The Fort Donelson Battlefield

Battle of Fort Donelson

General Grant looking over the Battlefield at Fort Donelson
(Paul Phillipoteaux, 1863)

Date: February 11-16, 1862
Location: Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Dover, Tennessee
Commanders: Union-Brig Gen Ulysses Grant, Flag Officer Andrew Foote; Confederate-Brig Gen John Floyd/Brig Gen Gideon Pillow/Brig Gen Simon Buckner
Strength: Union-25000, Confederate-15000
Casualties: Union-2700, Confederate-1400 + ~13000 surrendered
Result: Decisive Union Victory;1/4 of Confederate Western forces surrender, Cumberland River open to Union attack, Confederates withdraw from Kentucky, Fall of Bowling Green, Columbus Ky, and Nashville assured
Current Status: National Battlefield, some areas lost to development

While the Battle of Fort Henry was a minor skirmish with decisive effects, opening up large regions of the Western Theater to Union attack, the Battle of Fort Donelson was a (for its time) large battle that would smash open the Western Theater completely, destroy a Confederate small army, and make Ulysses Grant a household name throughout the country.

Built by Confederate forces in 1861 at the same time as Fort Henry 19km away, Fort Donelson was a far stronger fortification lying 30m above the banks of the Cumberland River, with a garrison of 1,500. It was built by slave labor, and by 1862 protected the Western Flank of Tennessee.

Depicted is a Confederate 8in siege howitzer, an effective if outdated cannon, positioned in a small redoubt at one corner of Fort Donelson.

After the surrender of Fort Henry, Brig Gen Ulysses Grant immediately elected to march overland to seize Fort Donelson. However, slowed by hot weather and rain and his still inexperienced army, the 19km effort took 6 days.  By that point, Grant's 15,000 troops would find a far different situation than the moderate garrison that they had expected when they set out.

After the fall of Fort Henry to Grant, the Confederates in the West were thrown in complete disarray.  Realizing that his massive defensive position in Southern Kentucky was now untenable, Confederate General Albert Johnson began retreating his forces deep into Tennessee.  However he also sent another 13,000 troops, one fourth of the entire western Confederate command, to Fort Donelson under Brig Gen Simon Buckner, which joined with the garrison as well as another 2,500 troops who escaped Fort Henry under command of Brig General Gideon Pillow. Johnson's actions have remained controversial, as he divided his small army, risking each to be destroyed in detail by their Federal opponents, however, the Confederate retreat to Nashville may have been cut off by Federal gunboats once Fort Donelson fell, and Johnson hoped to hold Grant in place while he coordinated the evacuation of Bowling Green. Regardless, by February 13th the Confederate forces at Fort Donelson were now 17,000 in strength, rivaling Grant's attacking force, even reinforced to 25,000.

The enlarged Confederate forces at Fort Donelson created a new outer line of trenches that stretched for 6 km around the fort and the town of Dover nearby, hemmed by two creeks.  As they encountered the new position on February 12, Grants' Federal forces soon extended its way around the fort as well, with the divisions of Brig Gens Charles Smith, Lew Wallace and John McClernand positioned from West to East. Heavy kirmishing occurred all along the line, and a sudden winter storm made everyone's life miserable.

Grant would later write, "I had known General Pillow in Mexico, and judged that with any force, no matter how small, I could march up to within gunshot of any intrenchments he was given to hold."

In Fort Donelson, Pillow took command, over Buckner and his division commander Col Bushrod Johnson. Pillow was and remains notorious for his military incompetence and political backbiting, including nearly messing up the important Battle of Cerro Gordo and attempting to undermine his superior Maj Gen Winfield Scott in the Mexican-American War, surviving only due to his personal friendship with President James Polk.  Realizing that the Confederate high command at Fort Donelson was chaotic, Johnson appointed Brig Gen John Floyd, a former Secretary of War wanted for gaft and treason in the North, as the overall commander.  Unfortunately for the Confederates, Floyd was a political commander with no skill in fighting, leaving the leadership to Pillow.This would have unfortunate consequences for the Confederates.

On February 13, harassed by fire from Maney's cannons positioned on this ridge, and despite orders to not engage the enemy, McClernand, a friendly political rival of Lincoln,  launched an unauthorized assault here at a hillside defended by Capt George Maney's four gun battery that was repulsed with severe losses.  The dry underbrush caught on fire during the fighting, and many wounded burned to death.

At the apex of McClernand's assault on Maney's Batteries, Col William Morrison's Illinoisans personally led by Col Isham Haynie were stopped by Confederate fire at this point

Confederate forces led by Col Roger  Hanson held these trenches against the Federal attack across the gully on the upper left.

