory.