iron-clad gunboats and two wooden ones. It ments would reach them, leaving Gen. Simon Early the next morning a flag of truce was sent to Gen. Grant with the following letter: HEADQUARTERS, FORT DONELSON, Feb. 16, 1862. SIR: In consideration of all the circumstances gov The land forces under Gen. Grant left Fort Henry on the 12th of February, in two divisions, stated by Gen. Grant as about fifteen thousand strong,"-six regiments having been sent round on transports. The head of the marching column arrived within two miles of Fort Donelson at twelve o'clock. The Confederate fortifications were from this point gradually approached and surrounded, with occasional skirmishing on the line. The next day the investment was extended on the Confederate flanks, and drawn closer to their works, with skirmishing all day. That night the gunboats and reenforcements arrived. On the next day the attack of the gunboats was made, and after its failure Gen. Grant resolved to make the investment as perfect as possible, and to partially fortify and await the repairs to the gunboats. This plan was frustrated by a vigorous attack upon his right under Gen. McClernand, by the enemy. The battle was closely contested for several hours, and with considerable advantage to the enemy, when they were finally repulsed, having inflicted upon the Union troops a loss of one thousand two hundred in killed, wounded, and missing. At this time Gen. Grant ordered a charge to be made on the left by Gen. Charles F. Smith with his division. This was brilliantly done, and the contest here, which continued until dark, resulted in giving to him possession of part of the intrenchments. Soon after this charge was commenced, an attack was ordered by Gen. Grant to be made by Gen. Wallace of the third division, and two regiments of the second division, on the other Confederate flank, by which it was still further repulsed. At the points thus gained, all the troops remained for the night, feeling that, notwithstanding the brave resistance, a complete victory awaited them in the morning. The result of this conflict convinced the Confederate officers that without fresh troops they would be unable to hold their position on the next day. Gens. Pillow and Floyd determined therefore to withdraw as no reënforce VOL. II.-8 erning the present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces at this post under my command. In that view I suggest an armistice until twelve o'clock to day. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, United States forces near Fort Donelson. The reply of Gen. Grant to this letter was as follows: HEADQUARTERS, ON THE FIELD, To Gen. S. B. BUCKNER: SIR: Yours of this date, proposing an armistice and the appointment of commissioners to settle on the terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms, except unconditional and immediate surrender, can be accepted. I propose to move immediately on your works. Brigadier-General Commanding. The answer of Gen. Buckner was as follows: HEADQUARTERS, DOVER (TENN.), Feb. 16, 1862. Brig.-Gen. U. S. Grant, U. S. Army: SIR: The distribution of the forces under my command, incident to an unexpected change of commandmand, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success ers, and the overwhelming force under your comof the Confederate arms, to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose. I am, sir, your servant, S. B. BUCKNER. Brigadier-General C. S. Army. The fort was subsequently given up and occupied by the Union troops. In the action 231 were killed and 1,007 wounded on the Confederate side. The number was larger on the Union side. About 10,000 prisoners were made, and 40 pieces of cannon and extensive magazines of all kinds of ordnance, quartermasters' and commissary stores were captured. The following is a list of the regiments which were captured at Fort Donelson: 49th Tennessee regiment, Col. Bailey; 43d Tennessee regiment, Col. Abernethy; 27th Alabama regiment, Col. Jackson; 42d Tennessee regiment, Col. Quarrells; Captain Guy's battery; 26th Tennessee regiment, Col. Silliard; 14th Mississippi regiment, Col. Baldwin; 18th Tennessee regiment, Col. Palmer; 2d 'Kentucky regiment, Col. Hanson; 20th Mississippi regiment, Major Brown; Captain Milton's company; 15th Virginia regiment, Lieut. Haslep; Texas regiment, Col. Gregg; 15th Arkansas regiment, Col. Lee; Capt. Oreston's cavalry; 15th Tennessee regi A Water Batteries-Lower Battery, 8 32-pounder guns; 1 10-inch Columbiad. Upper Battery, 1 32-pounder heavy rifled gun; 2 32-pounder carronades. B Rifle Pits, carried by General Smith's division. O General Grant's Headquarters during the siege. D Part of Confederate Intrenchments, carried by a portion of General McClernand's division. E Fallen