On the morning of 11 February 1862, five days after the fall of Fort Henry, Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant gathered his commanders and asked whether the army should march on Fort Donelson at once or wait for reinforcements. Almost all of them said go. That afternoon the first Union division moved out along the muddy roads toward the Cumberland River. The heavy fighting came later, from 13 to 15 February, and on 16 February the Confederate garrison surrendered on Grant's terms: unconditional and immediate.
The council of war
After taking Fort Henry on 6 February, Grant had promised to take Fort Donelson, about 12 miles (19 km) to the east, by 8 February. Rain, roads turned to mud, late reinforcements and delays in bringing the ironclads up the Cumberland made that impossible. According to the National Park Service's study of the battlefield, Grant issued orders on 10 February for the army to march on Wednesday 12 February, with no tents or baggage beyond what each soldier could carry, 40 rounds of ammunition and two days' rations.1
On the morning of 11 February Grant held a council of war, which the same study places aboard the steamboat New Uncle Sam. Every officer present except Brigadier General John McClernand urged an immediate advance. That afternoon McClernand's division went forward about five miles along the two roads to Fort Donelson, clearing the way for the rest of the army. The National Park Service battle summary and the Park Service study therefore date the battle from 11 to 16 February, while Britannica and the American Battlefield Trust start it on 13 February, the first day of real fighting.2
Confusion on the Confederate side
The defenders spent the same day arguing. Brigadier General Simon Buckner reached Fort Donelson on 11 February with orders from Brigadier General John Floyd to take his division out to Cumberland City, upriver. Brigadier General Gideon Pillow, then in charge at the fort, refused to let it go until he had seen Floyd himself. General Albert Sidney Johnston gave Floyd overall command; the American Battlefield Trust dates that appointment to 11 February, the Park Service study to 12 February. By the time the fighting began the garrison had grown to roughly 16,000 to 17,000 men.3
The Park Service study also records a cavalry clash on 11 February, when Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest's troopers drove a Union cavalry force back toward Fort Henry, but it notes that no Union report of the action survives.4
From the first skirmish to surrender
On 12 February about 15,000 Union soldiers marched from Fort Henry, delayed for hours by Forrest's cavalry screen. On 13 February Union regiments made costly probing attacks on the Confederate earthworks. On 14 February Flag Officer Andrew Foote's gunboats attacked the river batteries and were beaten off; several were badly damaged and Foote was wounded. At dawn on 15 February the Confederates struck the Union right and opened the road to Nashville, but Pillow then ordered his men back into their lines, and in the afternoon Brigadier General Charles F. Smith's division seized part of the Confederate works on the opposite flank.5
That night Floyd and Pillow escaped across the river, Forrest led his cavalry out, and command passed to Buckner. On 16 February Buckner asked for an armistice. Grant answered: "No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." Buckner accepted.6
Numbers and consequences
No exact count exists. The American Battlefield Trust gives Union losses of 2,691 (507 killed, 1,976 wounded and 208 missing) and Confederate losses of 13,846, most of them prisoners. The Park Service study counts 510 Union dead and 2,152 wounded, and the older Park Service summary gives totals of 2,331 Union and 15,067 Confederate casualties. The Trust counts 12,392 Confederates missing and captured, while the Park Service study puts the number of prisoners at more than 14,000.7
The victory forced the Confederates to give up Nashville and much of Kentucky and Tennessee. Grant was promoted to major general and became known as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The full story is in our article on the Battle of Fort Donelson, the first step of the campaign on our 6 February page, and the man himself in our article on Ulysses S. Grant.8
Also on this day
- 1814: Battle of Montmirail. Napoleon's army, including the Imperial Guard, fought Russian and Prussian corps under Osten-Sacken and Yorck near Montmirail during the Six Days' Campaign.
