Remembering the Fall of Fort Donelson

Map of the Battle at Fort Donelson

This week marks the 150th anniversary of a battle that brought the front lines of the Civil War into Tennessee, to stay.

Fort Donelson stood on the Cumberland River, just south of where the Land Between the Lakes is now. Another, Fort Henry, was nearby on the banks of the Tennessee. Together, they were supposed to form a strong barrier for the Confederates.

But the Union attacked Fort Henry while heavy rains filled it with floodwater. Its soldiers retreated 12 miles through the mud to Fort Donelson, chased the whole way by Northern General Ulysses Grant. By February 13th, Fort Henry was lost, Grant’s men surrounded Fort Donelson, and more Union forces were coming.

Historian Jimmy Jobe says Confederate orders coming in showed there was little hope of victory.

“He didn’t say go there and win that battle, or go there and defeat Grant and hold him indefinitely. He says go there and delay Grant.”

Kurz and Allen’s illustration of the battle (c. 1887)

Confederate officers argued over strategy while General Grant made a series of quick decisions. After three days of fighting, the Southerners surrendered.

From that point on, the front line was drawn diagonally across Tennessee, and the Rebel forces never really regained that ground.

Fort Donelson was also a sort of personal victory for General Grant. Newspaper accounts of his decisiveness there helped paint him as one of the North’s most popular war heroes.