With Foote’s warships heading for Fort Donelson via the Tennessee, Ohio, and Cumberland rivers, followed by strong infantry units on transports, Grant’s army of fifteen thousand men and eight artillery batteries began making final preparations for the advance on Donelson on the evening of February 11. Indeed, McClernand’s First Division started out on the journey late in the afternoon, moving about five miles before the Democratic general from Illinois ordered a halt.42 On the following day the entire army advanced forward, moving along both of the roads running from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson.
As the expedition began Dr. John H. Brinton, of General Grant’s staff, found it hard to control his high-spirited mount and the animal kept pushing in front of Grant and the others. Mounted on his favorite stallion, Jack, Grant spurred his horse forward. Passing Brinton, the general humorously remarked, “Doctor, I believe I command this army, and I think I’ll go first.”43
Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest and a small force of Confederate cavalry skirmished with Grant’s advance elements, but before nightfall the Federals reached the Donelson area and began to surround it.44
While the Federal soldiers slogged along the muddy roads toward Fort Donelson, the first of Foote’s warships, the Carondolet, appeared within sight of the Confederate strongpoint. Commander Walke arrived opposite the fort about 11:20 a.m., but could see nothing of any Federal troops in the area. To feel out the Confederate defenses and to let General Grant know the navy had arrived, Walke shelled the fort briefly before retiring down the river a short distance to await the arrival of the Union army.45
On Thursday morning, February 13, Grant continued deploying his army to cut off Donelson from outside succor; but before the ringing of the fort could be completed General Floyd arrived with the remainder of his command, slipping into Donelson without incident. Grant’s officers had strict orders to stand on the defensive and not to bring on any kind of general engagement, for he hoped Foote’s gunboats could pound the Southerners into submission without an expensive army action. But events ruled otherwise. The Confederates also stood on the defensive, but their skirmishers and artillery soon began to harass the investing foe.
Irritated by the Confederate activity and believing he had spotted a weak point in the Rebel works, General John A. McClernand ordered an assault by four of his regiments, the Seventeenth, Forty-fifth, Forty-eighth, and Forty-ninth Illinois Infantry. Colonel William Morrison was badly wounded and the Illinois infantry was repulsed with heavy casualties.46 General Floyd made no real effort to counter-attack, and simply waited docilely inside the fortifications, completely and foolishly surrendering the initiative to Grant.
Early on Thursday morning Walke received a dispatch from General Grant, requesting him to commence bombarding Fort Donelson. At 9:00 a.m., the Carondolet slowly steamed up toward the Confederate works and opened fire. General Floyd’s gunners quickly returned the compliment with vigor, and a sharp exchange of projectiles ensued. Walke’s gunners dropped 139 shells on the fort, killing an engineer officer, Lieutenant Joseph Dixon, and disabling the carriage of one of the Rebels’ guns. Floyd’s gunners did almost as well, twice hitting the Carondolet. One of the hits was from the 10-inch Columbiad, and the heavy 128-pound projectile tore through the ironclad’s insides with spectacular effect. Seven men were badly wounded, and five others slightly injured by this single shot. Walke withdrew from the action to repair damages, and he transferred his wounded to an auxiliary steamer, the Alps. Early in the afternoon, with the ship again in fighting trim, Walke resumed the contest, trading shots with the Confederates until darkness and a lack of ammunition intervened.47
About 11:30 p.m., Foote arrived with the ironclads St. Louis, Louisville, and Pittsburg, and the wooden gunboats Lexington, Tyler, and Conestoga. They were much welcomed by Grant because he needed a quick victory. The weather had turned cold, and the Federals were being pelted intermittently with freezing rain and snow. During the march from Fort Henry thousands of Union soldiers, deceived by the mildness of the weather, dumped their blankets to get rid of their weight, and now the men were paying the bitter price.48
Dawn brought little relief to the Federal soldiers, but General Grant anxiously awaited the naval assault. About 3:00 p.m., the Carondolet having been resupplied with ammunition and with all other preparations completed, Foote gave the order to attack. The Louisville approached along the west bank of the river, with Foote on the St. Louis, moving up toward the center of the channel. The Pittsburg and Carondolet advanced near the east bank of the river. The Lexington, Conestoga, and Tyler followed about half a mile to the rear. At 3:30, Confederate gunners opened fire, and within ten minutes the Federal warships began returning the fire. At first the Rebel fire was largely ineffective, while the Yankee tars were hitting the Donelson batteries with a fair degree of accuracy.49
To Confederate Nathan Bedford Forrest, who viewed the attack as a spectator near the battery, it seemed as though nothing could stop the irrepressible surge of the oncoming ironclads. Turning to one of his officers, the Reverend Major D. C. Kelly, he cried, “Parson, for God’s sake pray! Nothing but God Almighty can save that fort.”50
But Foote made the mistake of approaching too close in range, actually to within a quarter of a mile from Donelson. At the shortened distance the Confederates were able to use even their 32-pounders with considerable effect, since they were able to make plunging shots onto the ironclads. One of the Southerners’ guns was accidentally disabled by an inept gunner, but the other pieces pumped shot after shot at the enemy ironclads. A 10-inch shot smashed the Carondolet’s heavy iron anchor. A small projectile shattered the pilot house, mortally wounding one of the pilots. Other cannon balls tore away all of the ironclad’s boats. One of Walke’s bow rifles suddenly burst, wounding a dozen men and adding to the general pandemonium. All of the ironclads were repeatedly struck. In the excitement the Pittsburg collided with the Carondolet’s stern, shattering her starboard rudder. The St. Louis’ pilot house was shattered, killing the pilot and wounding Foote in the foot. Gradually the Pittsburg, St. Louis, and Louisville were obliged to withdraw out of range, leaving the Carondolet to continue the duel. Two 32-pound shots tore through the Carondolet’s underwater hull, and the ship was rapidly becoming unmanageable. His vessel struck at least thirty-five times by enemy shots, the courageous Walke was finally convinced that it was time to retreat. By 5:00, or a few minutes past the hour, the battle was over. The damaged Federal gunboats were all withdrawn beyond the range of Donelson’s batteries.51 Federal naval losses in the at tack were eight killed and forty-seven wounded; Confederate losses numbered not a single casualty.52
The failure of Foote’s attack completely disrupted General Grant’s plan. Counting on the warships to crush Donelson as easily as they had Fort Henry, the Union commander had made no real preparations for the fight, and the Friday repulse left him with the problem of using his army to capture the place. But Grant’s problem was eased a little by the arrival of heavy troop reinforcements.
