* Photo by Allan Gengler, Civil War Trust
""No terms except an
unconditional and immediate surrender
can be accepted."
By late 1861, the objective for the Union forces in the west was clear: Open a door into the heartland of the South and eventually seize control of the mighty Mississippi River. How to do so was yet to be determined. The task fell on the soldiers of little known Brig. General Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee.
By February of 1862 Grant was prepared to move. The key to his plan was working in partnership with the forces of Flag Officer Andrew Foote. The joint expedition featuring 15,000 infantry under Grant and a combination of ironclads and riverboats under Foote would become an example of the effectiveness of a joint naval-land assault. Their combined forces headed southward using the Cumberland River network as their highway. |
On the morning of February 14, the Foote's fleet of ironclads and riverboats dueled artillery blows with the massive shore batteries at Fort Donelson. Although Foote was eventually forced to withdraw without destroying the fortifications, the conflict gave Grant the time to reinforce his line and threaten to cut Fort Donelson off from the outside. After a desperate attempt at counterattack was turned back on the morning of the 15th, some Confederate forces escaped with General Pillow and Forrest. Brig. General Simon Buckner was left to surrender the fort. grants response was blunt: "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted."
By the end of February Grant's expedition was successful in capturing both Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in northwestern Tennessee and thereby opening the path into central Tennessee and beyond. While both victories were small in both scale and bloodshed, their impact ws anything but small.
Grant's victories in Tennessee opened the door for the Union advance. Confederate forces were soon forced to give up claim to Kentucky and major portions of western and central Tennessee. Grant would continue his push southward until the fall of Vicksburg a little over a year later. One could easily argue that the first step to capturing the Mississippi was placed at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. |
The morale boost from these victories proved just as important as the strategic advantage won. At a time early in the war when the Union desperately needed a victory after a string of depressing failures, Grant provided one. And from the victories, "Unconditional Surrender" Grant would emerge as the leader Abraham Lincoln was desperate to find.
Fort Donelson National Battlefield |
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