Showing posts with label USS Pittsburgh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USS Pittsburgh. Show all posts

Friday, October 18, 2019

Commander Benjamin M. Dove to Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote, February 16, 1862

U. S. Gunboat Louisville,    
Off Dover, February 16,1862.

Sir: At 2:30 p. m. yesterday, shortly after your departure, I received the enclosed dispatch (No. 1) from General Grant.

It seemed of so much importance for us to keep up a show of force that I decided not to accompany the Pittsburg down the river.

I immediately went on board the Carondelet and St. Louis to see their condition and consult with their commanders.

The Carondelet could not well be moved, but I ordered up the St. Louis and followed up with this vessel. The St. Louis threw a few shells, and toward dark both vessels returned to their former anchorage.

At 8:30 p. m. yesterday I received the dispatch marked No. 2, and early this morning went on board the vessels to give instructions.

The condition of the Carondelet’s wounded would not allow them to be moved or the guns to be used. I sent my own and those of the St. Louis on board of one of the transports and got underway, steaming up toward the batteries at Fort Donelson, both vessels cleared for action.

On approaching near enough two white flags were seen flying from the upper one. I then stopped the gunboats and proceeded in the tug with a white flag flying, and landed at the foot of the hill below the fort. I was met by a major, who offered me his sword, which I declined to receive, thinking it most proper to consult with General Grant. I took the major on board the tug and proceeded up to General Buckner's headquarters, where I found General Wallace and his aids. General Grant arrived about a half hour afterwards. The fort had surrendered, but what were the conditions I was not officially informed.

The transports are all up at Dover to receive the prisoners. The Carondelet, being most disabled of the gunboats, will go down this afternoon.

I will remain here with this vessel and the St. Louis until further orders, or until the fall of the river compels me to go down. The St. Louis will make a short reconnoissance up the river, at General Grant's suggestion, this afternoon. This vessel will remain off the town.

The Graham arrived to-day with the mortar and gunboat ammunition.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Benj. M. Dove,     
Commander.
Flag-Officer A. H. Foote,
Commanding Mississippi Flotilla.

SOURCE: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 22, p. 588-9

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Wednesday, May 13, 1863

There was a row on board last night; one of the officers having been too attentive to a lady, had to skedaddle suddenly into the woods, in order to escape the fury of her protector, and he has not thought it advisable to reappear. My trusty companion for several days, the poor young Missourian, was taken ill to-day, and told me lie had a “right smart little fever on him.” I doctored him with some of the physic which Mr Maloney had given me, and he got better in the evening.

We had pickets out in the woods last night. Two of my fellow-travellers on that duty fell in with a negro, and pretending they were Yankees, asked him to join them. He consented, and even volunteered to steal his master's horses; and he then received a tremendous thrashing, administered by the two soldiers with their ramrods.

At 9 P.M., to the surprise of all, the captain suddenly made up his mind to descend the river at all hazards, thinking, I suppose, that anything was better than the uncertainty of the last twenty-four hours.

The further we went, the more beautiful was the scenery.

At 4 P.m. we were assured by a citizen on the bank that the gunboats really had retreated; and at 5.30 our doubts were set at rest, to our great satisfaction, by descrying the Confederate flag flying from Fort Beauregard, high above the little town of Harrisonburg. After we had landed, I presented my letter of introduction from General Hébert to Colonel Logan, who commands the fort. He introduced me to a German officer, the engineer.

They gave me an account of the attack and repulse of the four Federal gunboats under Commodore Woodford, and supposed to have been the Pittsburg (ironclad), the General Price, the Arizona, and another.

Fort Beauregard is a much more formidable looking work than I expected to see, and its strength had evidently been much underrated at Munroe.

A hill 190 feet high, which rises just in rear of Harrisonburg, has been scarped and fortified. It is situated at an angle of the river, and faces a long "reach" of two miles.

The gunboats, after demanding an unconditional surrender, which was treated with great contempt by Colonel Logan, opened fire at 2 P.M. on Sunday, and kept it up till 6.30, throwing about one hundred and fifty 9 and 11 inch shell. The gunboats reopened again for about an hour on Monday afternoon, when they finally withdrew, the Arizona being crippled.

The fort fired altogether about forty-five 32-pound shot (smooth bore.) The range was about a mile.

The garrison thought that they had loosened several of the Pittsburg's iron-plates. They felt confident they could have sunk the wooden vessels if they had attempted to force the passage; and they were naturally much elated with their success, which certainly had not been anticipated on board my steamer, or at Munroe.

I had not time to visit the interior of the fort, but I saw the effect of the shell upon the outside. Those which fell in the sand did not burst. Only three men were wounded in the garrison. They told me the deck of the Pittsburg was furnished with a parapet of cotton bales for riflemen.

The river at Harrisonburg is about 160 yards broad, and very deep, with a moderate current. The town, being between the vessels and the fort, had, of course, suffered considerably during the bombardment.

When the works are complete they will be much more formidable.

To our great joy Colonel Logan decided that our vessel should proceed at once to Trinity, which is fifteen miles nearer Natchez (on the Mississippi) than Harrisonburg.

We arrived there at 8 P.M., and found that the gunboats had only just left, after having destroyed all the molasses and rum they could find, and carried away a few negroes.

Six of us pigged in one very small room, paying a dollar each for this luxury to an old woman, who was most inhospitable, and told us “she didn't want to see no soldiers, as the Yanks would come back and burn her house for harbouring rebels.” I am always taken for a Confederate officer, partly from being in their company, and partly on account of my clothes, which happen to be a grey shooting-suit, almost the same colour as most of the soldiers' coats.

SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 91-5

Friday, February 15, 2013

A Skirmish In Tennessee

ANOTHER GUNBOAT RUNS THE BLOCKADE.
__________

CHICAGO, April 6. – The Tribune’s Cairo special says:  A gentleman who left Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Saturday evening, confirms the rumor of a skirmish with the enemy on Friday evening.  He made a reconnoissance in force on Sherman’s Division.  The party consisted of two regiments of infantry, two pieces of artillery and 500 cavalry.  Our force lost one man killed and some half dozen were wounded.  The loss of the enemy is not known, further than that Gen. Sherman took 10 prisoners.  After a short skirmish the enemy retired.

Gen. Oglesby arrived from Tennessee this morning on a short furlough.

The officers in command up the Tennessee are actively engaged in brigading the troops.  The opposing armies are within twenty miles of each other and one may attack the other at any time.

Very heavy firing was heard here last night.

Arrivals this morning report that the Carondelet came up from New Madrid and attacked the floating battery of the rebels on Island No. 10.  The gunboats at the same time commenced firing.  The result had not transpired when the messenger left.

It is reported that Gen. Halleck is to be here to-day en route for Tennessee.


10 P. M. – We have glorious news to-night from New Madrid.  Last night the gunboat Pittsburgh ran the blockade in safety, under a terrible fire from the rebel batteries.  Four steam transports and five barges were also got through the slough from Phillips’ Landing above Island No. 10, by Col. Bissell.

– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862, p. 4

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Particulars of the Surrender at Island No. 10


CAIRO, April 8, 8 p.m. – I have been able to gather a few more particulars from Island No. 10.  Four hundred and seventy-eight prisoners, including seventeen officers, seventy pieces of artillery, a large amount of ammunition, muskets and small arms, were captured on the Island.  It is said our mortar shells proved very destructive; wherever they struck and exploded, great execution was made in the earth.

It is reported that the Confederates had become perfectly demoralized; in many cases entire regiments would refuse to obey orders. – Much ill feeling prevailed among the officers and none, including the soldiers, had any confidence in their commanding officer.

No farther information has been obtained in reference to the number of prisoners captured on the Tennessee shore, and it will be impossible to get anything further before morning.

Much excitement prevails here over the news of the battle at Pittsburgh.  It is regarded as most fortunate that Gen. Buell came up as he did, with one Division to reinforce Gen. Grant.  It evidently was the expectation of Beauregard to fight the battle before Gen. Buell could form a junction with Gen. Grant.

We hope to get further particulars to-morrow.

At one o’clock, last night a boat came to the flag-ship with a messenger carrying a letter from the commanding officer at Island No. 10 to Flag Officer Foote, proposing capitulation for the surrender of the Island.  Flag Officer Foot replied that he would accept no other terms than an unconditional surrender.  At one o’clock this morning the enemy surrendered unconditionally to Com. Foote.  Several transports and it is supposed one or two gunboats, the celebrated floating battery, cannon, ammunition and stores have thus fallen into our hands.  Too much praise cannot be awarded to the Flag Officer and the gallant officers under his command for this brilliant achievement in capturing the Gibraltar of the Mississippi river, without the loss of a single life.  We have no information at this time as to details, but it is supposed that most of the rebel troops on the Tennessee shore have effected their escape.  It is supposed they commenced leaving soon after the Carondolet succeeded in turning their batteries, as that destroyed all hope of their maintaining their position.  Fleet Captain Hennock, who has achieved wonders in fitting out and repairing gunboats and transports, and furnishing supplies to the fleet, ahs reason to believe that our mortars did terrible execution among the rebels.  It is reported that Gen. Pope had 18,000 troops across the river from New Madrid last night, ready to march and bag the enemy but is believe that he was too late.

Boats commenced running to New Madrid to-day.  The river has fallen four feet within the last two days, greatly facilitating the operations of Gen. Pope opposite New Madrid.

Hon. Jesse Dubois is here en route for the Upper Tennessee.

Hon. Emerson Etheridge has telegraphed to three hundred citizens of Bourbon county, Tennessee, driven out by the rebel troops, to come down and return with him.  They will probably leave to-morrow.

Reliable reports from Jeff. Thompson a week ago place him in the swamps, some eighty miles from here, with a few hundred marauders.  Several men who have heretofore been in his army from the vicinity of Charleston, eight miles from here, in Missouri, have petitioned Gen. Strong for privilege to take the oath and return to their allegiance.  The General authorized the County Clerk, a good Union man, to take and administer the oath.

Dr. Simpson, of the Medical Department leaves this evening for the Tennessee with two large hospital boats most completely fitted out under direction of J. E. Yeatman, Esq., of the St. Louis Sanitary Commission.  They contain 800 beds for the wounded.  The hospitals here have accommodations for 1,400.

Dispatches from New Madrid have been received.  The gunboats Carondelet and Pittsburg, yesterday morning shelled and silenced the batteries on the opposite shore, when Gen. Pope ordered the troops across.  It was effected without loss.

The rebels fled towards Lisbon sinking several of their transports, among others the Grampus.

The floating battery of the rebels, mounting ten guns, drifted down last night, and is aground near Point Pleasant.  It will be recovered with its armament.

The Belle West covered Gen. Paine in the advance on the batteries.

Gen. Pope at once took the Pittsburg and Carondelet, and with a part of his army, turned to and attacked the enemy this morning, and took 2,000 prisoners, mostly from Arkansas and Louisiana.  He will probably get as many more before night.

The rebels fled to the swamps in great consternation.

The victory is complete and decisive.  Great quantities of stores, cannon, and ammunition have fallen into our hands.  All their baggage and supplies are taken.

Gen. McCall, of the rebel Adjutant General’s department, is a prisoner.

The country between New Madrid and Island No. 10, on the east side of the river, is being scoured by our troops.  Many prisoners will doubtless be taken there.

Gen. Bissell, with his transports, is ordered down to Tipton by Gen. Pope, which is twelve miles below New Madrid, to bring cannon and other property up to New Madrid.

Divisions of our army are pursuing the fleeing rebels in all directions.  Their entire force at and about Island No. 10, is either taken prisoners or utterly routed and demoralized.

Hon. Emerson Etheridge has just arrived from Paducah.  To him the news of our success is especially gratifying.  His residence is thirty-five miles south of Hickman.  Gen. Strong will send an escort with him to his home to insure his safety.  Thousands of his former friends will great his arrival with a glorious welcome.

– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862, p. 3

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Speech Of Senator Grimes


On the Joint Resolution tendering the thanks of Congress to Commodore Foote and his officers and men.

The joint resolution is as follows:

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress and of the American people are due, and are hereby tendered to Captain A. H. Foote, of the United States Navy, and to the officers and men of the western flotilla under his command, for the great gallantry exhibited by them in the attacks upon Forts Henry and Donelson, for their efficiency in opening the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Mississippi rivers to the pursuits of lawful commerce and for their unwavering devotion to the cause of the country in the midst of the greatest difficulties and dangers.

Sec. 2.  And be it further resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause this resolution to be communicated to Captain Foote, and through him to the officers and men under his command.