Timber. F Confederate Tents. G Confederate Log Huts. H Woods. ment, Maj. Clark; one Company, Col. Lugg; Porter's artillery; 3d Tennessee regiment, Col. Brown; 8th Kentucky regiment, Capt. Lyon; 30th Tennessee regiment, Maj. Humphrey; 32d Tennessee regiment, Col. Cook; 41st Tennessee regiment, Col. Forquehanor; Mississippi regiment, Col. Davidson. A portion of the Federal troops in Gen. McClernand's division were under arms two days and nights, amid driving storms of snow and rain. The fall of the fort occasioned great rejoicing in the Northern cities. The commanding general (Grant) thus addressed his troops: HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF WEST TENN., The General commanding takes great pleasure in congratulating the troops of this command for the triumph over rebellion gained by their valor on the 18th, 14th, and 15th instant. For four successive nights, without shelter during the most inclement weather known in this latitude, they faced an enemy in large force in a position chosen by himself. Though strongly fortified by nature, all the additional safeguards suggested by science were added. Without a murmur this was borne, prepared at all times to receive an attack, and with continuous skirmishing by day, resulting ultimately in forcing the enemy to surrender without conditions. The victory achieved is not only great in the effect it will have in breaking down rebellion, but has secured the greatest number of prisoners of war ever taken in Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked in capitals on the map of our united country, and the men who fought the battle will live in the memory of a grateful people. By order U. S. GRANT, Brigadier-General Commanding. any battle on this continent. The following is the order of Gen. Halleck: HEADQUARTERS. DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI. 19, The Major-General commanding the department congratulates Flag-Officer Foote, Brig. Gen. Grant, and the brave officers and men under their command on the recent brilliant victories on the Tennessee and Cumberland. The war is not ended. Prepare for new conflicts and new victories. Troops are concentrating from every direction. We shall soon have an army which will be irresistible. The Union Flag must be restored everywhere, and the enthralled Union men in the South must be set free. The soldiers and sailors of the Great West are ready and willing to do this. The time and place have been determined on. Victory and glory await the brave! By command of Maj. Gen. HALLECK. N. H. MCLEAN, Assistant Adjutant-General. The Confederate Congress being at that time in session, the following Message was addressed to that body by President Davis' EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, March 11, 1862. To the Speaker of the House of Representatives: I transmit herewith copies of such official reports as bave been received at the War Department of the defence and fall of Fort Donelson. They will be found incomplete and unsatisfactory. Instructions have been given to furnish further information upon the several points not made intelligible by the reports. It is not stated that reenforcements were at any time asked for; nor is it demonstrated to have been impossible to have saved the army by evacuating the position; nor is it known by what means it was found practicable to withdraw a part of the garrison, leaving the remainder to surrender; nor upon what authority or principles of action the senior Gencommand to a junior officer. erals abandoned responsibility by transferring the In a former communication to Congress, I presented the propriety of a suspension of judgment in relation to the disaster at Fort Donelson, until official reports could be received. I regret that the information now furnished is so defective. In the mean time, hopeful that satisfactory explanation may be made, I have directed, upon the exhibition of the case as presented by the two senior Generals, that they should be relieved from command, to await further orders whenever a reliable judgment can be rendered on the merits of the case. JEFFERSON DAVIS. The successful operations against Fort Donelson were followed by the immediate evacuation of Bowling Green by the Confederate troops under Gen. Johnston. The centre of Gen. Buell's army under Gen. Mitchell was advancing from Munfordsville upon Bowling Green reached the river at that place on the next day. on the 14th of February, and by a forced march He immediately began to reconstruct the bridge, which had been burned some hours previous to his arrival, and took possession of the fortifications on the next day. Since the battle of Mill Springs the intention of holding Bowling Green had been given up by the Confederate commander, and the