Location of Cap Rice Grave's battery overlooking Indian Creek.  During McClernand's failed attack, it gave supporting fire to Maney's Battery on the opposing ridge. 

Smith also led a heavy reconnaissance-in-force and likewise suffered serious losses for it. Meanwhile, on the river, the gunboat Carondelet harassed the Confederate river batteries, doing negligible damage until a 32lb smoothborne exploded, killing the battery commander Cap Joseph Dixon.

The next day, Valentine's Day, February 14, Grant awaited Flag Officer Foote's gunboats to reduce the fort, much like he had done at Fort Henry. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.

The Confederates had two river batteries, an Upper Battery with three guns, and a Lower Battery with nine guns. As Grant's forces surrounded Fort Donelson, Foote's fortilla of ships sailed up the Cumberland River to engage the river batteries.  

This is the Upper Battery, so named because it lies on the upriver position, which is actually lower in elevation than the Lower Battery.   Only the powerful 6.5in Columbiad rifle played any role in the battle, due to the fighting never reaching the range of the two obsolete Carronades.

Andrew Foote's ships, riverboats clad in 2 inches of iron or timber, were held by many to be nearly indestructible.  On February 14, 1862, the USS St Louis, Louisville, Pittsburg and Carondelet steamed up to the lower battery and opened fire.  Foote sailed his ships up to within 360m of this spot, attempting to pummel the batteries into submission as at Fort Henry.  However, the elevation and power of the Lower Battery stopped his attempt this time.

The Lower River Battery held nine guns: one powerful 10 in Columbiad, and eight 32-pounder smoothbores. Despite losing one smoothbore to an earlier exchange, the seven 32-pounders were instrumental in defeating Foote's forces.

As the slow ironclads sailed against the current, they provided perfect targets for the Confederate gunners positioned here. All of the ironclads were hit numerous times; Foote was wounded in the foot, his flagship the USS St Louis lost control and was carried downstream, and the USS Louisville was also disabled and Pittsburg was heavily damaged. With 52 casualties, the riverborne fleet broke off action and retreated, to the cheers of the Confederates of the battiers, who had suffered no losses in the exchange.

Still, despite the victory of the river batteries, Grant had completed his encirclement of the Confederate forces.  Floyd and Pillow, realizing that the Confederates could not hold the fort indefinitely, resolved to break out of the Union lines and retreat to Nashville.

Lt David French's Battery on the perimeter of the Confederate outer line supported the Confederate breakout attempt on February 15, 1862.

Stripping their defenses bare, the Confederates massed for a large breakout.  They hoped to smash open the Federal flank and open up the Forge Road on which the army would be able to withdraw to Nashville. On the morning of February 15, 1862, 15,000 Confederates in Pillow's and Bushrod Johnson's Divisions attacked  McClernand's brigades under Cols Richard Olgesby and John McArthur from this location along the Forge Road. Despite being heavily outnumbered and suffering heavy casualties, the brigades withdrew in good order.

Location near the Forge Road from which the Confederate breakout attempt occurred

Hal Jasperson, 2011

Grant had left that morning to talk to Foote and had left no one in command when the Confederates struck. 
Consequently, confusion reigned in the Federal ranks as units ran out of ammunition, and brigade after brigade was hit and driven back, slowly bending the Federal line back along itself.  Some of the bloodiest fighting of the battle took place just outside of current park boundaries in the background.  Of note was Col Nathan Forrest's cavalry, which took a Federal battery in a charge, though at high cost. Finally, Lew Wallace sent reinforcements to McClernand, and Cols Charles Cruft and John Thayer's brigades halted the Confederate assault. Nevertheless, the Confederates had opened an escape route.  The Federal troops had been pushed back several miles to the South near Wynn Ferry Road, leaving the Forge Road open for the Confederate pullout. However at that critical juncture, Pillow pulled his division back to regroup and prepare for evacuation, as he apparently thought the plan had been (others had thought to sacrifice all of the remaining defenders and equipment). Then Floyd lost his nerve, and to the amazement of the troops ordered the entire army back to the trenches.

Location near Wynn Ferry Road, on which the Federal line stabilized and Wallace's Counterattack was launched

Finally hearing about the fighting, Grant galloped his horse across seven miles of icy roads and rejoined his embattled forces, quickly ordering masses of unorganized soldiers back into position. Correctly deducing that the Confederates were attempting to escape (as prisoners had three day's rations upon them) and had stripped their forces from the trenches, he rode over to Smith. Ironically, Smith was Grant's superior when he was a cadet at West Point, but now Grant ordered his former superior to take the outer earthworks: 

"All has failed on the right, you must take Fort Donelson,"

Spearheaded by Col Jacob Lauman's brigade and leading on horseback, Smith led the charge:

"Damn you, gentlemen, I see skulkers! I'll have none here! Come on, you volunteers, come on! This is your chance! You volunteered to be killed for love of country, and now you can be!"