Mr. GRIMES.  Mr. President, I conceive it to be my duty, and it certainly is a great pleasure to be, to call the special attention of the Senate to the achievements of the newly created naval flotilla on the western waters, and to the gallant part borne by its officers and men against the armed rebels in Kentucky and Tennessee.  Surely no one could more properly be proud of the deeds of our Army in that quarter than a Senator from Iowa.  Yet, I know that whatever adds to the glory of our Navy in the recent conflicts in the West, adds also to the glory of the Army, and that the two branches of the service have been and are so conjoined that no rivalry ought to exist between them, except a virtuous emulation in the performance of patriotic duty.  No examples can be found in the history of any country of more important results attained in an equal time, in an untried field of naval enterprise, than those we have lately witnessed on the Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland rivers; and I feel assured that the successes that have thus far been achieved, will be surpassed by the same forces whenever they can find an enemy with whom to cope between Cairo and New Orleans.

On the 16th day of May last, Commander John Rodgers was ordered by the Secretary of the Navy to proceed to Cincinnati and to purchase or commence the construction of several gunboats for service on the western rivers.  Under his auspices the three boats, Taylor, Lexington and Conestoga, were purchased and fitted up for war purposes.  They were put in commission and reached Cairo, after some delay arising from the low stage of water on the Ohio river, on the 12th of August, Commander Rodgers taking command of the Taylor, and assigning Commander Stembel to the Lexington and Lieutenant Phelps to the Conestoga.  The Taylor carried seven guns, of large caliber, the Lexington six, and the Conestoga four.  Here was the beginning of the western flotilla.  We all remember the unfavorable criticisms indulged in when these three stern-wheel steamers, with oak casings, arrived at that military post.  Some said they would be shake to pieces by the recoil of their own guns’ others that they would be speedily sunk by the shore guns of the rebels; while not a few were alarmed by visions of Hollins’ ram butting them to pieces with impunity.  From the day they reached their destinations to the present no rebel craft has shown itself ten miles above Columbus and no rebel force of any description has harbored on the two rivers in proximity which could be deemed threatening to their navigation or to the two cities of St. Louis and Cairo.  A few experimental trips dispelled all doubts of their efficiency; and when the people became assured that they would do the work they were intended for, all fear of rebel incursion into any of the northwester States, other than Missouri, was also dispelled.  A band of Jefferson Thompson’s robbers did, indeed, make a demonstration of crossing the Mississippi river, in August last, from the town of Commerce, Missouri; but at the first intimation that the gunboats were coming, they fled with what booty they could lay their hands on, pillaged impartially from friends and foes on the Missouri shore.  The boon of security to the people of the northwestern States is a debt due, in no small degree, to these wooden gunboats, for  however numerous and brave our armies, it would have been impossible with them alone to have guarded all points on our river line.  Thus, our people were not only protected from danger of invasion but they were enabled to give all their time and energies to preparation for those offensive movements which have reclaimed so much important territory from the domination of the enemy.

On the 23d of September, Commander Rodgers was detached from service in the West, and Capt. A. H. Foote was ordered to take command as flag officer.  Since that time the following boats, with iron-clad bows, have been built or prepared for service, and added to the flotilla under his command; St. Louis, thirteen guns, Lieut. Paulding; Carondelet, thirteen guns, Commander Walk; Pittsburg, thirteen guns, Lieut. Thompson; Louisville, thirteen guns, Commander Dove; Cincinnati, thirteen guns, Commander Stembel; Essex, five guns, Commander Porter; Mound City, thirteen guns.

The first engagement of the gunboats with the enemy took place on the 9th of September at Lucas Bend, in the Mississippi river, a short distance above, and in full view of the rebel stronghold at Columbus.  In that engagement, the Lexington, Commander Stembel, and the Conestoga, Lieut. Phelps, silenced two shore batteries, dispersed a large body of rebel Cavalry, and so disabled the rebel gunboat Yankee that she has not been heard of since.

On the 29th of October, the Conestoga, Lieut. Phelps, proceeded with three companies of Illinois volunteers, sixty-two miles up the Tennessee river to Eddyville, Kentucky, where they jointly attacked and routed a rebel encampment, bringing away their horses, arms, camp equipage, and negro slaves.

