could command for the defense of the Cumberland. The greater part of the troops that had garrisoned the works. at Fort Henry had escaped and joined the forces on the Cumberland. Fort Donelson was most favorably placed and constructed according to the best rules of engineering skill. The fortress was placed upon a high hill on a bend of the river, a little below the town of Dover. This elevation commanded the stream in front and both north and south, as far as shot could be thrown. At the foot of the fort there were two water batteries of twelve heavy guns; the land side was also fortified strongly. Its garrison consisted of

A. H. FOOTE.

about 23,000 men, and besides the amount of the fort and water batteries, six batteries of light artillery and seventeen heavy guns. The Confederates were under the command of General Floyd, Secretary of War under Buchanan. General Grant arrived in front of the fort on the afternoon of the 12th and at once took possession of the high ground surrounding it, his right resting on Dover, his left wing resting on a small creek to the north of the fort, thus inclosing the entire rebel forces. In making these movements considerable skirmishing ensued. On the following day an engagement of two hours occurred between one of the gunboats and the rebel batteries. At 2 o'clock on February 14 the gunboats opened fire on the batteries and

finally silenced them, but the plunging shots from the fort above having crippled the flag ship and wounded Commo. dore Foote, they withdrew from the action. General Grant now determined to thoroughly invest the fort, either reducing it by siege or to await the repair of the gunboats. In the meantime the Confederates realizing that the result of such an investment meant the entire capture of their forces, planned an overwhelming attack upon the weakest part of the Union lines. Accordingly on the morning of the 15th the attacking column, numbering ten thousand men, struck General Grant's extreme right, which was here commanded by General McClernand, taking him by surprise, and though desperately contesting every inch he was being gradually forced to retire. At this time so confident was General Pillow that he had defeated the Union army, he had sent a dispatch to Nashville announcing "on the honor of a soldier, the day is ours."

Arriving on the field of battle General Grant at once took in the situation, exclaiming: "They mean to cut their way out; they have no idea of staying here to fight us. Whichever party now attacks first will whip, and the rebels will have to be very quick if they beat me." Riding to the front he ordered General Wallace to recover the lost ground of the morning, while General Smith should storm the enemy's right. Wallace was successful in driving the enemy back and at dark had pushed within one. hundred and fifty yards of the enemy's intrenchments. General Smith had also been successful after a desperate struggle, and had he had a half-hour of daylight would have passed the outworks and captured the fort. The army bivouacked on the frozen ground, intending to make an early assault on the rebel lines in the morning, but the morning's sun found a flag of truce waving over the

enemy's works, their commander, General S. B. Buckner, sending a note to General Grant proposing to surrender. During the night the two senior rebel generals, Floyd and Pillow, had deserted their command and crossed the river on boats, taking with them some three thousand men. The following correspondence then passed between the commanding generals of the contending armies:

HEADQUARTERS FORT DONELSON, Feb. 16, 1862.

SIR-In consideration of all the circumstances governing the present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces I hold under my command; and, in that view, suggest an armistice until twelve o'clock to-day.

S. B. BUCKNER, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A. To Brig. Gen. GRANT, commanding U. S. Forces, Fort Donelson. To which General Grant replied as follows:

HEADQUARTERS ARMY IN THE Field,
CAMP NEAR DONELSON, Feb. 16, 1862.

To General S. B. BUCKNER, Confederate Army:

Yours of this date, proposing an armistice and appointment of commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.

I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT, Brig. Gen. U. S. A., Commanding.

General Grant's terms were accepted and the surrender was immediate and unconditional-the forces surrendered were thirteen thousand five hundred men, three thousand horses, forty-eight field-pieces, seventeen heavy guns, twenty thousand stand of arms, and a large quantity of commissary stores, the Confederates having lost in their attack 1,228 men; the Union loss being 446 killed, 1,735 wounded and 150 prisoners. The following day two regi

ments of rebel Tennesseeans, not having heard of the surrender, marched into the fort, and the whole force, 1,475 officers and men, were at once captured.

The capture of Forts Donelson and Henry broke the outer line of the defence of the Confederacy. In a few days after Bowling Green and Columbus were evacuated and taken possession of by the Union forces.

February he captured Clarksville and occupied Nashville on the 23d. About this time the enemy began collecting a large force under the able command of Albert Sidney Johnston, with headquarters at Corinth, Mississippi, with the intention of holding the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and preventing any advance of the Union forces below the line of the Tennessee River, and also to have at easy command an available force to make an aggressive movement into Kentucky, should an opportunity occur. They at the same time blockaded the Mississippi River by fortified positions at several points, above Memphis, and at Vicksburg and below New Orleans.

General Grant's army passed up the river, encamping at Savannah and Pittsburg Landing, twenty miles distant from Corinth.

General C. F. Smith had been placed in command of the troops in the field, General Grant being detained at Fort Henry, organizing and fitting out the forces with which he was about to make his aggressive movement. The selection of Pittsburg Landing as a point of rendezvous and disembarkation was made by General Smith, and not by General Grant.

A Confederate paper, published at Florence, Alabama, on the morning of March 12, 1882, contains the following significant article:

"We learned yesterday that the Unionists had landed a very large force at Savannah, Tenn. We suppose they are making preparations to get possession of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. They must never be allowed to get this great thoroughfare in their possession, for then we would indeed be crippled. The labor and untiring industry of too many faithful and energetic men have been expended on this road to bring it up to its present state of usefulness, to let it fall into the hands of the enemy to be used against us. It must be protected. We, as a people, are able to protect and save it. If unavoidable, let them have our river; but we hope it is the united sentiment of our people, that we will have our railroad."