admiration with every man in the fleet. His countenance was as placid
and his voice as mild in the heat of the action as if he had been
engaged in social conversation. He stood in the pilot-house for a long
time, watching the effect of every shot. When he saw a shell burst
inside of the fort, he instantly commended the deliberate aim of the
marksman, by a message through his speaking tube. When the balls fell
short, he expressed his dissatisfaction in such words as “A little
further, man; you are falling too short.” During a part of the action he
was on the gun-deck, superintending the care of the wounded. In the end,
nothing but the pilot’s assurance that his vessel could not be managed
with her broken wheel, induced him to consent to a withdrawal.
[Illustration: [Map]]
Incidents on board the Louisville were not wanting. Captain Dove had
just complimented one of the gunners on a splendid shot, when the shot
that played such havoc entered his port, and completely severed the
gunner in twain, scattering his blood and brains over Captain Dove’s
person. But the Captain never blanched; he only wiped his face, and in
an instant was superintending the replacement of another gun as if
nothing had happened. Cool, brave and determined, he was throughout the
action a support to his men and an honor to his country.
THE LAND ATTACK.
In addition to the two water batteries already described, a third had
been commenced, but was not at the time completed. The fort stood on a
hill, and within its ample lines nearly a hundred large and substantial
log-houses had been erected for quarters. In order to prevent any
lodgment of an opposing force on the hills back of the fort, it was
necessary to construct a line of defenses around the fort, at the
distance of a mile, and in some places more than a mile, from the
principal work. These outworks extended from a creek on the north side
of the works to another which entered a quarter of a mile below. Both of
these streams were filled with backwater from the swollen river, for the
distance of three-quarters of a mile from their mouths. This chain of
breastworks and the miry bed of the creeks formed a most complete
impediment to the marching of an artillery force within sight of the
main fort. This line of works was not less than three miles in length,
breast high, and formed from a ditch on either side, so as to answer the
purpose of rifle-pits and parapets. At intervals on every elevation
platforms had been constructed and mounted with howitzers and light
field pieces. Such were the works, defended by from 20,000 to 25,000
men, that the national troops were determined to take by assault.
Early on the morning of the 12th of February, the national troops left
Fort Henry with two days’ rations in their haversacks, without tents or
wagons, except such as were necessary to convey a surplus of commissary
stores and ammunition, and ambulances for the sick.
The expedition under the command of Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, was
divided into three columns—the division under Brigadier-General
McClernand, taking the road from Fort Henry to Dover, running to the
south of the enemy’s position; the second division, under command of
Brigadier-General C. F. Smith, taking the direct or telegraph road to
the fort; the third division, subsequently placed under the lead of
Brigadier-General L. Wallace, being sent round by Paducah and Smithland,
ascending the Cumberland, under the escort of the gunboats. Each of
these divisions consisted of about ten regiments of infantry, batteries,
and cavalry.
_First Division, Brigadier-General McClernand._—_1st Brigade_, Col.
Oglesby, acting.—8th Illinois, Lieut. Col. Rhodes; 18th Illinois, Col.
Lawler; 29th Illinois, Col. Reardon; 13th Illinois, Col. Dennis; 31st
Illinois, Col. J. A. Logan; Schwartz’s battery; Dresser’s battery; 4
battalions Illinois cavalry. _2d Brigade_, Col. W. H. L. Wallace,
acting.—11th Illinois, Lieut. Col. Hart; 20th Illinois, Col. Marsh; 48th
Illinois, Col. Smith; 49th Illinois, Col. Hainey; Taylor’s battery;
McAllister’s battery; 4th and 7th Illinois cavalry, Cols. Kellogg and
Dickey.
_Second Division, Brigadier-General C. F. Smith._—_1st Brigade_, Col.
Cook, acting.—7th Illinois, 50th Illinois, 12th Iowa; 13th Missouri,
Col. Wright; 52d Indiana; 3 batteries Missouri 1st artillery, Maj.
Cavender commanding; Capts. Richardson, Stone, and Walker. _2d Brigade_,
Col. Lauman, acting.—7th Iowa, Lieut.-Col. Parrott; 2d Iowa, Col.
