With Kentucky’s decision to not join the Confederacy,
southern military leaders were forced to create key defensive positions along
the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, south of the Kentucky border. Forts Henry, Heiman, and Donelson were
devised to protect western Tennessee from Union forces using the Tennessee and
Cumberland rivers as approach avenues.
Unfortunately for the Confederacy, there were few good locations to
choose from along the two rivers.
Henry Halleck approved Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s plan to
move swiftly to attack Fort Henry before Confederate reinforcements could
arrive. As Grant’s two divisions began
their march south, gunboats under the command of Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote
proceeded down river to attack the Confederate forts on the Tennessee. In a swift, violent exchange of gunfire,
Forts Heiman and Henry quickly fell to the Union gunboats on February 6,
Now consolidated around the two former Confederate forts on
the Tennessee River, Grant was determined to move quickly on the much larger
Fort Donelson, located on the nearby Cumberland River. Grant’s boast that he
would capture Donelson by the 8th of February quickly ran into
challenges. Poor winter weather,
late-arriving reinforcements, and difficulties in moving the ironclads to the
Cumberland, all delayed Grant’s departure for Donelson.
Despite being fairly convinced that no earthen fort could
withstand the power of the Union gunboats, Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney
Johnston allowed the garrison at Fort Donelson to remain and even sent new
commanders and reinforcements to the site.
On February 11th, Johnston appointed Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd
as the commander of Fort Donelson and the surrounding region. 17,000 Confederate soldiers, combined with
improved artillery positions and earthworks convinced Floyd that a hasty
retreat was unnecessary.
By February 13th, most of Grant’s Union soldiers
had arrived in the vicinity of Fort Donelson and had begun to arrange
themselves around the landward side of the fort. Several inches of snowfall and a cold winter
wind sent shivers through both armies. With
Grant’s reinforced army now blocking a landward exit, the Confederate forces
knew that they would have to fight their way to freedom.
On February 14, 1862, Foote’s ironclads moved upriver to bombard
Fort Donelson. The subsequent duel
between Foote’s “Pook Turtles” and the heavy guns at Fort Donelson led to a
Union defeat on the Cumberland. Many of
Foote’s ironclads were heavily damaged and Foote himself was wounded in the
attack. Grant’s soldiers could hear the
Confederate cheers as the Union gunboats retreated.
While Grant was now contemplating an extended siege, the
Confederate leaders had devised a bold plan to move all the forces they could
to the Union right and to force open a path of escape. Early on the morning of February 15th,
the Confederate assault struck the Union right and drove it back from its
positions on Dudley’s Hill. Brig. Gen. John
McClernand’s division attempted to reform their lines, but the ongoing Rebel
attacks continued to drive his forces to the southeast. Disaster loomed for the Union army.
But in what would become one of the oddest and most
improbable acts on any Civil War battlefield, Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow,
sensing a complete victory over the Union forces, ordered the attacking force
back to their earthworks, thereby abandoning the hard-fought gains of the
Grant, who had hurriedly returned to the front, ordered Brig.
Gen. Lew Wallace and McClernand to retake their lost ground and then rode to
the Union left to order an attack upon the Confederate works opposite Charles
Smith’s division. Grant reasoned,
correctly, that the Confederate right must be greatly reduced in strength given
the heavy Confederate assault on their left.
Smith’s division surged up to the works and overwhelmed the one
Confederate regiment holding an extended line.
Capturing large stretches of the Confederate earthworks, Smith’s
division was stopped only by the onset of darkness.
During the night of the 15th and 16th,
Confederate leaders discussed their options.
Despite many disagreements, it was determined that surrender was the
only viable option for the Confederate army. Generals Floyd and Pillow managed
to make various excuses and crossed the river to safety. Lt. Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest, disgusted
with the Confederate decision to surrender, took his cavalrymen and escaped
down the Charlotte Road. Even with these
defections, more than 13,000 Confederate soldiers remained at Donelson.
With a Union attack poised to strike Fort Donelson, the
Federal soldiers were surprised to see white flags flying above the Confederate
earthworks. Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner,
now left in command, met with Ulysses S. Grant to determine the terms of
surrender. Buckner, who was hoping for
generous terms from his old West Point friend, was disappointed to get Grant’s
response. “No terms except unconditional
and immediate surrender can be accepted.
I propose to move immediately upon your works.” The great Union victory at Fort Donelson, and
Grant’s uncompromising demand brought an avalanche of acclaim to the Brig.
General from Galena, Ohio.