Fort Donelson, Battle of, was the North’s first important victory of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The battle took place in northwestern Tennessee in February 1862. Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates and captured Fort Donelson on Feb 16, 1862. The fort’s capture made Grant a hero in the North.
In early 1862, the center of the Confederate line in the West—the area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River—rested on two forts about 12 miles (19 kilometers) apart in western Tennessee. They were Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. Grant supposed that if Union forces could capture the forts, the Confederate position in Kentucky and western Tennessee would collapse.
On February 2, Grant’s army of about 15,000 men and Commodore Andrew Foote’s fleet of seven gunboats left Paducah, Kentucky, and headed south for Fort Henry. Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman decided that Fort Henry could not be defended, and on February 5, he sent about 2,500 of his troops to Fort Donelson. Tilghman kept back a small force at Fort Henry to delay the Union troops. On February 6, Fort Henry surrendered after a two-hour battle with Foote’s gunboats.
When the Union captured Fort Henry, about 5,000 Confederate troops were stationed at Fort Donelson. The Confederacy then sent about 12,000 reinforcements to Fort Donelson and put General John Floyd in command. Floyd had been the secretary of war under President James Buchanan. He was wanted in the North for fraud and for sending federal weapons to Southern arsenals just before the Civil War began.
On February 12, Grant and about 15,000 troops began their march from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson. Two days later, Grant was reinforced with 10,000 more troops and Foote’s fleet of six gunboats—four ironclads and two wooden ships. Grant’s subordinate officers included the major generals John A. McClernand, Charles F. Smith, and Lew Wallace. On February 14, the gunboats opened fire on Fort Donelson. However, the gunboats moved too close to the fort and were heavily damaged by the fort’s batteries. The boats were forced to withdraw. Nonetheless, the Confederates felt that the Union would eventually take Fort Donelson, so they decided to abandon the fort.
On February 15, the Confederates attacked the Union troops in an attempt to break out from the fort. Their attack was initially successful until Grant, who had been meeting with Foote away from the battlefield, returned. The Union troops attacked and regained the ground that they had lost during the Confederate attack.
That night, the Confederates decided to surrender. General Floyd feared the North would treat him harshly because of his actions while serving as Buchanan’s secretary of war, so he turned his command over to General Gideon Pillow and escaped. Pillow also feared being captured, so he turned command over to General Simon Bolivar Buckner and fled. General Nathan Bedford Forrest also escaped with about 1,000 troops.
Buckner asked Grant for “the best terms” of surrender. Grant replied: “No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” On February 16, about 13,000 of the Confederate troops stationed at Fort Donelson surrendered.
During the course of the battle, the Union suffered about 2,800 casualties (killed, wounded, or captured), and the Confederates about 15,800. The losses of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, along with the Union capture of Nashville on February 23, forced the Confederates to withdraw south to Corinth, Mississippi. The Confederacy lost Kentucky and half of Tennessee. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate states, removed Floyd and Pillow from field command. Grant gained the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” and was promoted to major general.