There could hardly have been an occasion where the presence of an efficient naval support was more necessary than at the battle of Belmont, fought on the 7th day of November last; and there has been no conflict during the war where this support, when finally called into requisition, was more effectively and opportunely rendered.  Nothing but the well directed fire of grape and canister from the guns of the Taylor and Lexington saved our land forces from being utterly cut to pieces while retiring on board their transports.  Every effort of the enemy to bring his artillery to bear on our columns was defeated by the storm of iron that assailed him from the boats.  His pieces were dismounted and his horses and men swept down as fast as they were placed in position.

A great [deal] has been said about the origin of the proposition to take possession of the Tennessee river.  The credit of originating the idea of a military campaign in that direction has been claimed, first by one, and then for another military commander.  I desire that impartial justice should be done to every man; and acting upon the intention to do justice, I must be permitted to say, that so far as I can learn, the project of turning the enemy’s flanks by penetrating the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, originated with Commodore Foote.  The great rise of water in those rivers was providential, and with the quick eye of military genius he saw at once the advantage that it might secure to our arms.  Accordingly he sent to Gen. Halleck, at St. Louis the following dispatch:


CAIRO, January 28, 1862.

General Grant and myself are of the opinion that Fort Henry and the Tennessee river can be carried with four iron-clad gunboats and troops, and be permanently occupied.  Have we your authority to move for that purpose when ready?

A. H. FOOTE.


To this despatch no reply was vouchsafed, but an order was subsequently sent to General Grant to proceed up the Tennessee river with his troops under convoy of the armed flotilla, and attack Fort Henry, directing General Grant to show to Commodore Foote his orders to this effect.  Commodore Foote was at once ready for the expedition, and advised the Department to that effect, in the following despatch:


PADUCAH, February 3, 1862.

SIR:– I have the honor to inform you that I left Cairo yesterday with this vessel, having ordered the armored gunboats Essex, Carondolet, Cincinnati and St. Louis to precede me to Paducah, and arrived here last evening.

To-day I propose ascending the Tennessee river with four new armored boats and the old gunboats Taylor, Conestoga and Lexington, in convoy of the troops under General Grant, for the purpose of conjointly attacking and occupying Fort Henry and the railroad bridge connecting Bowling Green with Columbus.  The transports have not yet arrived, although expected last night from Cairo, which causes detention, while in the mean time, unfortunately the river is falling.  I am ready with seven gunboats to act offensively whenever the Army is in condition to advance, and have every confidence, under God, that we shall be able to silence the guns at Fort Henry and its surroundings, notwithstanding I have been obliged, for want of men, to take from the five boats remaining at Cairo all the men except a sufficient number to man one gunboat for the protection of that important post.

I have Commander Kitly, as senior officer in charge of the guns and mortar boats.  It is peculiarly unfortunate that we have not been able to obtain men for the flotilla, as they only are wanting to enable me to have at this moment, eleven full-manned instead of seven partially-manned gunboats ready for efficient operations at any point.  The volunteers for the Army to go in the gunboats exceed the number of men required; but the derangement of companies and regiments in permitting them to leave, as the reason assigned for not more than fifty of the number having been thus far transferred to the flotilla.

I inclose a copy of my orders to the Commanders of the gunboats, in anticipation of the attack on Fort Henry; also a copy of the orders to Lieutenant Commanding Phelps, who will have more especial charge of the old gunboats, and operate in a less exposed condition than the armored boats.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. H. FOOTE, Flag Officer,
Com’g Naval Forces on the Western Waters.

Hon. GIDEON WELLES.
Sec’y of the Navy, Washington, D. C.

P. S.  – Several transports with the troops have just arrived.  A. H. F.

I proceed up the Tennessee early in the morning, and there make the Cincinnati my flagship.  A. H. F.


On the preceding day he had issued the following order to Lieutenant Phelps:


[Special Orders, No. 3.]

UNITED STATES GUNBOAT TAYLOR,
PADUCAH, February 2, 1862.

Lieutenant Commanding Phelps, will, as soon as the fort shall have surrendered, and upon signal from the flag ship, proceed with the Conestoga, Taylor, and Lexington, up the river to where the railroad bridge crosses, and if the army shall not already have got possession, he will destroy so much of the track as will entirely prevent its use by the rebels.

He will then proceed as far up the river as the stage of the water will admit, and capture the enemy’s gunboats and other vessels which might prove available to the enemy.

