Smith's Attack

While the Confederates tried to break out of the siege Grant was away from the army discussing with the navy what the next step would be. The navy was too battered to be of much use so Grant knew he'd have to finish the job alone. Upon his return to the army that afternoon he found out the extent of the damage and that an escape route had been cleared. Grant resolved to counter attack and win back what had been lost. In many places his men were able to recapture most of the lost ground, this was also because the Confederates had decided to return to their lines, get some rest and make their escape the next morning.

On Grant's left he ordered CF Smith's division to assault the lines closest to the fort, this area had not been part of the earlier fighting. The Confederates had pulled men from this area to make the breakout attempt, so Smith's men faced a much smaller force and were able to drive the Confederates back from these outer works. In the pictures you'll see a cannon, that cannon represents Jackson's Virginia battery and it had been pulled from the line earlier.

My recent absence

Since last Thursday I have not been feeling well. Staring at a computer screen gives me a headache. This weekend I found out I have bronchitis. I'm doing better but writing is still a difficult task. I will resume regular posting in a few days

Confederate Outer Works

This series of photos takes us along the section of Confederate works near the Wynn Ferry Road. This is where the main breakout effort will take place, and succeed, on February 15th. The first position is French's Battery, at the time a four gun battery. This battery was placed here to prevent the Union from using Erin Hollow to pierce the Confederate lines. Maney's Battery is farther to the west (I have no digital pictures) and protected the other side of Erin Hollow.

Now we are near the Wynn Ferry Road. The attacks in this area pushed McClernand's Division back and opened the Forge Road. The way was now open for the Confederate army to escape from the siege. Instead the Confederate high command decided to return to their lines and have the men march out the next morning. Grant had been away conferring with the navy but returned in the afternoon, ordered a counter attack and secured most of what was lost. Forrest's scouts would find out that night there was still one road open but it was obvious that it would be closed at first light the next morning. Returning to the trenches assured the Confederate army of capture.

Texas Monument

The other monument at Fort Donelson is for the two Texas regiments who fought here, even though one of them fought here a year later.

The 7th Texas Infantry was part of the force that cleared an escape route for the Confederates before the high command gave up the effort and doomed the garrison to capture. A year later, 3 February 1863, the 8th Texas Cavalry fought here as part of General Wheeler's attack on Dover. That attack failed but the 8th Texas performed its job well, keeping Union reinforcements away from Wheeler's force.

This monument is similar to other Texas monuments in that it was placed during the centennial celebrations, this one actually was placed in 1964, not sure why they didn't hit the 1862 or 1863 anniversaries.

Confederate Monument

Fort Donelson does not have much in the way of monuments. In fact I can think of only two monuments in the park. Considering how this battle helped decide the fate of the war it seems odd that it lacks a monument to Grant's army.

The oldest monument is this one to the Confederate soldier. I've read that the monument rests on top of a mass grave. I've also read that the mass grave is just near here and the NPS is not sure where it is exactly.

Upper Water Battery

Since I first started going to Fort Donelson they have added guns for the upper water battery. This battery was intended more to disrupt a landing party than to drive off the gunboats. The Union never got close enough to try to land a force to assault the water battery. If there had been a landing the guns in the water battery could not have depressed their muzzles enough to hit the attacking force. But these guns would have been placed just right to sweep the slope in front of the water battery and would have caused much destruction and confusion.

Water Battery

On Valentine's Day 1862 the Union navy tried to do to Fort Donelson what they had done a week earlier to Fort Henry, reduce it by bombardment. This time though the fort was better situated and the Confederate guns won the day. Grant would have to find another way to capture the fort and its garrison.

The park has done a good job of recreating the battery with a full complement of guns. There were eight 32 pounders on wooden carriages and one 10 inch Columbiad on a metal carriage. The Columbiad's pivot point is in the center of the carriage while the wooden carriages pivoted at the front. Not a particularly important fact but something I found interesting.

As you can see one time I was there as they did work on the guns of the battery.

I put this picture in so you could see how little the Union gunboats had to shoot at. I'm sure it was hellish to load the guns during the bombardment but there is also plenty of cover for the men.

Fort Donelson - the fort

There are a variety of entrenchments at Fort Donelson. There are outer works which is a long trench with artillery positions. As the name suggests it is far away from the fort (and will be shown in a later post). There are two water batteries which were located right next to the river and were there to prevent Union gunboats from steaming up river. And then there was the fort itself. It was located on the high ground adjacent to the water batteries and was there basically to protect those batteries.

It also served as a campground for the troops especially int he early days of the fort when only 2-3 regiments were stationed here. As the threat from Grant developed more men came here and filled the outer lines. The park has two reproduction cabins so that you can see the kind of quarters the troops would enjoy. They claim there were about 400 of these huts. After the campaign Grant had these burned as they were a source of disease. New huts would be built to house the men that stayed in the area to secure the Union supply line.



Here are a variety of shots of the inner fort. It is in pretty good condition.

This old park photo shows how formidable the walls were. No direct assault was made on the fort itself. The main actions happened away from the fort at the water batteries and in front of the outer works.

Fort Henry

Right around this time 147 years ago Grant was launching his campaign up the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers with Andrew Foote's seven gunboat naval squadron supporting him greatly. On February 6th Fort Henry was captured by the navy with an assist from mother nature. The spring rains had been pretty heavy and Fort Henry had been built on low ground. It was partially flooded, in fact when the navy accepted the surrender they sent a small rowboat into the fort. Once the attack began there was little doubt the fort would surrender

I have no pictures of Fort Henry. When the TVA did its work here the dam they created covered Fort Henry with a lot of water. I lack scuba gear and I have a feeling there is little to see down there anyway. But there are signs directing you to the area and you can walk down to the river/lake's edge and wonder exactly where it is.

On the way to the river I noticed there was a fork in the road, I had taken the right which took me to the above vantage point. So after seeing that I went back and took the other fork, which petered out into a swampy forest area. But first it took me past some things that look suspiciously like earthworks. Are these the outer works of Fort Henry? I had hear that you could still find some of the outer works and these do look right. I'd like to believe that they are but I have no firm evidence that they really are.

The two state historical signs. The older one is from the period when these signs gave really vague info, like "4 miles north." If you went 4 miles north you would not find much of anything but most people don't treat these signs as directional gospel.

When I visited there Fort Heiman had just been bought by the park but the ranger at Fort Donelson did not know enough of how to get in there to give me directions. She said it was okay if I went there but didn't want me to get lost getting there. So I scrapped that idea. Hopefully now the park has signs that direct you to Fort Heiman as well. Fort Heiman was across the river from Fort Henry and was pretty new by the time Grant launched his campaign on the river with the navy. It played a very minor role in the battle for Fort Henry. Considering that the battle for Fort Henry was relatively minor too that's saying something.

Barbourville

This past summer a friend of mine attended a wedding near Barbourville Kentucky. Before he left he asked if there was anything to see, I suggested a side trip to Perryville or Richmond. He didn't do those but in Barbourville he found a small park with some pretty modern and nicely done markers.

Most of the markers talked about the men recruited in the area but this panel was about the small battle that took place here so I have included it.

There was a cannon in the park too. In the background you can see one of the markers, a three panel setup, with an interesting mural painted on the building.

And here's a shot showing some of the terrain in the Barbourville area. Next time I go to Perryville I'll be sure to make a side trip to Barbourville.