DK - The American Civil War

CLASH OF ARMIES 1862

T

he decision to attack Fort Henry

was made at the end of January

1862. Built the previous year, the
      fort was poorly sited and unlikely to be
      able to withstand infantry assault or
      naval gunfire for very long. The attack
      was to be a joint operation by two army
      divisions under General Grant—some
      15,000 men—and a flotilla under
      Commander Andrew H. Foote,
      comprising four of the new City-class
      ironclads and three timberclads (with
      timber, rather than iron, armor). The
      two commanders were contrasting
      characters, Grant a down-to-earth man

BEFORE

attack. Most of the Confederates swiftly

left for Fort Donelson, 12 miles (19km)

away on the Cumberland River.

Artillerymen remained with their guns,

but after two hours the defenders of

the wrecked fort surrendered.

Confederate General Albert Sidney

Johnston, commander of the Western

Military Department, now had to

with a reputation for drinking, Foote a

high-minded teetotaler. But they formed

a harmonious team, good relations aided

by Grant’s acceptance that reducing the

fort would be a matter for the gunboats.

Fall of Fort Henry

Steaming down the Tennessee on

February 5, the gunboats and troop

transports encountered mines, but

these caused no damage. The troops

landed several miles from Fort Henry

and were still struggling to reach their

objective across difficult terrain when,

on February 6, Foote opened the naval

Grant Takes Forts Henry

and Donelson

Ulysses S. Grant first came to prominence through the capture of these two Confederate forts on the

Cumberland and Tennessee rivers in February 1862. The loss of the forts was a serious setback for the

Confederacy, leading directly to the fall of the Tennessee state capital, Nashville, to the Union.

Based at Cairo, Illinois, Union land and
naval forces were well placed to invade
Confederate territory along three rivers—the
Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland.

AMPHIBIOUS OFFENSIVE
The prelude to river operations was the building
of seven ironclads ❮❮ 100–101, completed in
January 1862, to create the Western Gunboat
Flotilla. Union General Henry W. Halleck still
hesitated to take action, but his subordinate
Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant was
more eager to fight. Grant, who had made an
amphibious sortie against Belmont on the
Mississippi in November 1861, now proposed
an attack on Fort Henry on the Tennessee.

Bombarding Fort Henry

The ironclads and timberclads of Foote’s Western

Gunboat Flotilla overcame resistance from the shore

batteries at Fort Henry on the Cumberland River by

naval bombardment alone.

“No terms except an unconditional and

immediate surrender can be accepted.”

ULYSSES S. GRANT’S REPLY TO GENERAL BUCKNER’S REQUEST FOR TERMS AT FORT DONELSON, FEBRUARY 16, 1862