Little word has been coming out of the garrison trapped inside Fort Donelson after Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant surrounded the fort yesterday. Their fate is thus far unknown, but one thing is for certain, they have not yet been captured and their fighting spirit is still alive as firing came from the fort, disabling several Yankee gunboats and chasing away the others.
Fort Donelson’s twin, Fort Henry, was captured several days ago by Grant when his gunboats bombarded the fort after its forward gun batteries were flooded by the Tennessee River. The fort’s commander, Brigadier General Lloyd Tighman, aware of the precariousness of his situation, ordered the garrison, approximately 3,000 strong, to abandon the fort and make their way to Fort Donelson. That left only Tilghman and his gunners to hold off the Union gunboats and infantry as long as they could until the men were safely away.
Grant’s cavalry saw the garrison leaving and gave chase, but was repulsed by cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest. His infantry, meanwhile, moved in on the fort from two directions. Slowed by mud, they did not arrive until long after the cannon exchange between the ships and the fort. By that time, far outmatched in artillery, Tilghman had surrendered the fort.
Soon after, on the 12th, Grant and his approximately 25,000 men made the five mile cross-country hike eastward to Fort Donelson while the gunboats swung around to the Cumberland to attack it from the north. One of the vessels, the Carondelet, immediately began firing on the fort.
Inside Donelson, the issue of command has been a confusing one. It has had three commanders within the course of a week. First, it was General Bushrod Johnson, a former professor of engineering at the University of Nashville. Command switched to Brigadier General Gideon J. Pillow when he arrived last week after facing General Grant last year at a place called Belmont. General Albert Sydney Johnston, in charge of the entire region, had wanted to send General PGT Beauregard, the hero of Manassas and Fort Sumter, to command the garrison, but due to an ailment Beauregard had come down with, Johnston sent Brigadier General John B. Floyd instead along with more than 10,000 reinforcements to hold the important point.
Now all those forces, and the generals along with them, are trapped inside, and no one on the outside knows exactly what is happening to them. All that is known is that a series of uncoordinated assaults by the Yankees took place yesterday, but no coordinated attack took place.
During the night, a heavy snow storm swept through, covering the ground in three inches of snow. Snipers on both sides hit any target they could see, and so no fires have been lit for warmth or food, making it difficult for the Yankees, particularly after they left behind many of their heavy coats and blankets. One can only imagine the same is true inside the fort, although they have the comfort of the walls to protect them from the winds.
Today, 10,000 more Yankees arrived, sealing off the fort completely. Several more gunboats joined the fleet as well, bringing the total up to seven, four ironclads and three timberclads. After successfully defeating Fort Henry with only the navy, Admiral Foote, in charge of the Federal gunboats, attempted the same attack here.
At 3:00 pm, Foote’s ships moved in close to the shore and opened fire. The garrison showed that it had not been defeated by returning fire. What followed was a major cannonade of epic proportions. More than 500 shots were fired on each side. By the end of it, all but one of the Union ironclads were sunk or damaged, and they had to pull away.
It is not clear what exactly is happening inside the isolated fort. What is clear is that they will not surrender without a fight. The Federal soldiers are settling down now for a siege, but with them freezing in the cold outside and our boys holed up inside the walls of a fort, one has to wonder who is really besieged here.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