A. H. FOOTE, Flag Officer,
Command’g Naval Forces on Western Waters.


The fleet, consisting of the iron-clad boats, Essex, Carondelet, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, and the three wooden boats Taylor, Lexington, and Conestoga proceeded to Fort Henry and reduced it in one hour and twenty minutes, Commodore Foote being, as is his wont, in the forefront of the battle.  It appears from the order to Lieutenant Phelps, (which that gallant officer promptly executed,) that Commodore Foot knew before leaving Paducah that he should take Fort Henry, no matter what might be the force or the resistance he should meet there. – He was thoroughly inspired by the great idea of victory.  The contingency of failure did not enter into his calculations.  He, therefore, addressed himself to plans for reaping the fruits of victory, rather than to pans for repairing the consequences of defeat.  It will be observed from the foregoing letter to the Secretary of the Navy written before the battle of Fort Henry, that the efficiency of the flotilla was much impaired by the want of seamen, or by a neglect in some quarter to have those transferred from the military service who had been selected for that purpose.

After reducing Fort Henry and sweeping the Tennessee river as far up as Florence, in Alabama, Commodore Foote returned to Cairo to prepare the mortar boats for operations against Fort Donelson.  He was aware of the formidable character of the rebel works at Donelson, and he desired to delay a few days to complete the mortar boats, by which he believed the garrison, however extensive, could be shelled out without much loss of life on our side.  General Halleck believed an immediate attack to be a military necessity.  In this, I doubt not, he was right, and I only refer to it to show that the crippled condition of the fleet and the heavy loss of life on our side are not to be attributed to rashness or bad management on the part of the flag officer.  Of the gallant attack on Fort Donelson no one need be reminded.  Subjected, as our vessels were, to a long-continued and hot fire of three rebel batteries at four hundred yards’ distance, they continued the fight for one hour and thirty minutes, and not until the wheel of one and the tiller ropes of another of his boats were shot away, did the well managed guns of the commodore cease to scatter death and consternation among the foes of this country.  Although wounded himself, and his gunboats crippled, but with the glory of the combat on his brown, he indulged in no repinings for his personal misfortunes or laudations of his successes; but like a true Christian hero, he thought only of his men.  In a letter written the morning after the battle to a friend, he said:


“While I hope ever to rely on Him who controls all things, and to say from the heart, ‘Not unto us, but unto Thee, O Lord, belongs the glory,’ yet I feel sadly at the result of our attack on Fort Donelson.  To see the brave officers and men who say they will go wherever I lead them fall by my side, makes me feel sad to lead them to almost certain death.”


But he obeyed what was believed to be the military necessity of the situation.

The Senator from Massachusetts nearest me has this morning kindly furnished me with a letter from a trustworthy friend of his who has from the beginning been with the army of the West, from which I am permitted to read the following extracts:


“When Fort Henry surrendered, the gate was opened by which the rebellion will be finally and utterly crushed.  In a few days Com. Foote will open the Mississippi, provided he is not hampered, and also provided he is properly supported by Government.  He has done a great work for his country – a work which, I am sorry to say, has not been properly appreciated.  He has improvised a navy with almost insurmountable obstacles against him.  I see it stated in the papers that the gunboats did but little service at Donelson, which is a monstrous mistake.  The silenced nearly all the enemy’s guns, and had not the wheel of one boat and the tiller ropes of another been shot away, in fifteen minutes more the batteries would have been flanked and the entire rebel army exposed to the broadsides of the fleet.  He would have mowed them down like grass.”  * * * * * * *

“As it was, he made the work of the army in the fight of Saturday much easier than it would otherwise have been.  Several of the Mississippi officers (prisoners) informed me that the shells of the gunboats had a demoralizing effect upon their men.  The Memphis Appeal sys it dispirited them.”  * * * *  “I have had a fair opportunity to observe the operations of both army and navy, and I can say with emphasis that there are no more self-denying, patriotic hard working, faithful men than the flag officer and his captains, Stembel, Pennock, Phelps, and others.”  * * * *  “I make these statements from my own sense of justice and honor, and not from any man’s prompting or request.”


The next movement of Commodore Foote with his floatilla, was to take possession of Clarksville, where he arrived on the 19th day of February, and issued his proclamation to the inhabitants three days before the arrival of the land forces, though that fact, from some unexplained cause, nowhere appears in the official reports of the military commander of that department.

