FROM SPRINGFIELD TO FORT DONELSON
The regiment remained at the camp, near Springfield, until the 3d of
July, being then in a good state of discipline, and officers and men
having become acquainted with company drill. It was then ordered to
Quincy, on the Mississippi River, and Colonel Grant, for reasons of
instruction, decided to march his regiment instead of going by the
railroad. So began his advance, which ended less than four years later
at Appomattox, when he was the captain of all the victorious Union
armies,--holding a military rank none had held since Washington,--and a
sure fame with the great captains of the world's history. The details of
this wonderful progress can only be sketched in this little volume. It
was not without its periods of gloom, and doubt, and check; but, on the
whole, it was steadily on and up.
His orders were changed at different times, until finally he was
directed to proceed with all dispatch to the relief of an Illinois
regiment, reported to be surrounded by rebels near Palmyra, Mo. Before
the place was reached, the imperiled regiment had delivered itself by
retreating. He next expected to give battle at a place near the little
town of Florida, in Missouri. As the regiment toiled over the hill
beyond which the enemy was supposed to be waiting for him, he "would
have given anything to be back in Illinois." Never having had the
responsibility of command in a fight, he really distrusted his untried
ability. When the top of the hill was reached, only a deserted camp
appeared in front. "It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as
much afraid of me as I had been of him.... From that event to the close
of the war," he says in his book, "I never experienced trepidation upon
confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never
forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had [to fear]
his."
On August 7 he was appointed by the President a brigadier-general of
volunteers, upon the unanimous recommendation of the congressmen from
Illinois, most of whom were unknown to him. He had not won promotion by
any fighting; but generals were at that time made with haste to meet
exigent requirement, a proportional number being selected from each
loyal State. Among those whom General Grant appointed on his staff was
John A. Rawlins, the Galena lawyer, who was made adjutant-general, with
the rank of captain, and who as long as he lived continued near Grant in
some capacity, dying while serving as Secretary of War in the first term
of Grant's presidency. He was an officer of high ability and personal
loyalty. He alone had the audacity to interpose a resolute no, when his
chief was disposed to over-indulgence in liquor. He did not always
prevent him, but it is doubtful whether Grant would not have fallen by
the way without the constant, imperative watchfulness of his faithful
friend. There were times when both army and people were impatient with
him, not wholly without reason. Nothing saved him then but President
Lincoln's confidence and charity. The reply to all complaints was: "This
man fights; he cannot be spared."
In the last days of August, having been occupied, meantime, in reducing
to order distracted and disaffected communities in Missouri, he was
assigned to command of a military district embracing all southwestern
Missouri and southern Illinois. He established his headquarters at
Cairo, early in September, and from there he promptly led an expedition
that forestalled the hostile intention of seizing Paducah, a strategical
point at the mouth of the Tennessee River. This was his first important
military movement, and it was begun upon his own initiative. His first
battle was fought at Belmont, Mo., opposite Columbus, Ky., on the
Mississippi River, on November 7, 1861. Grant, in command of a force of
about 3000 men, was demonstrating against Columbus, held by the enemy.
Learning that a force had been sent across the river to Belmont, he
disembarked his troops from their transports and attacked. The men were
under fire for the first time, but they drove the enemy and captured the
camp. They came near being cut off, however, through the inexperience
and silly recklessness of subordinate officers. By dint of hard work and
great personal risk on the part of their commander, they were got safely
away. It was an all-day struggle, during which General Grant had a horse
shot under him, and made several narrow escapes, being the last man to
reëmbark. The Union losses were 485 killed, wounded, and missing. The
loss of the enemy was officially reported as 632. This battle was
criticised at the time as unnecessary; but General Grant always asserted
the contrary. The enemy was prevented from detaching troops from
Columbus, and the national forces acquired a confidence in themselves
that was of great value ever afterwards. Grant's governing maxim was, to
strike the enemy whenever possible, and keep doing it.