The first of these reinforcements was Brigadier General Lew Wallace, who had originally been left behind to protect Forts Heiman and Henry. The Indianan brought the Eleventh Indiana, Eighth Missouri, and a battery of field artillery with him. Reaching General Grant’s headquarters in the Crisp House near Dover, General Wallace received quite a surprise when Grant ordered him to relinquish command of his two regiments, directing them to report to General Charles F. Smith’s command. The army commander then informed Wallace that he was to assume command of a newly formed Third Division, consisting of regiments even then arriving by transports. Wallace was directed to take these units and hold the Union center, while General McClernand’s command protected the right, and General Smith’s the left.53
Although a little uncertain in his mind as to what to do, General Grant was gradually tightening his hold on Fort Donelson. One thought continued to pervade his mind, and it was that the Southerners would never take the offensive. Grant had fallen in
to the dangerous error of thinking that the enemy would do exactly what he wanted them to do.54
Friday night was as bad as Thursday, the Bluecoats suffering fiercely from the inclement weather.55 Just be fore daylight a messenger from Foote reached the Crisp House and handed the worried, sleepless general a message mentioning the wound received in the Friday action and requesting Grant to come to the St. Louis for an immediate conference. General Grant quickly started for the conference, riding across the solidly frozen ground. He soon reached the river, where a small boat carried him out to the flag ship. Foote explained that his warships had to return to Mound City, Illinois, for repairs, but added that he could return in about ten days. General Grant agreed, and bid ding the crusty old seadog goodbye, quickly was rowed ashore.
In his mind the commanding general was rapidly coming to the conclusion that a formal siege was the next order of business. Reaching the shore, General Grant received a bad shock. A very white-faced Captain William Hillyer, of his staff, was waiting to notify him that the army was under heavy assault.56
Before Foote’s gunboats began the bombardment on Friday, General Floyd called a council of war. The Southerners knew Grant was receiving reinforcements exaggeratedly estimated at thirty thousand to fifty thousand, and it was decided to evacuate Fort Donelson. The plan decided upon was to attack the extreme Union right (McClernand’s First Division) and to seize the road leading to Charlotte, Tennessee. Pillow’s Division was to make the assault, while Buckner’s Division was to cover the withdrawal to Nashville. But by the time all preparations were complete, it was decided that it was too late to make any such movement at this time.57
Friday night General Floyd again called his senior officers in to council. Although Foote’s attack had been repulsed, the Virginian was still determined to break out and head for Nashville. The Charlotte Road plan was again broached, and the officers immediately began making preparations that night for the Saturday dawn assault.58 During the bitter cold hours of darkness, General Floyd had Buckner withdraw all of his troops from the entrenchments on the right, leaving but a single regiment (450 men) to cover that sector of the defense. Both armies were suffering heavily from the cold, and somehow Grant’s soldiers failed to notice or pay any attention to the sounds of movement coming from within the Confederate works.59
About 6:00 Saturday morning, Pillow’s men launched their attack. McClernand’s men were awake and in battle formation, and had even thrown up a few simple earthworks. A wild melee developed, with the Southerners pressing recklessly onward and endeavoring to get close enough to use their shotguns and antiquated muskets. Forrest’s cavalry charged on Pillow’s left, and after the first hour or so, Buckner’s men joined in on the Tennessean’s right. Finally McClernand was forced back, losing control of the Charlotte Road. By noon the Confederates had not only driven General McClernand backward and secured control of the desired line of communications, but they had also ripped open the Union army.60
Instead of throwing every man into the battle and attempting to finish the destruction of Grant’s army, or at least simply evacuating Fort Donelson, the Confederates procrastinated and wound up being trapped. A wild and confused action followed with Pillow sending Buckner back to try and hold the Confederate right, which was being attacked by General Smith’s command. The white haired general led the advance, yelling at his men, “Come on, you volunteers, come on. This is your chance. You volunteered to be killed for love of country, and now you can be…I’m only a soldier, and don’t want to be killed, but you came to be killed and now you can be.”61
General Smith’s men overwhelmed the single Confederate regiment at that point and broke inside the Donelson defenses; but General Buckner arrived, and another wild fight promptly developed.62 Some of Smith’s men began to falter, and the Second Division’s commander gently chided them, saying, “Damn you gentlemen, I see skulkers, I’ll have none here.”63 Despite the crusty old general’s tirades, his division was finally stopped in its advance.