On the 21st of February, 1862, Commodore Foote telegraphed to General Cullum, the chief of General Halleck’s staff, then at Cairo, as follows:


PADUCAH, February 21, 1862.

General CULLUM, Cairo:

General Grant and myself consider this a good time to move on Nashville; six mortar boats and two iron-clad steamers can precede the troops and shell the forts.  We were about to moving for this purpose when General Grant, to my astonishment, received a telegram from General Halleck, “not to let the gunboats go higher than Clarksville;” no telegram sent to me.

The Cumberland is in a good stage of water and General Grant and I believe that we can take Nashville.  Please ask General Halleck if we shall do it.  We will talk per telegraph – Captain Phelps representing me in the office as I am still on crutches.

A. H. FOOTE, Flag Officer.


It may be that there was some great military reason why General Grant was directed “not to let the gunboats go higher than Clarksville,” but up to this time it is wholly unappreciable by the public.  Had they been permitted to go, as was proposed by Commodore Foote, Nashville would undoubtedly have capitulated some days earlier than it did, and an immense amount of rebel stores been captured, which were destroyed or removed before the army reached there, the value of which has been estimated at $2,000,000, and would probably have intercepted a part of the rebel Johnston’s army.

I ought not to omit to mention the gallant attack by a part of the Western flotilla under Lieutenant Gwinn, upon the enemy at Pittsburg on the Tennessee river, where fifteen hundred rebel infantry and cavalry were completely routed, with a loss of twenty killed and one hundred wounded.

The next fact of importance in the campaign at the West, and indeed the most important of all, was the evacuation of Columbus.  Why was this stronghold, which cost so much labor and expense, abandoned without firing a shot?  It is not for me to underrate the advantages of position secured by the valor of our troops at Fort Donelson; yet I undertake to say, from the knowledge I have been able to obtain of the defenses of Columbus, that there was nothing in the mere fact of the capture of Donelson and Nashville, and exclusive of our command of the river, which need have caused the evacuation except after a long and bloody siege.  From the letter of a correspondent writing on the spot, I obtain the information that the forts at Columbus

“Were so located and construct as to be almost impregnable to an assault by storm.  The capture of one by no means involved the capture of the balance.  A fresh assault must be made in each instance.  At the main fort, and many of the earthworks, stockades, crossed the trenches, exposing the assaulting party to a storm of bullets from riflemen firing through loop-holes.  Every ravine and ditch was thoroughly protected, and the various approaches of the river commanded for a long distance in every direction.  It is sufficient to say, that an unusually strong natural position was seized upon, and so improved by rare engineering skill, that the equal of the Columbus fortifications, in extent and perfection of detail combined, can hardly be found in the United States.”


Another correspondent, describing the fortifications after the evacuation says:


“The fortifications were strong – perhaps stronger than any other in the South – but they were injudiciously constructed, and could not have stood an hour’s bombardment by the gunboats and mortar fleet.  The water battery stood out in such relief from the bluff that a well-directed mortar shell would have buried it under a hundred tons of earth from above.  There were no casemates to protect the artillery from the galling fire of seven gunboats; and how long could men, unsheltered, have stood a continuous hail from twenty-one guns, throwing eight-inch shell?”


It is well understood that Commodore Foote was opposed to giving the rebels an opportunity to leave Columbus.  He felt sure of his ability, with his gun and mortar boats, to shell them into a speedy surrender, but was compelled to give way to counsels of military commanders.

When we couple the strategic position acquired by our occupation of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers with the completion of the mortar boats and the absolute command of the river given us by the armored gunboats, there remains no mystery about the evacuation of Columbus.  The two arms of the public service are equally entitled to the credit of frightening the rebels from their strongest position on the Mississippi river, if not the strongest in their whole military jurisdiction.

Yesterday the intelligence reached us that the western floatilla, composed of ten gunboats and ten mortar boats had started for new scenes of conflict and to achieve, I doubt not, new and greater triumphs.  The country is assured that whatever can be accomplished by gallantry and nautical experience will be performed by Commodore Foote and the brave officers and men under his command.  We await the announcement of new victories.

I have thought it proper, Mr. President, as a western Senator, in some degree charged with the examination of naval affairs by this body, to bear this testimony to the worth of that branch of the public service in the western campaign, and to the noble deeds of the flag officer in that command.  On one can over-estimate their services to the country, and to the Northwest in particular; and in the name of that great section and of the whole country I thank them one and all, officers and men.

