With Kentucky’s decision to not join the

Confederacy, southern military leaders

were forced to create key defensive

positions along the Tennessee and

Cumberland Rivers, south of the

Kentucky border.

Forts Henry, Heisman, and Donelson were

devised to protect western Tennessee

from Union forces using the Tennessee

and Cumberland rivers as approach

avenues.

Unfortunately for the Confederacy, there

were few good locations to choose from

along the two rivers.

H. Henry Halleck approved Brig. Gen.

Ulysses S. Grant’s plan to move swiftly to

attack Fort Henry before Confederate

reinforcements could arrive. As Grant’s

two divisions began their march south,

gunboats under the command of Flag

Officer Andrew H.

Foote proceeded down river to attack

the Confederate forts on the

Tennessee. In a swift, violent exchange

of gunfire, Forts Heiman and Henry

quickly fell to the Union gunboats on

February 6, 1862.

. Now consolidated around the two former Confederate forts on the Tennessee River, Grant was determined to move quickly on the much larger Fort Donelson, located on the nearby Cumberland River. Grant’s boast that

he would capture Donelson by the 8th

of February quickly ran into challenges. Poor winter weather, late-arriving reinforcements, and difficulties in moving the ironclads to the Cumberland, all delayed Grant’s departure

Despite being fairly convinced that no

earthen fort could withstand the power

of the Union gunboats, Confederate

Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston allowed the

garrison at Fort Donelson to remain and

even sent new commanders and

reinforcements to the site. On February

11th, Johnston appointed Brig. Gen. John

B.

Floyd as the commander of Fort

Donelson and the surrounding

region. 17,000 Confederate

soldiers, combined with improved

artillery positions and earthworks

convinced Floyd that a hasty retreat was

unnecessary

By February 13th, most of Grant’s Union

soldiers had arrived in the vicinity of Fort

Donelson and had begun to arrange

themselves around the landward side of the

fort. Several inches of snowfall and a cold

winter wind sent shivers through both

armies. With Grant’s reinforced army now

blocking a landward exit, the Confederate

forces knew that they would have to fight

their way to freedom.

On February 14, 1862, Foote’s ironclads

moved upriver to bombard Fort

Donelson. The subsequent duel between

Foote’s “Pook Turtles” and the heavy guns

at Fort Donelson led to a Union defeat on

the Cumberland. Many of Foote’s ironclads

were heavily damaged and Foote himself

was wounded in the attack. Grant’s

soldiers could hear the Confederate cheers

as the Union gunboats retreated.

http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/fort-

donelson.html?tab=facts

The union won the battle against fort

donelson.

http://www.history.com/topics/battle-of-

fort-donelson/videos#grant-or-lee

Hope you enjoy my

power point bye!