Fort Henry And Donelson Essay Research Paper

Fort Henry And Donelson Essay, Research Paper

Fort Donelson, Tennessee, guarding the Cumberland River, became the site of the first major Confederate defeat in the Civil War. Victory at Donelson started Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant on his road to Appomattox and the White House. His cool judgment under pressure saved the day after the Confederates threatened to break his troop lines, yet errors by his opponents handed him a victory that he did not fully earn on his own.

Possession of the better part of two states vital to the South depended on the outcome of the battle at Fort Donelson. When war began in April 1861, Kentucky declared its neutrality, in response to deep conflicts of opinion among its citizens. Considering neutrality impossible to maintain, North and South maneuvered for position once Kentucky was opened to military operations. The Confederates constructed fortifications on both the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers just south of the Kentucky line. They built Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, on ground susceptible to flooding, but chose higher ground for Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River.

Both sides wanted Kentucky but recognized that the first to cross its borders risked losing popular support. Confederate Brigadier General Gideon J. Pillow rashly seized Columbus, Kentucky, on the Mississippi River bluffs, a move that appalled President Jefferson Davis, who first ordered Pillow to withdraw, then allowed him to stay when he realized that the deed could not be reversed. Grant, commanding at Cairo, Illinois, then occupied Paducah at the mouth of the Tennessee and Smithland at the mouth of the Cumberland, strategic points neglected by General Gideon Pillow.

In November Grant tested Confederate strength at Columbus by landing troops across the Mississippi River at Belmont, Missouri. The drawn battle that followed sent him back to Cairo still eager to advance, but not necessarily along the Mississippi River. Knowing of the poor location of Fort Henry, he wanted to use Union gunboats to advantage, and foresaw that the fall of Fort Henry would open the Tennessee River as far north as Alabama. Winning reluctant permission from his superior, Major General Henry W. Halleck, Grant moved south in early February. The flooded Fort Henry fell to the gunboats on February 6, 1862 and most of the garrison fled to Fort Donelson, which was eleven miles away. Grant then followed, after sending the gunboats back down the Tennessee and over to the Cumberland. In St. Louis, Halleck, a “military bureaucrat par excellence”, took no official insight of Grant s plans. If Grant captured Fort Donelson, Halleck would assume credit; if Grant failed, he would avoid responsibility.

Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, overall commander in the west, concentrated his troops at Fort Donelson, anticipating the loss of Nashville if Donelson fell. Torn between defending and abandoning the fort, Johnston took a middle course that led to disaster. He was criticized later for sending so many troops to Donelson with out sending his whole force and taking command himself. By the time Grant arrived, with approximately 15, 000 men. Donelson held nearly 21,000, including at least two generals too many. Brigadier General John B. Floyd, who was commanding Donelson, had been a former secretary of war in the cabinet of President James Buchanan and was widely suspected by northerners of transferring arms and munitions southward before the rebellion broke out. Pillow, the second-in-command, had little respect from his own men and contempt from Grant. Third in line but first in ability was Brigadier General Simon B. Buckner, the only professional soldier of the three.

Fort Donelson consisted of earthworks surrounding abut fifteen acres, where the garrison lived in huts. Two batteries outside the fort commanded the river, and about two miles of fortifications, protecting both the artillery encampment and the nearby hamlet of Dover, stretched from Hickman Creek on the right to Lick Creek on the left. The creeks, flooded in February, protected both flanks. Confederate officers and engineers had complained continuously of shortages of men and supplies to complete the fortifications, but Federal forced encountered formidable earthworks fronted by trees fell, tangled, and sharpened to obstruct the attack.

Grant advanced on February 12, and began to encircle Fort Donelson the next day, ordering Brigadier General Charles F. Smith s division to investigate the Confederate right, commanded by Buckner, and Brigadier General John A. McClenand s division to investigate the Confederate left, under Brigadier General Bushrod R. Johnson. Grant found the Confederate lines too strong and well positioned for assault. Relying on this strength, however, the Confederates permitted Union troops to complete a virtual encirclement, leaving only a small gap on their right, and to select high ground for their base. If Grant s boldness had been matched by his opponents, they might have struck Union troops as they marched on two separate roads to Donelson, or the Confederates might have counterattacked at Donelson while they had superior numbers and Grant lacked naval support. However, they did not. Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote s gunboat fleet arrived late at night, carrying fresh troops, and a division commanded by Brigadier General Lewis Wallace marched from Fort Henry. Ultimat