Smith's charge quickly overran the rifle pits to his front and positioned himself within striking distance of the actual fort.

During the Confederate breakout, only the 30th Tennessee was positioned here on the far right of the Confederate line.  It was quickly overrun by Smith's afternoon attack on February 15

Just as Smith approached the inner works of Fort Donelson, he ran into Buckner's returning troops and was stopped at the next ridge. However, repeated attempts by Buckner to retake the lost positioned also failed.  By nightfall Smith was within direct cannonfire range of all the main Confederate positions at Fort Donelson.
 

Meanwhile, Lew Wallace was ordered to counterattack the Confederate forces at the breakout. Using zouave light infantry tactics, Wallace drove back the withdrawing Confederate forces. Wallace's counterattack had by nightfall succeeded in retaking nearly all of the former Union positions.  By the end of February 15, the Confederates were low on ammunition, demoralized, and had after a day of bloodshed ended in a worse position than they started. 

That night, at their headquarters at the Dover Hotel, the Confederate high command looked at their deteriorating situation. Deciding that another breakout was impossible, the Confederate high command elected to surrender.  Floyd and Pillow, worried about possible ramifications with surrendering to the North, slipped away by boat with some 1,000 troops while Buckner was left behind to ask for terms. Disgusted by the Confederate leadership, Col Nathan Forrest stated that he did not come to Donelson to surrender his men; that night, he broke out of the encirclement with 700 men by crossing the icy waters of Lick Creek and retreating to Nashville.To the amazement of everyone, he lost not a man in his retreat.

On the February 16, 1862, Buckner asked for terms.  He was a personal friend of Grant's, who had loaned the Federal commander money after Grant had resigned from the army in California. Grant's reply however was terse and succinct:

"No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.  I propose to move immediately upon your works."  

Despite a complaint about Grant's "ungenerous and unchivalrous terms", Buckner was in no position to oppose the Federals. At his headquarters here, he surrendered some 13,000 troops and 48 guns. 

The Dover Hotel, built in 1853 for steamboat travelers, was the headquarters of the Confederate high command at Fort Donelson, and where the Confederate army there surrendered. It is also the only remaining original building where a surrender took place, the rest usually being torn apart by souvenir-seekers. The hotel miraculously survived the Battle of Dover the next year, remaining in business until the 1930s.

The Battle of Fort Donelson, fought over the course of four days from February 13-16, had cost the Union 2700 casualties and the Confederates 1,500 casualties. An additional 13,000 Confederates surrendered and were shipped to prison camps throughout the North.  The victorious Union forces were overwhelmed; perhaps hundreds of Confederate troops escaped from the surrender, such as Col Bushrod Johnson, who simply walked off. Likely few cared; this was the largest surrender of military forces on the North American continent at that point, nearly one and a half times the number of British troops Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. As Buckner awaited transport North, Grant offered him his purse, in repayment of the California debt years ago.  Buckner respectfully declined.

Established in 1867, Fort Donelson National Cemetery holds the graves of some 670 Union soldiers, killed at Fort Donelson and other battles in the surrounding area

The Confederate dead of the battle were hastily buried afterwards; their graves remain in unknown locations in and around the park.  This monument near the site of Smith's breakthrough was erected in 1933 to commemorate them.

Grant had won the first significant Union victory of the war, breaking open the Confederate defenses in the West and neutralizing a third of the Confederate forces there. Grant himself, an obscure Federal General that was a failure in civilian life, first came into public attention, initiating his long road to Appomattox and the White House.  Meanwhile, General Albert Johnston was obliged to retreat from all of Kentucky and abandon Nashville without a fight- the Confederates would temporarily lose all of Middle Tennessee and forever lose most of Kentucky and the Tennessee state capital.  Desperate to reverse the South's waning fortunes, Johnson would strip the entire West for troops and confront Grant at Shiloh two months later.

Today, most of Fort Donelson is a National Battlefield, controlled by the National Park Service. Ironically, most of the area on which the bloody Confederate breakout occurred is on private land, though it is slowly being acquired by private organizations.

To reach Fort Donelson, take HWY 79 to HWY 49 (The Trace) at Dover.  Take a right at Lock D Road. 

https://www.google.com/maps/dir//36.4826882,-87.862818/@36.4838398,-87.8630433,16z/data=!4m3!4m2!1m0!1m0?hl=en