troops of January Gen. Floyd, with a command_comwere gradually withdrawn. About the 25th posed of his brigade and those of Gens. Wood and Breckinridge, left Bowling Green and went to Nashville and east Tennessee. The brigade of Gen. Buckner about the same time moved in the direction of Hopkinsville, near which place he manœuvred in front of Gen. Crittenden until the latter left to join Gen. Grant, when Gen. Buckner fell back and combined his forces with those at Fort Donelson. The force then remaining at Bowling Green consisted of the brigades commanded by Gens. Hardee and Hindman, which were chiefly Arkansas regiments, and twelve in number. This force, being about 8,000 men, was totally inadequate to defend the position against the forces of Gen. Mitchell and the reserve of Gen. Buell commanded by Gen. McCook. On the 19th of February Com. Foote left Fort Donelson with the gunboats Conestoga and Cairo on an armed reconnoissance. At Clarksville he learned that nearly two thirds of the citizens had fled in alarm, and therefore issued a proclamation, assuring "all peaceably disposed persons that they could with safety resume their business avocations, and requiring only the military stores and equipments to be given up and holding the authorities responsible that it should be done without reservation." Clarksville is on the line of railroad communication between Memphis and Nashville and Memphis and Bowling Green and Louisville. Below the town were two small forts which were taken by the Federal force without any resistance. They mounted three guns each. One span of the railroad bridge had also been destroyed. your path. The fire of your artillery and the bursting of your shells announced your arrival. Surprised and ignorant of the force that had thus precipitated itself upon them, they fled in consternation. In the night time, over a frozen, rocky, precipitous pathway, down rude steps for fifty feet, you have passed the advance guard, cavalry, and infantry, and be fore the dawn of day, you have entered in triumph a position of extraordinary natural strength, and by your enemy proudly denominated the Gibraltar of Kentucky. With your own hands, through deep mud, in drenching rains, and up rocky pathways next to impassable, and across a footpath of your own construction, built upon the ruins of the railway bridge, destroyed for their protection, by a retreating and panic-stricken foe, you have transported upon your own shoulders your baggage and camp equipage. The General commanding the department, on receiving my report announcing these facts, requests me to make to the officers and soldiers under my command the following communication: "Soldiers who by resolution and energy overcome great natural difficulties, have nothing to fear in battle, where their energy and prowess are taxed to a far less extent. Your command have exhibited the high qualities of resolution and energy, in a degree which leaves no limit to my confidence in them in their future movements. "By order of "Brig. Gen. BUELL, "Commanding Department of the Ohio." Soldiers! I feel a perfect confidence that the high estimate placed upon your power, endurance, energy, and heroism, is just. Your aim and mine has been to deserve the approbation of our commanding officer, and of our Government and our country. I trust you feel precisely as does your commanding Brig.-Gen. O. M. MITCHELL, The certainty of the capture of Nashville showed to the Confederate generals the danger in which Columbus, their strong position on the Mississippi, was placed. Even the occupation of Clarksville by the Union forces put into their possession that part of the railroad running to Columbus, and opened the way to spproach that position from the rear. At the same time the river in front was under the control of the Federal gunboats. Gen. Beauregard, having previously retired from his command at Manassas, was now the commanding officer in this Confederate department with Gen. Johnston. Orders were accordingly issued on the 18th of February to destroy a portion of the track and bridges of the Memphis and Ohio railroad preparatory to a removal of the forces at Columbus to Island No. Ten, about forty-five miles below on the Mississippi river. At the same time preparations were made to remove the Confederate stores and other public property from Nashville. The near approach of the Federal forces filled the authorities of the State with great alarm. The Legislature, which had just been convened in extra session, retired with Gov. Harris to Memphis, taking the archives and treasury of the State. Extreme measures and the destruction of property were proposed by the Governor to the citizens, but without gaining their approval. The railroad and the suspension bridges over the river were, however, destroyed. After taking possession of Clarksville, Com. Foote returned to Cairo for the purpose of obtaining an additional gunboat and six or eight mortar boats. Meantime the troops of Gen. Grant, under Brig.