Tuttle; 14th Iowa, Col. Shaw; 25th Indiana, Col. Veatch; 56th Indiana.
_Third Division, Brigadier-General Lewis Wallace._—_1st Brigade_, Col.
Croft, acting.—17th Kentucky, 25th Kentucky, 31st Indiana, 44th Indiana,
Col. Hugh B. Reed. _2d Brigade_, Col. Thayer, acting.—1st Nebraska,
Lieut. Col. McCord; 13th Missouri, Col. Wright; 48th Ohio, Col.
Sullivan; 58th Ohio, Col. Bausenwein; Willett’s Chicago battery.
By nine o’clock all the forces were on the march. The division of
General McClernand took the upper or southern road to Dover. The
division of General Smith proceeded by the northern or telegraph road,
running directly to the fort. The route lay through broken and
undulating lands. Small streams of the purest water were crossed at
every ravine. The hills were in places covered with green pines and
tall, heavy timber. The weather was mild and spring-like; the men in
admirable spirits, marching in regular order, and the surrounding
scenery almost tropical in its luxuriance. At about two o’clock in the
afternoon the advanced skirmishers of McClernand’s division came in
sight of the enemy’s tents stretching between the hill upon which the
fort was situated, and the next, on Dover ledge.
Word was passed back to General Grant that the enemy and his camp had
been sighted. General Grant at once ordered up the rear of the column.
Dresser’s battery was posted on an eminence overlooking the tents, and a
few shells sent into the camp. There was a general and promiscuous
scattering of men from the camps into the earthworks to right and left.
General Grant immediately ordered the division of General Smith into
line of battle on the ravine back of the main elevation. A column of men
was pushed up on the left of the fort. Scouts returned saying that the
breastworks could be discovered on the extreme left. An hour or two was
then spent in reconnoitering along the various hills surrounding the
enemy’s position.
This preliminary skirmish was soon over, and the enemy had fallen back
within his intrenchments, when the shades of night fell upon the two
armies. Many of the Federal soldiers, in anticipation of an engagement,
had relieved themselves of their overcoats, blankets, and haversacks,
and were altogether unprepared for the experience of the night. But
cheerfully kindling their camp-fires, under a mild and genial
temperature, they gathered around the cheerful blaze and gradually fell
into slumberous dreams of home, of conquest, or of love.
During the night the enemy made a sortie on the extreme right of the
Federal lines, which by its suddenness created some confusion for the
time, but he was repulsed and compelled to retire.
On Thursday, the 13th, the attack commenced. The morning sun rose
brightly on the scene. The men were soon engaged in cooking what
provisions could be obtained. Several hogs running at large in the woods
had been shot for breakfast, and a sumptuous meal was made from their
flesh. At sunrise the firing of riflemen commenced. The enemy could be
descried behind his breastworks. The most available positions were
selected for batteries, and by eight o’clock a regular exchange of shot
and shell had commenced across the ravine which separated the
combatants. Taylor’s battery was on the extreme right, next came
Schwartz’s, further to the left. Further still was a section of an
Illinois battery. Across a deep ravine and in the centre of the position
was Captain Richardson’s First Missouri Light Artillery, on the point of
a ridge provokingly near the enemy’s lines. Higher upon the same rise
was McAlister’s battery of twenty-four pound howitzers, and on the left
could be heard at intervals an Iowa battery.
The long established form of opening the fight by a contest of
sharpshooters and artillery was observed. For two hours nothing was to
be heard but the loud thuds of cannon, with the relief of a sharp crack
of rifles, and an occasional report of a musket, which in the distance
could hardly be distinguished from a field piece. Major Cavender, of the
Missouri First, sighted his twenty-pound Parrott rifle guns. Two or
three shots had been sent whizzing through the trees, when “clash” came
a shot in front of the piece. Without moving a muscle the major
completed his task, and bang! went a response. Bang went another from
the sister-piece under the intrepid captain. A second was received from
the fort, passing over the hill, exploding just in the rear, a third
burst directly over head, and the combat was kept up with spirit.
