Okla-homey
2/16/2006, 07:39 AM
February 16, 1862: Sam Grant Conquers Fort Donelson
http://img496.imageshack.us/img496/2842/dongrant13xe.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Major General Sam Grant c.1862 -- Grant was a brigadier at the time of the battle, he got his second star after his victory
On this day 144 years ago, Ulysses S. Grant finishes a spectacular campaign by capturing Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River in Tennessee. This battle came ten days after Grant's capture of Fort Henry, just ten miles to the west on the Tennessee River, and opened the way for Union occupation of central Tennessee.
http://img496.imageshack.us/img496/3848/donelshenrydonelsonanim1bl.gif (http://imageshack.us)
After Grant bagged the much smaller Fort Henry and forced the surrender of 100 men, he moved east to the much more formidable Fort Donelson. The fort sat on a high bluff and had a garrison of over 6,000 fresh Confederate troops. It controlled river access to central Tennessee and the western Confederacy and was thus vital to the CS war effort.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2824/donelbattle1wg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Grant (mounted) supervising his Donelson attack
After word reached the Confederate capital in Richmond VA of the fall of Fort Henry and threat to Fort Donelson, an additional 15,000 reinforcements were sent to aid Fort Donelson.
Grant and his approximately 15,000 man force crossed the narrow strip of land between Ft Henry on the Tennessee River to take up positions threatening Ft Donelson on the Cumberland. Interestingly, it was such an unseasonably pleasant day when Grant began his ten-mile march east to the vicinity of Ft Donelson, many of his men threw away their greatcoats and extra blankets because they figured "spring had sprung."
Unfortunately for them, within 24 hours of tossing their winter gear, the weather took a dramatic change for the worse and by the second evening, these same boys were trying to sleep without extra blankets or coats amid falling snow and sleet!
One of Grant's officers, Brigadier General John McClernand, initiated the battle on February 13 when he tried to capture a Rebel Battery along Fort Donelson's outer works.
Positions of opposing forces.
http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/5462/donfortdonelson68yp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Although unsuccessful, this action probably convinced the Confederates that they faced a superior force, even though they actually outnumbered Grant.
Over the next three days, Grant tightened the noose around Fort Donelson by moving a US Navy flotilla up the Cumberland River to shell the fort from the east. The Confederates referred to the river-borne threat and the cannonballs sent from the gunboats on February 14 as "Iron Valentines."
http://img496.imageshack.us/img496/2362/donegunboat7tf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
USS St. Louis, one of the six ship flotilla that hammered Ft Donelson. St Louis did not survive the war. About a year later she was sunk when she struck a Confederate mine near Yazoo City, Mississippi
On February 15, the Confederates tried to break out of the Yankee surround. An attack on the Union right flank and center sent the Federals back in retreat, and the way out of the fort was clear -- but for reasons which have never been entirely clear to historians, the Confederate leadership made a fatal miscalculation.
Thinking they could win the battle AND save the fort, they threw away the chance to retreat from Fort Donelson. Instead, they pressed the attack trying to bag the Union force -- but the Union retreat halted. The Yanks under Grant turned, stood to fight and then counter-attacked. Grant ordered an assault the Confederate right wing, which he correctly suspected had been weakened to mount the attack on the other end of the line.
So here's the dealio. Then as now, you basically need 3:1 numerical superiority to defeat an enemy who is fighting from a fortified position. Grant didn't have anywhere near that sort of numerical superiority, but the Confederate misstep of leaving their fortified positions to attack the Union force surrounding them evened the odds.
By the time the Confederates figured out the Yankee force wasn't going to crack and high-tailed it back into the safety of the fort, the jig was up. The Confederates were completely surrounded, with their backs to the Cumberland River. Eventually they could be starved out, and were still subject to bombardment by Grant's artillery.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/812/donesimonbolivarbucknersr0kq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Confederate General Simon B. Buckner. He and Grant had been buds before the war. Buckner hoped that relationship would equate to generous terms of surrender. It didn't.
Dribs and drabs of the Confederate force at Donelson were able to sneak away but most sat tight and counted on their leaders to affect their escape.