-Gen. Smith, were pushed forward to Clarksville, and at the request of Gen. Smith, Lieut. Bryant, of the gunboat Cairo, preceded seven transports with the brigade of Gen. Nelson up the river to Nashville. They arrived on the 24th. The troops were landed without any opposition, as there was not any hostile force on the banks of the river. On the same day the advance of Gen. Buell's centre from Bowling Green arrived on the opposite side of the river, to see the Stars and Stripes already floating in triumph from the staff on the State capitol. The Confederate force under Gen. Albert S. Johnston retired to Murfreesborough, a small town thirty-two miles distant on the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad. Here they were soon after joined by the force under the Confederate General Crittenden. An invasion having now been commenced within the limits of the States attached to the Confederacy, the Major-General commanding the department of Missouri issued the following order for the regulation of the troops: HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI, The Major-General commanding the department desires to impress upon all officers the importance of preserving good order and discipline among their troops as the armies of the West advance into Tennessee and the these States that we come merely to crush out rebellion, and to restore to them peace and the benefits of the Constitution and the Union, of which they have been deprived by their selfish and unprincipled leaders. They have been told that we come to oppress and plander. By our acts we will undeceive them; we will prove to them that we come to restore, not to violate, the Constitution and laws in restoring to them the flag of the Union. We will assure them that they shall enjoy under its folds the same protection of life and property as in former days. Southern States. Let us show to our fellow citizens in Soldiers, let no excess on your part tarnish the glory of our arms. The orders heretofore issued in this department in regard to pillaging, marauding, the destruction of private property and stealing, and the concealment of slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to the military to decide upon the relation of master and slave. Such questions must be settled by civil courts. No fugitive slave will, therefore, be admitted within our lines or camps except when especially ordered by the General commanding. Women, children, merchants, farmers, mechanies, and all persons not in arms, are regarded as noncombatants, and are not to be molested in their persons or property. If, however, they aid and assist the enemy, they become belligerents, and will be treated as such. If they violate the laws of war, they will be made to suffer the penalties of such violation. Military stores and public property must be surrendered, and any attempt to conceal such property by fraudulent transfer or otherwise, will be punished; but no private property will be touched unless by orders of the General commanding. Whenever it becomes necessary to levy forced contributions for the supply and subsistence of our troops, such levies will be made as light as possible, and be so distributed as to produce no distress among the people. All property so taken must be receipted and fully accounted for, as heretofore directed. ment, and all officers are commanded to strictly enforce N. H. MCLEAN, Assistant Adjutant-General. Meanwhile, on the morning of the 4th of March, an expedition consisting of the gunboats Louisville, Carondelet, St. Louis, Pittsburg, Lexington and four mortar boats, left Cairo for Columbus on the Mississippi. Transports with the following troops formed a part of the expedition: 42d and 27th Illinois, 6 companies of the 55th Illinois, four companies of the 71st Ohio and one company of the 54th Ohio. On arrival the fort was found to be unoccupied, except by two hundred and fifty of the 2d Illinois regiment, who had reached it by a land march a short time previous. The enemy had commenced the evacuation on the 26th ult. Almost everything difficult to move had been more or less destroyed. Still a large amount of army material was obtained. The enemy had retired down the river. At Nashville order was speedily restored. Col. Matthews of the 51st Ohio was appointed provost marshal and the troops were all quartered without the city. An immense amount of military stores of the Confederate Govern These orders will be read at the head of every regiment was found in the city. They consisted |