For several days, Floyd and his two major
subordinates, Gens. Gideon J. Pillowand
Simon Bolivar Buckner, dithered over how to
confront the threat. Grant invested the fort as
planned, but on February 6, 1862, Floyd’s ar-
tillery drove Foote’s flotilla back upstream.
The following day, the Confederates launched
a determined sortie against Union lines in an
attempt to escape, but Floyd remained behind
and took no part. Pillow very nearly suc-
ceeded in breaking Grant’s line, but then he
inexplicably called off the attack before a
sharp Union counterattack sealed off the
Confederates within their works. The crisis
was suddenly at hand for Floyd. After consid-
ering another breakout, he finally decided
that the Confederate position was hopeless.
Moreover, he resolved to escape from Fort
Donelson before it surrendered, leaving Gen-
eral Buckner behind to face inevitable defeat.
Floyd and Pillow then disgraced themselves
by fleeing on two steamboats with 2,500 men.
Grant tightened his siege lines, and on Febru-
ary 16, 1862, Buckner surrendered 16,000
badly needed infantry. The entire affair so an-
gered one commander, Nathan Bedford
Forrest, that he defied orders and cut
through Union lines. Nonetheless, Grant’s
success opened up the major riverine inva-
sion route so feared by the Confederate high
command. The seeds of destruction had been
planted.
Floyd made his way to Nashville, where
Johnston authorized him to direct the im-
pending evacuation. Reaching Nashville, he
learned of President Jefferson Davis’s deci-
sion to relieve him on March 11, 1862, for de-
serting his command. This embarrassment
should have closed his career, but Floyd’s po-
litical connections ran deep. In April 1862, the
Virginia state legislature promoted him to
major general of state forces, and he spent the
balance of the year guarding the important
saltworks and rail lines of southwestern Vir-
ginia. Floyd, suffering from poor health, died
in Abingdon, Virginia, on August 26, 1863. His
political ambitions far exceeded his talent for
military command. Moreover, his perform-
ance disgraced his former reputation and har-
bored serious consequences for the South.See also
Forrest, Nathan Bedford; Johnston, Joseph E.; Lee,
Robert E.Bibliography
Belohlavek, John M. “John B. Floyd and the West Vir-
ginia Campaign of 1861.” West Virginia History 29
(1968): 283–291; Connelly, Thomas L., and Archer
Jones. The Politics of Command: Factions and
Ideas in Confederate Strategy. Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University Press, 1998; Cooling, B.
Franklin. Forts Henry and Donelson: The Key to the
Confederate Heartland. Knoxville: University of
Tennessee Press, 1987; Lowery, Terry. September
Blood: The Battle of Carnifex Ferry.Charleston,
WV: Pictorial Histories, 1988; Pinnegar, Charles. “The
Administration of Secretary of War John Buchanan
Floyd, 1856–1860.” Unpublished master’s thesis, Uni-
versity of Texas, El Paso, 1971; Swanberg, W. A. “Was
the Secretary of War a Traitor?” American Heritage
14, no. 2 (1963): 34–37, 96–97; Tucker, Spencer C.
Andrew Foote: Civil War Admiral on Western Wa-
ters.Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000;
Tucker, Spencer C. “Unconditional Surrender”: The
Capture of Forts Henry and Donelson.Abilene, TX:
McWhiney Foundation Press, 2001.FLOYD, JOHNBUCHANAN