Battle of Fort Donelson History Battle of Fort Henry Details Facts Photo Map Cumberland Rivers Tennessee River Maps Photos, General Grant General Simon Buckner, Western Theater Civil War Battles

Recommended Reading: Mississippi River Gunboats of the American Civil War 1861-65 (New Vanguard). Description: At the start of the American Civil War, neither side had warships on the Mississippi River. In the first few months, moreover, both sides scrambled to gather a flotilla, converting existing riverboats for naval use. These ships were transformed into powerful naval weapons despite a lack of resources, trained manpower and suitable vessels. Continued below...

The creation of a river fleet was a miracle of ingenuity, improvisation and logistics, particularly for the South. This title describes their design, development and operation throughout the American Civil War.

The Leaders

"No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted."

Ulysses S. Grant, February 16, 1862

The morning of February 14 dawned cold and quiet. Early in the afternoon a furious roar broke the stillness, and the earth began to shake. Andrew H. Foote's Union gunboat fleet, consisting of the ironclads St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Corondolet, and the timberclads Conestoga and Tyler, had arrived from Fort Henry via the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers and were exchanging "iron valentines" with the eleven big guns in the Southern water batteries. During this one and one-half hour duel the Confederates wounded Foote and inflicted such extensive damage upon the gunboats that they were forced to retreat. The hills and hollows echoed with cheers from the southern soldiers.

The Confederate generals—John Floyd, Gideon Pillow, Simon Buckner and Bushrod Johnson—also rejoiced; but sober reflection revealed another danger. Grant was receiving reinforcements daily and had extended his right flank almost to Lick Creek to complete the encirclement of the Southerners. If the Confederates did not move quickly, they would be starved into submission. Accordingly, they massed their troops against the Union right, hoping to clear a route to Nashville and safety. The battle on February 15 raged all morning, the Union Army grudgingly retreating step by step. Just as it seemed the way was clear, the Southern troops were ordered to return to their entrenchments—a result of confusion and indecision among the Confederate commanders. Grant immediately launched a vigorous counterattack, retaking most of the lost ground and gaining new positions as well. The way of escape was closed once more.

Floyd and Pillow turned over command of Fort Donelson to Buckner and slipped away to Nashville with about 2,000 men. Others followed cavalryman Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest across swollen Lick Creek. That morning, February 16, Buckner asked Grant for terms. Grant's answer was short and direct: "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted." Buckner surrendered.

Soon after the surrender, civilians and relief agencies rushed to assist the Union Army. The U.S. Sanitary Commission was one of the first to provide food, medical supplies, and hospital ships to transport the wounded. Many civilians came in search of loved ones or to offer support. Although not officially recognized as nurses, women such as Mary Bickerdyke cared for and comforted sick and wounded soldiers.

With the capture of Fort Donelson and its sister fort, Henry, the North had not only won its first great victory, it had also gained a new hero—"Unconditional Surrender" Grant, who was promoted to major general. Subsequent victories at Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga would lead to his appointment as lieutenant general and commander of all Union Armies. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox would send Grant to the White House.

After the fall of Fort Donelson, the South was forced to give up southern Kentucky and much of Middle and West Tennessee. The Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, and railroads in the area, became vital Federal supply lines. Nashville was developed into a huge supply depot for the Union army in the west. The heartland of the Confederacy was opened, and the Federals would press on until the "Union" became a fact once more.

Recommended Reading: Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862 (The American Civil War) (Hardcover). Description: This book presents one of the most detailed descriptions of the Fort Henry and Fort Donelson Campaign. The volume describes the preparation, logistics, and the execution of the campaign. The book details the futile (and brief) defense of the poorly designed Fort Henry. It demonstrates the willingness of General Ulysses Grant, unlike many of his general officer brethren in the Union Army at that time, to take immediate action against Fort Donelson. Continued below...

It shows some of Grant’s sloppiness in combat situations (as at Shiloh, where he did not bother preparing a stout defense or at Belmont when he lost control of his troops), for instance, when he left Fort Donelson to meet with the naval commander--leaving his army leaderless at the time when the Confederates attempted a breakout. But the book also well describes his tenacity. After the near breakout, Grant takes initiative once again. The description of the dysfunctional Confederate command structure (from Albert Sydney Johnston on down to the commanders on the ground at Fort Donelson) is excellent, although, perhaps, Simon Bolivar Buckner may not have been quite as ineffective as depicted… A valuable book that warrants being in the library of Civil War buffs.

 

Recommended Reading: Forts Henry and Donelson: The Key to the Confederate Heartland. Description: The Twin Rivers Campaign, aka the Union campaign against Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, was a direct result of Gen. Winfield Scott’s Anaconda Plan… But, after the Twin River forts were captured by a Federal army-navy force and coupled with the fall of Nashville, the Union enjoyed a fresh and much needed momentum. The fall of the forts signaled the beginning of the Confederate collapse in the West, which ultimately decided the war. Continued below... 

Benjamin Franklin Cooling, author of several Civil War studies, conveys the actions of both Federal and Confederate authorities before and during the campaign, and applies the exact words of the frontline soldiers’ to the subject. The campaign is described in good detail, and with great writing. With little written about this dramatic and pivotal campaign, it is a great joy to read Mr. Cooling's book. The maps in this book, while not the best, are well above average. They cover the fighting at the forts in very good detail. The illustrations are helpful as well. I encourage Civil War buffs to read this book and enjoy the history of this rarely written about pivotal campaign.

 

NEW! Recommended Reading: Men of Fire: Grant, Forrest, and the Campaign That Decided the Civil War. From Publishers Weekly: The bloody February 1862 Union victory at Fort Donelson on Tennessee's Cumberland River is remembered as the Union's first big success—and as the battle in which Ulysses S. Grant held firm for Confederate unconditional surrender. Former journalist Hurst (Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography) attempts to make the case that Grant's western theater victory at Donelson indelibly shaped his military career, as well as that of Confederate Lt. Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest, and that the battle turned the tide of the Civil War unalterably in the North's favor. Writing forcefully and engagingly, Hurst does a thorough job of reconstructing the military aspects of the battle and never shies away from illuminating the war's horror. Continued below...

His focus is on Grant, the Confederate generals who faced him (John Floyd, Gideon Pillow, Simon Buckner and Bushrod Johnson) and the ever-aggressive Forrest, best known for his battlefield viciousness and his postwar role in creating the Ku Klux Klan. It's a stretch, though, to postulate that the 1862 victory at Donelson propelled the Union to victory more than three years later. Certainly, as Hurst says, western theater action often is overlooked in assessing the Civil War. But one can't ignore the impact on the war's outcome of the massive battles of Antietam, Gettysburg, Wilderness and Cold Harbor that came after Donelson. AWARDED 5 STARS by americancivilwarhistory.org

 

Recommended Reading: Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns (Great Campaigns of the Civil War). Description: When Vicksburg fell to Union forces under General Grant in July 1863, the balance turned against the Confederacy in the trans-Appalachian theater. The Federal success along the river opened the way for advances into central and eastern Tennessee, which culminated in the bloody battle of Chickamauga and then a struggle for Chattanooga. Chickamauga is usually counted as a Confederate victory, albeit a costly one.

 

Also Consider: CIVIL WAR IN WEST SLIP CASES: From Stones River to Chattanooga [BOX SET], by Peter Cozzens (1528 pages) (University of Illinois Press). Description: This trilogy very competently fills in much needed analysis and detail on the critical Civil War battles of Stones River, Chickamauga and Chattanooga. "Cozzens' comprehensive study of these three great battles has set a new standard in Civil War studies....the research, detail and accuracy are first-rate."