From the battle of Belmont until February, 1862, there was no fighting
by Grant's army. Troops were concentrated at Cairo for future
operations--not yet decided upon. Major-General H. W. Halleck superseded
General Fremont in command of the department of Missouri. Halleck was an
able man, having a high reputation as theoretical master of the art of
war, one of those who put a large part of all their energy into the
business of preparing to do some great task, only to find frequently,
when they are completely ready, that the occasion has gone by. When he
was first approached with a proposition to capture Forts Henry and
Donelson, the first on the Tennessee River, the other on the Cumberland
River, where the rivers are only a few miles apart near the southern
border of Kentucky, he thought that it would require an army of "not
less than 60,000 effective men," which could not be collected at Cairo
"before the middle or last of February."
Early in January General Grant went to St. Louis to explain his ideas of
a campaign against these forts to Halleck, who told him his scheme was
"preposterous." On the 28th he ventured again to suggest to Halleck by
telegraph that, if permitted, he could take and hold Fort Henry on the
Tennessee. His application was seconded by flag officer Foote of the
navy, who then had command of several gunboats at Cairo. On February 1,
he received instructions to go ahead, and the expedition, all
preparations having been made beforehand, started the next day, the
gunboats and about 9000 men on transports going up the Ohio and the
Tennessee to a point a few miles below Fort Henry. After the troops were
disembarked the transports went back to Paducah for the remainder of the
force of 17,000 constituting the expeditionary army. The attack was made
on the 6th, but the garrison had evacuated, going toward Fort Donelson,
to escape the fire of the gunboats. General Tilghman, commanding the
fort, his staff, and about 120 men were captured, with many guns and a
large quantity of stores. The principal loss on the Union side was the
scalding of 29 men on the gunboat Essex by the explosion of her boiler,
pierced by a shell from the fort.
Grant had no instructions to attack Fort Donelson, but he had none
forbidding him to do it. He straightway moved nearly his whole force
over the eleven miles of dreadful roads, and on the 12th began investing
the stronghold, an earthwork inclosing about 100 acres, with outworks on
the land and water sides, and defended by more than 20,000 men commanded
by General Floyd, who had been President Buchanan's Secretary of War.
The investing force had its right near the river above the fort. The
weather was alternately wet and freezing cold. The troops had no
shelter, and suffered greatly. On the 14th, without serious opposition,
the investment was completed. At three o'clock in the afternoon of the
14th, flag officer Foote began the attack, the fleet of gunboats
steaming up the river and firing as rapidly as possible; but several
were disabled by the enemy's fire, and all had to fall back before
nightfall. The enemy telegraphed to Richmond that a great victory had
been achieved.
On the next day, Grant, riding several miles to the river, met Foote on
his gunboat, to which he was confined by a wound received the day
before. Returning, he found that a large force from the fort had made a
sortie upon a part of his line, but had been driven back after a severe
contest. It was found that the haversacks of the Confederates left on
the field contained three days' rations. Instantly, Grant reasoned that
the intention was not so much to drive him away as to break through his
line and escape. He ordered a division that had not been engaged to
advance at once, and before night it had established a position within
the outer lines of defense. Surrender or capture the next day was the
fate of the Confederates.
During the night General Floyd and General Pillow, next in command, and
General Forest made their escape with about 4000 men. Before light the
next morning, General Grant received a note from General S. B. Buckner,
who was left in command of the fort, suggesting the appointment of
commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation, and meanwhile an
armistice until noon. To this note General Grant sent the curt reply:
"No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be
accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." General
Buckner sent back word that he was compelled by circumstances "to accept
the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms" which had been proposed.
This victory electrified the whole North, then greatly in need of cheer.
General Grant became the hero of the hour. His name was honored and his
exploit lauded from one end of the country to the other. It was not yet
a year since he had been an obscure citizen of an obscure town. Already
many regarded him as the nation's hope. A phrase from his note to
General Buckner was fitted to his initials, and he was everywhere hailed
as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
In this campaign he first revealed the peculiar traits of his military
genius, clear discernment of possibilities, comprehension of the
requirements of the situation, strategical instinct, accurate estimate
of the enemy's motive and plan, sagacious promptness of action in
exigencies, staunch resolution, inspiring energy, invincible poise. For
his achievement he was promoted to be a major-general of volunteers. He
had found himself now.