Deploying his artillery on a hill overlooking Smith’s division, Buckner began pounding the Federals with shot and shell.64 McClernand and Lew Wallace reoccupied most of the ground lost in the first Confederate onslaught, how ever, with the exception of one road. The road nearest the river from Dover to Nashville remained un occupied by the Bluecoats.65 Al though in formed of this last escape route late in the afternoon, General Floyd, who was by now in a deep funk, decided against trying to use it on the grounds that his men were simply physically too weak.66
Saturday night the Confederate high command gathered in Floyd’s headquarters in the Dover Inn to discuss a future course of action. Buckner and Floyd pessimistically favored surrender, but Pillow argued for some kind of an attack. In the end it was decided to surrender. No one wanted to take on his shoulders the actual humiliation of yielding, but finally Buckner agreed to take charge.
At daybreak Sunday morning, the steamer General Anderson arrived with four hundred men, and Floyd promptly requisitioned the vessel, escaping with his Virginia brigade. General Pillow, with his staff and a few others, escaped across the river in an old scow.
But while Buckner was negotiating with Grant, Nathan Bedford Forrest was acting.67 When General Buckner assumed command of the post, Forrest had promptly spoken up at the meeting, saying, “I did not come here for the purpose of surrendering my command, and I will not do it if they will follow me out,” and then For rest ad dressed General Pillow saying, “General Pillow, what shall I do?”
“Cut your way out,” was the Tennessean’s reply.68
Forrest, with his command, plus numerous personnel from other units, did just that, escaping over the one remaining open road.
Dawn brought the surrender of the post without further resistance. General Buckner made no further attempt on Grant’s army, nor did he try to transfer, as he could easily have done, any of the troops by steamer. Fort Donelson was simply surrendered.
The loss of Donelson was one of the worst disasters to befall the Confederacy in the entire war. The loss of the post was certainly bad enough in itself, but what was infinitely worse was the loss of the garrison. These men were literally irreplaceable.
What were the Confederate losses at Fort Donelson? The records are completely contradictory, but it appears that about two thousand Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded, and between twelve to fifteen thousand were captured, out of a total of nineteen to twenty-one thousand Rebel participants. Grant’s losses were five hundred killed, 2,108 wounded, and 224 captured by the Confederates and carted off to captivity with Floyd.69
The news of the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, especially the latter, plunged the South into a desperate state of depression. Not only General Johnston’s men, but Confederate soldiers in other armies were profoundly disappointed by the severe reverses in Tennessee. Southern morale dropped to a dangerously low ebb.70 As soon as the first shock of the news passed, Southerners, military and civilian alike, broke out in a wave of condemnation of General A. S. Johnston.71 A delegation of prominent Tennesseans even went to Richmond to ask President Jefferson Davis to replace the commanding general in the West. Irritated by this request, President Davis dismissed the men saying, “If Sidney Johnston is not a general, we had better give up the war for we have no general.”72
Outwardly undisturbed by the clamor against him, the Kentuckian calmly continued overseeing the retreat of the Confederate army from Bowling Green. On February 17, General Johnston withdrew from Nashville, leaving behind only a token force to maintain order and protect government property. With the main force of the army, the Kentuckian marched toward Murfreesboro. Many of his troops wept at leaving the Tennessee capital to her fate. Some soldiers bitterly protested that the army ought to stay and fight.73
Arriving at the little Tennessee town, the army remained until February 23, by which time several small Confederate commands that had been scattered throughout the theater had arrived, along with the rear guard from Nashville. Re
organizing the army into three divisions under Generals Hardee, George B. Crittenden, and Pillow, General Johnston pulled out of Murfreesboro on February 28, heading for Moorsville, Alabama.74
This was the start of the eventful concentration of Confederate forces at Corinth, Mississippi—the prelude to the Battle of Shiloh.
The Confederate Leaders
Unless otherwise credited, all photos are courtesy of Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders
Col. Daniel W. Adams
Col. Henry W. Allen
Col. Wirt Adams
Brig. Gen. James Patton Anderson
Col. William B. Bate
Brig. Gen. John S. Bowen
Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard
Maj. Gen. Braxton Bragg
Brig. Gen. John C. Breckinridge
Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham
Brig. Gen. James R. Chalmers
Brig. Gen. Charles Clark
Brig. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne
Col. Nathan B. Forrest
Col. Zach C. Deas
Col. Randall L. Gibson
Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 Page 8