In fairness to Simon Buckner, his superior Confederate generals at Donelson bugged-out and left him in charge after THEY had already blown it. One of them, CS General John Floyd had been a US Secretary of War under President Buchanan and had snuck US military supplies to southern states in the final months before the war began. He was turned out after Lincoln's inauguration and took a Confederate commission. Therefore, Floyd was really worried he'd be hanged if captured. He and the number two CS general at Donelson, the feckless General Gideon Pillow,figured Buckner would be able to get good terms because of his former relationship with Grant.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2182/donelts10image4zv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The surrender house at Ft Donelson where Buckner tendered his sword and the fort to Grant on this day in 1862
A truce was called for on this day, and one of Sam Grant's old buddies from West Point and earlier service in California, Confederate general Simon Bolivar Buckner asked for terms of surrender. Grant replied, despite his friendship with Buckner, that no terms "except unconditional and immediate surrender" would be acceptable.
One of the most famous and important letters in American military history
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/4359/donelp313b9cs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This earned Ulysses S. Grant the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The loss of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson were unmitigated disasters for the Confederates. Kentucky was lost forever and Tennessee lay wide open to the Yankees. Nashville would be the next place to fall.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2395/donelsonsurrender1lg9zf.gif (http://imageshack.us)
Grant's Federal's strolling about their new acquistion after the Reb surrender
http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/2559/donets4image7cz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The same spot as it appears today
The surrendered Confederate troops were disarmed and transported by riverboat to prisons in St Louis and Ohio where many later died of exposure, lack of medical attention or mistreatment. Suffice to say, being a POW in the Civil War whether held by North or South was not a pleasant experience and very possibly was akin to a death sentence.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/7681/donefortdonelsonvc5mh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Personally, your correspondent loves Fort Donelson National Military Park and Fort Donelson National Cemetery in the tiny north central Tennessee town of Dover. It's a rural setting, the park is unspoiled and you can really quite easily follow the action. It is also breathtakingly beautiful in the fall when the leaves turn. Its a very short drive up mostly interstate from Nashville, so if in the area, roll on up and check it out.
Linky. http://www.nps.gov/fodo/
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/5772/insane7zo3qu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img496.imageshack.us/img496/2842/dongrant13xe.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Major General Sam Grant c.1862 -- Grant was a brigadier at the time of the battle, he got his second star after his victory
On this day 144 years ago, Ulysses S. Grant finishes a spectacular campaign by capturing Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River in Tennessee. This battle came ten days after Grant's capture of Fort Henry, just ten miles to the west on the Tennessee River, and opened the way for Union occupation of central Tennessee.
http://img496.imageshack.us/img496/3848/donelshenrydonelsonanim1bl.gif (http://imageshack.us)
After Grant bagged the much smaller Fort Henry and forced the surrender of 100 men, he moved east to the much more formidable Fort Donelson. The fort sat on a high bluff and had a garrison of over 6,000 fresh Confederate troops. It controlled river access to central Tennessee and the western Confederacy and was thus vital to the CS war effort.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2824/donelbattle1wg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Grant (mounted) supervising his Donelson attack
After word reached the Confederate capital in Richmond VA of the fall of Fort Henry and threat to Fort Donelson, an additional 15,000 reinforcements were sent to aid Fort Donelson.
Grant and his approximately 15,000 man force crossed the narrow strip of land between Ft Henry on the Tennessee River to take up positions threatening Ft Donelson on the Cumberland. Interestingly, it was such an unseasonably pleasant day when Grant began his ten-mile march east to the vicinity of Ft Donelson, many of his men threw away their greatcoats and extra blankets because they figured "spring had sprung."
Unfortunately for them, within 24 hours of tossing their winter gear, the weather took a dramatic change for the worse and by the second evening, these same boys were trying to sleep without extra blankets or coats amid falling snow and sleet!
One of Grant's officers, Brigadier General John McClernand, initiated the battle on February 13 when he tried to capture a Rebel Battery along Fort Donelson's outer works.
Positions of opposing forces.
http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/5462/donfortdonelson68yp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Although unsuccessful, this action probably convinced the Confederates that they faced a superior force, even though they actually outnumbered Grant.