Dresser’s battery poured out shell from his large howitzers in splendid
style. The enemy held a slight advantage in position, and had the range
with accuracy. The shells were falling fast around the batteries, doing
however but little injury. A few minutes and a round shot passed over
the gun, and carried away the shoulder and part of the breast of
artilleryman Bernhard of Richardson’s battery, killing him almost
instantly. The captain shifted his position three times during the
morning, whenever the enemy got his range with too much accuracy.
On the extreme right Schwartz and Taylor were blazing away fearlessly.
The ground between them and the intrenchments was nearly cleared of
trees, and they could observe by the smoke the position of each other
with accuracy. The firing from the batteries in McClernand’s division
was continuous. An attempt had been made by the enemy to capture
Taylor’s battery, which had been gallantly repulsed. The rebels had
reached close upon the battery, and only an incessant shower of canister
saved it from capture, the infantry not being formed in position to
support it effectually. The Twentieth Illinois came up in time to drive
the enemy into their works.
In the afternoon General McClernand determined to make a formidable
assault of a redoubt of the enemy, fronting the centre of his right. The
redoubt was the only one which could be distinctly seen, owing to timber
and undergrowth. At this point the ground was for the most part void of
large timber, the barren extending even beyond the road on the ridge
which the Union troops passed. The batteries of this redoubt had a very
perfect range, and gave the troops considerable uneasiness, by blazing
away at them whenever they passed over the brow of the hill. Three
regiments were detailed for the work—the Forty-eighth, Seventeenth and
Forty-ninth Illinois. They advanced in line of battle order, the
Forty-ninth, Colonel Morrison, on the right, the Seventeenth, under
command of Major Smith, in the centre, and the Forty-eighth, Colonel
Hainley, on the left. Colonel Morrison, as senior Colonel, led the
attack. The advance was a most beautiful one. With skirmishers arrayed
in front, the three regiments swept down the hill, over a knoll, down a
ravine, and up the high hill on which the redoubt was situated, some two
hundred and fifty or three hundred feet in height, covered with brush
and stumps, all the time receiving a galling fire of grape, shell and
musketry, with a precision which would have done them credit on the
parade ground. The breastworks were nearly reached, when Colonel
Morrison, while gallantly leading his men, was struck by a musket ball.
The captain of the company on his right was also killed, while the
Forty-ninth fell into some confusion; but unappalled the Seventeenth
still gallantly pressed forward and penetrated even to the very foot of
the works. But it was not in the power of man to scale the abattis
before them. Brush piled upon brush, with sharp points, fronted them
wherever they turned; so, after a few interchanges of musketry with the
swarming regiments concentrated there, the word for retiring was given.
It was done in good order, by filing off to the left and obliqueing into
the woods below; but many a gallant soldier was left behind underneath
the intrenchments he had vainly sought to mount. They were not, however,
destined to die unavenged. Scarcely, had their retiring columns got out
of range, ere Taylor’s Chicago battery opened on the swarming rebel
masses with shell and shrapnell. The effect was fearful. Each gun was
aimed by the captain himself, and when its black mouth belched out
sudden thunder, winrows of dead men fell in its track.
While this heavy firing had been heard on the right, General Smith, had
ordered the enemy to be engaged on the left. The Twenty-fifth Indiana,
at the head of a brigade, led the way. They had reached a position on
the brow of a hill where the successful assault was afterwards made, and
were met by the enemy in force, who swarmed behind the works, pouring a
deadly hail of bullets and grape into them. The leading regiment broke
in disorder after sustaining a hot fire, and the whole line fell back
out of range. The object of the sortie had been accomplished, and the
enemy’s forces drawn from the other side, but the advantage did not
result, as might have been anticipated, in the occupation of the fort on
the right by General McClernand.
Six companies of the famous regiment of riflemen, raised by Colonel
Birge, accompanied the expedition from Fort Henry, and two companies
afterwards arrived by the transports. This was a corps of picked men
skilled in the use of the rifle, drawn from the North-west.
These hardy pioneers started out in the morning, with a hard biscuit in
their pocket and a rifle on their shoulder, for the rebel earthworks,
where they remained until relieved by a fresh gang. So adventurous were
they, that many of them crept within fifty yards of the rifle-pits and
exchanged words as well as shots with the enemy.
