Fort Donelson, Battle of
1862 CE
The Battle of Fort Donelson is fought from February 11–16, 1862, in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
The Union capture of the Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border opena the Cumberland River, an important avenue for the invasion of the South.
The Union's success also elevates Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant from an obscure and largely unproven leader to the rank of major general, and earns him the nickname of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
Grant moves his army twelve miles (nineteen kilometers) overland to Fort Donelson from February 11 to 13 and conducts several small probing attacks. (Although the name is not yet in use, the troops serving under Grant are the nucleus of the Union's Army of the Tennessee.)
On February 14, Union gunboats under Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote attempt o reduce the fort with gunfire, but are forced to withdraw after sustaining heavy damage from Fort Donelson's water batteries.
On February 15, with the fort surrounded, the Confederates, commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, launch a surprise attack against the right flank of Grant's army in an attempt to open an escape route to Nashville, Tennessee.
Grant, who is away from the battlefield at the start of the attack, arrives to rally his men and counterattack.
Despite achieving partial success and opening the way for a retreat, Floyd loses his nerve and orders his men back to the fort.
The following morning, Floyd and his second-in-command, Brig. Gen. Gideon Johnson Pillow, escape with a small detachment of troops, relinquishing command to Brig. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, who accepts Grant's terms of unconditional surrender later in the day.
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Nathan Bedford Forrest rallies nearly four thousand troops and leads them to escape across the Cumberland.
Nashville and central Tennessee thus fall to the Union, leading to attrition of local food supplies and livestock and a breakdown in social organization.
His operations in the campaign are well coordinated with United States Navy Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote.
The fort is poorly situated on a floodplain and virtually indefensible against gunboats, with many of its guns under water.
Because of the previous neutrality of Kentucky, the Confederates could not build river defenses at a more strategic location inside the state, so they had settled for a site just inside the border of Tennessee.
With a reduced crew manning the cannons, Tilghman fights an artillery duel with the Union squadron for nearly three hours before he determines that further resistance is useless.
The Tennessee River is now open for future Union operations into the South.
Grant's army marches cross-country in pursuit of Tilghman's men and attempts immediate assaults on the fort from the rear, but they are unsuccessful.
On February 15, the Confederate forces under Brigadier General John B. Floyd attempt to escape and launch a surprise assault against the Union right flank (commanded by Brigadier General John A. McClernand), driving McClernand's division back but not creating the opening they need to slip away.
Grant recovers from this temporary reversal and assaults the weakened Confederate right.
Trapped in the fort and the town of Dover, Tennessee, Confederate Brigadier General Simon B. Buckner surrenders his command of eleven thousand five men and many needed guns and supplies to Grant's demand for "unconditional surrender".
The combined victories at Henry and Donelson are the first significant Union victories in the war, and two major rivers become available for invasions into Tennessee.
As Grant had anticipated, Polk's position at Columbus is untenable, and he withdraws soon after Donelson falls.
Grant has also cut the Memphis and Ohio Railroad that previously had allowed Confederate forces to move laterally in support of each other.
Johnston moves his force to concentrate with Beauregard's by late March.
The preparations for the Union campaign have not proceeded smoothly, and Halleck seems more concerned with his standing in relation to General-in-Chief George B. McClellan than he does with understanding the Confederate Army is divided and canbe defeated in detail.
Further, he cannot agree with his peer, Buell, now in Nashville, on a joint course of action.
He sends Grant up the Tennessee River while Buell remains in Nashville.