Over the next three days, Grant tightened the noose around Fort Donelson by moving a US Navy flotilla up the Cumberland River to shell the fort from the east. The Confederates referred to the river-borne threat and the cannonballs sent from the gunboats on February 14 as "Iron Valentines."
http://img496.imageshack.us/img496/2362/donegunboat7tf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
USS St. Louis, one of the six ship flotilla that hammered Ft Donelson. St Louis did not survive the war. About a year later she was sunk when she struck a Confederate mine near Yazoo City, Mississippi
On February 15, the Confederates tried to break out of the Yankee surround. An attack on the Union right flank and center sent the Federals back in retreat, and the way out of the fort was clear -- but for reasons which have never been entirely clear to historians, the Confederate leadership made a fatal miscalculation.
Thinking they could win the battle AND save the fort, they threw away the chance to retreat from Fort Donelson. Instead, they pressed the attack trying to bag the Union force -- but the Union retreat halted. The Yanks under Grant turned, stood to fight and then counter-attacked. Grant ordered an assault the Confederate right wing, which he correctly suspected had been weakened to mount the attack on the other end of the line.
So here's the dealio. Then as now, you basically need 3:1 numerical superiority to defeat an enemy who is fighting from a fortified position. Grant didn't have anywhere near that sort of numerical superiority, but the Confederate misstep of leaving their fortified positions to attack the Union force surrounding them evened the odds.
By the time the Confederates figured out the Yankee force wasn't going to crack and high-tailed it back into the safety of the fort, the jig was up. The Confederates were completely surrounded, with their backs to the Cumberland River. Eventually they could be starved out, and were still subject to bombardment by Grant's artillery.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/812/donesimonbolivarbucknersr0kq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Confederate General Simon B. Buckner. He and Grant had been buds before the war. Buckner hoped that relationship would equate to generous terms of surrender. It didn't.
Dribs and drabs of the Confederate force at Donelson were able to sneak away but most sat tight and counted on their leaders to affect their escape.
In fairness to Simon Buckner, his superior Confederate generals at Donelson bugged-out and left him in charge after THEY had already blown it. One of them, CS General John Floyd had been a US Secretary of War under President Buchanan and had snuck US military supplies to southern states in the final months before the war began. He was turned out after Lincoln's inauguration and took a Confederate commission. Therefore, Floyd was really worried he'd be hanged if captured. He and the number two CS general at Donelson, the feckless General Gideon Pillow,figured Buckner would be able to get good terms because of his former relationship with Grant.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2182/donelts10image4zv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The surrender house at Ft Donelson where Buckner tendered his sword and the fort to Grant on this day in 1862
A truce was called for on this day, and one of Sam Grant's old buddies from West Point and earlier service in California, Confederate general Simon Bolivar Buckner asked for terms of surrender. Grant replied, despite his friendship with Buckner, that no terms "except unconditional and immediate surrender" would be acceptable.
One of the most famous and important letters in American military history
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/4359/donelp313b9cs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This earned Ulysses S. Grant the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The loss of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson were unmitigated disasters for the Confederates. Kentucky was lost forever and Tennessee lay wide open to the Yankees. Nashville would be the next place to fall.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2395/donelsonsurrender1lg9zf.gif (http://imageshack.us)
Grant's Federal's strolling about their new acquistion after the Reb surrender
http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/2559/donets4image7cz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The same spot as it appears today
The surrendered Confederate troops were disarmed and transported by riverboat to prisons in St Louis and Ohio where many later died of exposure, lack of medical attention or mistreatment. Suffice to say, being a POW in the Civil War whether held by North or South was not a pleasant experience and very possibly was akin to a death sentence.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/7681/donefortdonelsonvc5mh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Personally, your correspondent loves Fort Donelson National Military Park and Fort Donelson National Cemetery in the tiny north central Tennessee town of Dover. It's a rural setting, the park is unspoiled and you can really quite easily follow the action. It is also breathtakingly beautiful in the fall when the leaves turn. Its a very short drive up mostly interstate from Nashville, so if in the area, roll on up and check it out.
Linky. http://www.nps.gov/fodo/
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/5772/insane7zo3qu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)