One piece in front of Dresser’s battery was kept in silence during the
morning by the sharpshooters picking off their gunners. At last a shell
from a Union battery, falling short, drove them away. One valiant
southerner, to prove his bravery, jumped into the rampart to take aim;
in an instant he was pierced by three balls, and fell out of the
intrenchment, where he lay till nightfall.
The firing for the rest of the day was slow, and appeared by general
consent to be abandoned. The Unionists seemed to have failed in every
attempt on the fort. Wounded men were being brought in on stretchers;
some limped along, supported by comrades, others staggered forward with
bleeding hands and battered heads tied in handkerchiefs. The ambulances
had brought in the maimed and seriously wounded. In the gray dusk of
evening men came forth with spades to dig the graves of their
fellow-soldiers, whose remains, stiffened in death, were lying under the
pale stars.
Hardly had the camp-fires been kindled for the night when a drizzling
shower set in, which soon turned into a steady fall of rain. The wind
grew suddenly colder. The weather, hitherto so pleasant, was chilled in
an hour to a wintry blast. Snow began to fall, and the mercury sank
below freezing point.
Many of the soldiers had lost their overcoats and blankets during the
day. Not a tent, except hospital tents, in the command. Provisions
growing very scarce—the muddy, wet clothing freezing upon the chilled
limbs of the hungry soldiers. It was a most comfortless night. Not five
houses could be found within as many miles, and these were used as
hospitals. Various expedients were devised to ward off the cold.
Saplings were bent down and twigs interwoven into a shelter; leaves
piled up made a kind of roof to keep off the snow. Large fires were
kindled, and the men lay with their feet to the fire. The victims who
perished of cold, exposure, hunger and neglect, on this night, will fill
up a long page in the mortality record of that eventful siege.
On Friday, the conflict was maintained only by the pickets and
sharpshooters, General Grant having concluded to await the arrival of
additional forces, before assaulting the works.
Hitherto the investment had been made by the divisions of Generals
McClernand and Smith, about ten thousand men each, including the cavalry
and artillery. A third division had been sent up the Cumberland, and
should, by reasonable calculation, have been opposite Fort Henry on
Wednesday night. Here was Friday morning and no transports arrived. What
could have befallen them? General L. Wallace, who had been left in
command at Fort Henry, was summoned over, and arrived on Friday evening
with two regiments of his brigade. Couriers were seen dashing along from
the headquarters to the point where the boats were expected to land.
About ten o’clock came the joyful intelligence that the gunboat fleet,
with fifteen transports, had landed five miles below the fort. The
troops from Fort Henry were pouring in, and close upon them came the
troops from the boats. The men had heard something of the fighting, and
moved up in splendid order, expecting to be marched directly into
battle.
At about half-past two o’clock the sound as of thunder, with long
reverberations in the distance, told that the river guns had at last
opened their mouths, and were paying their compliments grandly to the
rebel batteries. Now and then could be seen in the distance, high up in
the air, a sudden puff of white smoke, which sprang as if from nothing,
slowly curling in graceful folds, and melting away in a snow-white
cloud; it was a bursting shell, instantly followed by the rumble of the
gun from which it had been sent. The loud roar of the cannon kept
growing thicker and faster. The heavy columbiads and Dahlgrens in the
fort were returning the fire. One, two, three, and then half a dozen at
once! The terrible game of death becomes wildly exciting!
The gunboats were advancing—the bombardment had fairly begun. The cheers
went up in ten thousand voices. The death-dealing bolts of Fort Henry
were falling thick and fast into Fort Donelson. But little did the
besiegers know what protection and defence nature had laid against the
ingenuity of art, which the insurgents had seized upon to accomplish
their purpose! No one considered the importance of those great natural
traverses and curtains of rock which had been thrown up by the primeval
subterranean fires, nor what bomb-proofs and lunettes the waters of a
thousand years had worn into the sides of those hills. The area of the
place was so large that nearly the whole force could be removed from the
water front, and thus leave the shells to explode against the bleak hill
sides, or crush through the deserted huts of the enemy.
