Fort Donelson

Battle Fort Donelson

February 11th - 16th 1862

The odds were heavily in favor of the Union, as was usual in the Civil War. The attack on Fort Donelson would show that superior numbers do mean a great deal when it comes to sacrificing troops, yet that fact would not be the only thing of importance. Sea power, well in this case, river power, demonstrated the importance strategically of owning land and sea.

General Grant had at his disposal, 27,000 men with a competent naval flotilla at the waters edge. The Confederates had a garrison inside the fort that numbered 15,000 lop-sided indeed. The history of what had happened prior at the fort is one that must be researched. In this way the attack by Grant's force can be adequately measured.

Grant's troops were fresh off a stunning victory a few hundred miles away at Fort Henry. Seeking to double his win column in a span of a month, Grant lead his troops into the area surrounding Fort Do nelson. The South’s commander at the fort was the ever-present General Albert Johnston.

Before the arrival of Grant and his army, Johnston had ordered 12,000 reinforcements fro neighboring Bowling Green Kentucky in an effort to shore up his defensive posture. The reinforcement arrived safely but only by a stroke of good fortune. Grant knew that the reinforcements were to arrive at Fort Donelson and was making haste in an effort to cut them off before their arrival at the fort.

Terrible weather hampered his effort and the Rebels mad it into the forts friendly confines. This fort was no Fort Henry; it had a stronger garrison, was better built and was a defensive jewel. It seemed as if the Union and Grant would have a blood bath attempting to take this fort.

With superior military tactics and a sense of bravado seldom demonstrated by Union commanders, Grant was able to take the fort in two days of fighting. The losses were low for both the Union and the Confederates, with each side taking about 2,200 casualties, respectively.

On the morning of February 16th, 1862, the garrison of Fort Donelson fell to the presence of the military master tactician of the North, General Grant. 12,000 Rebel prisoners of war were taken and the terms of the surrender are to be noted. It seems that when Grant ordered the Confederate commander, General Buckner, to terms of unconditional surrender, the Rebel general hesitated.

Citing words like ungenerous and unchivalrous, the staunch Rebel commander finally relinquished the prize to his superior adversary, General Grant. The battle was over and Grant had another impressive victory under his belt. The clash of the two finest war generals of the conflict was on the horizon, Lee versus Grant. This was the inevitability of the situation.

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