The Probert Encyclopaedia of Warfare

BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON

The Battle of Fort Donelson occurred during the American Civil War, and involved the capture by Union forces under General Ulysses Simpson Grant on the 15th of February 1862 of two vital Confederate strong points: Fort Henry, on the Tennessee river, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland river, about 19 km away. Fort Henry fell to Ulysses Simpson Grant' s attack quite easily and he then moved overland to attack Donelson, to which most of Henry's garrison had fled. An initial attack by Union gunboats failed but the Confederate commander Brigadier- General Gideon Pillow was not confident of holding the fort and formed a striking column to breach the Union lines, so that the rest of the garrison could escape. The sally began well, taking one Union division by surprise and swinging it back on the rest of the Union line, but Ulysses Simpson Grant sent a reserve corps under General Lew Wallace to deal with the Confederate column and ordered a frontal attack on the earthworks around the fort in order to draw defenders away from the attempted breakout. By the end of the day the Confederate column was back inside the fort, the Union lines were redrawn, and a renewed attack was planned for the following morning. Gideon Pillow decided to surrender but as no Confederate general had yet surrendered to a Union force, he was apprehensive of what might happen to him if he fell into Union hands. He fled, passing command to Brigadier John Floyd. Floyd also fled, in turn passing the command to General Simon Bolivar Buckner who surrendered the following morning.
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