Meantime an occasional shot from the batteries surrounding the outer
lines of defence must have told upon the enemy on the other side. The
enemy replied but feebly. The entire morning had been in anxious
expectancy, neither party being willing to risk the chances of another
trial of valor. The weather was keen and frosty, the roads slippery and
clogged with stiff mud.
Saturday, which was destined to witness the grand _denouement_ of the
painful tragedies enacted about Donelson, was cold, damp and cheerless.
The enemy, during the night, had transferred several of their batteries
to portions of their works, within a few hundred feet of which the
extreme right wing of the Federals was resting. Upon the first coming of
dawn, these batteries suddenly opened on the Ninth, Eighteenth,
Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth and Thirty-first regiments, comprising Oglesby’s
brigade, which had the advance. Simultaneously with the opening of the
batteries, a force of about twelve thousand infantry and a regiment of
cavalry was hurled against the brigade with a vigor which, made against
less steady and well-disciplined troops, must surely have resulted in
their entire demolition.
Sudden and unexpected as was this sally on the part of the enemy, it did
not find the gallant Illinoisans unprepared to meet them. The attack was
made in columns of regiments, which poured in upon the little band from
no less than three different directions. Every regiment of the brigade
found itself opposed to two, and in many cases to no less than four
different regiments. Undismayed, however, by the greatly superior force
of the enemy, and unsupported by adequate artillery, the brigade not
only held their own, but upon two occasions actually drove the rebels
fairly into their intrenchments, but only to be pressed back again into
their former position. At last having expended every round of their
ammunition, they were obliged to retire and give way to advancing
regiments of Colonel W. H. L. Wallace’s brigade, the Eleventh,
Twentieth, Seventeenth, Forty-fifth, Forty-eighth Illinois, and
Forty-ninth Indiana regiments.
By rapid firing from the two batteries of Taylor and Schwartz, the enemy
was driven back. The Union regiments which had suffered so much were
withdrawn. The enemy had by this time concentrated their broken troops
for another attack. General McClernand had already prepared for the
emergency. Anticipating that an attempt would be made to force a passage
through, he ordered a brigade to the rear and extreme right to form
behind the regiments then in front.
An hour had elapsed when the enemy returned in a dense mass, renewing
the fight. The battery of Captain Schwartz seemed to be the object of
their attack. On they came, pell mell, with deafening volleys of fire.
The Union batteries, well nigh exhausted of canister, poured a storm of
shell into their ranks. Ammunition caissons were sent back in haste to
get a fresh supply of canister. The Ninth, Eighteenth, Thirtieth and
Forty-first were the next regiments to be brought up. The crest of the
hill was contested with variable success for a full hour, when the enemy
was finally driven back. The line of battle was so much confused that no
connected account of the movements can be detailed. The utmost bravery
was displayed on both sides, until the struggle degenerated into a wild
fierce skirmish. The rebels finally retired a third time.
The Union men had expended their ammunition. It was during this lull,
and before the men could realize the fact that they had driven the enemy
before them, that the fourth and last attempt was made to seize the
battery. The horses being shot, the enemy succeeded in gaining
possession of the battery of Captain Schwartz, and were on the point of
turning the guns on the Federal troops, when Captain Willett’s Chicago
battery, which had just toiled up fresh from Fort Henry, arrived on the
ground and poured in a perfect storm of canister, just in time to save
the day. The rebels fell back in disorder, dragging the guns of Schwartz
with them down the hill, and gained entrance to the fort before the
Federals could overtake them. Some eager regiments followed them to the
embankments, a few men climbing over, who were driven back for want of
support.
The regiments which suffered most in this morning’s engagement were the
Eighteenth and Eleventh Illinois; next them, the Thirty-first and
Eighth. The expenditure of ammunition must have been excessive, on the
hypothesis that each man had his cartridge-box full on going into
action. Forty rounds of the standard cartridge is enough to fight with,
and more than enough to carry with other accoutrements of battle.
There were many instances of men who displayed the utmost heroism in
this action—some refused to be called off the field, fighting to the
last moment; others returned after having their wounds dressed. One of
the artillerymen, who received a wound, walked to the hospital, a mile
or more, had the ball extracted, and then insisted on going back to his
battery. The surgeon refused, when he quaintly said: “Come, come, put on
some of your glue and let me go back.”