But I would avail myself of this occasion to accomplish another purpose.  I am anxious that the people of this entire country may feel that the exploits of the Navy wherever performed are their exploits, that its glory, and that while they are taxing themselves to support it, they are supporting the right arm of the national defense.  I desire the citizen of the most remote frontier to feel that he is equally protected and equally honored by the brave deeds of our naval officers with the citizen of the Atlantic coast.  I wish the men of Iowa and Minnesota to know that they are as effectually defended in their liberties at home and in their honor abroad, by the achievements of Du Pont and Goldsborough and Stringham and Foote on the water, as they can be by any victories won by our armies on the land.

Mr. President, ours must be a great maritime nation.  Heaven has ordained that it should be such, and we could not make it otherwise if would.  We have a coast, both on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which, with its numerous indentations, is many thousand miles in extent, occupied by a hardy, nautical population, and flanked on either side by soils and climates that furnish the most valuable productions of the globe, and which must be supplied to other nations.  On the north we have a succession of great lakes already bearing upon their bosoms a registered commercial tonnage of nearly half a million, and navigated by a race of daring, industrious, northern seamen.  Unlike any other maritime nation, ours is traversed by navigable rivers, thousands of miles in length, floating an inland commerce unequalled by that of any other country in the world, except, possibly, that of China, and capable of navigation by armed vessels of great capacity.  With a country of such extent, a soil and climate furnishing such productions, and a population along our ocean, gulf, bay, lake and river coasts, accustomed to navigation, who does not see that ours must, from the very necessities of our geographical position, and the conformation of our continent, become a great commercial people?  Our products must be borne to remote nations in our own ships, navigated by our own seamen, and protected wherever they may go by our vessels of war.

I know not with whom originated the phrase that the “Navy is the right arm of the public defense;” but I know that a truer sentiment was never uttered.  In my conviction it will always be in this country the most efficient and far least dangerous arm of the public service by which to maintain the national integrity and to defend the national honor.  History teaches us that every nation that has depended upon a navy for protection has been comparatively free by the side of those which placed their reliance upon armies.  I need not go back to antiquity to prove this.  I point to Holland and England in modern times.  The former, while she continued to be the greatest naval power on earth, was the freest Government on earth, and only began to be shorn of her liberties and of her territory when she neglected to maintain her fleets. – England, the most liberal all Governments save our own, is in no small degree indebted for her present position to the fact that she maintains only a small military force in the British Islands, and relies upon her wooden walls as a means of attack and defense.  She puts no faith in large standing armies, and will not until her people shall be prepared to surrender their freedom.  With her garrisoned possessions encircling the globe, her entire military establishment does not exceed one hundred and twenty thousand men.  France, Austria, Russia, Prussia maintain large standing armies on their soil; and in those countries the liberties of the people is measured by the will of the sovereign.  The freedom they enjoy is the gratuity of the emperors and kings; the servitude they endure is enforced by the presence of standing armies.  The people of this country can never accept the rights which they enjoy as the gift of any being inferior to their creator.

I do not believe that anybody but the public enemy has had anything to fear from the numerous and well appointed armies we have raised, yet no one of us is prepared to say that with an army much longer isolated from home scenes and home ideas, concentrated in large bodies, and taught the duty of most implicit obedience, danger to our free institutions may not arise.  No such danger can arise from the existence of a navy, however, large or however commanded.  Seamen are cosmopolitans.  Always employed and generally afloat, they never become, as armies sometimes do, as dangerous to friends in time of peace as to enemies in time of war.

I might go on and show that situated as all of our large cities are, upon arms of the sea or upon navigable rivers, the Navy might be made more efficient in suppressing domestic insurrections, as well as in repelling a foreign invasion, than the Army.  I might show, too, that, notwithstanding what is said by professed statisticians, the support of a navy is less expensive, in comparison with the service it renders to a maritime nation, than that of an army; but I shall not detain the Senate by attempting to enter upon such an exposition at this time.

As I said at the outset, Mr. President, my purpose in rising to address the Senate at this time was to call the attention of the country to the successful operations of the western flotilla; but I cannot refrain from alluding, for one moment before I close, to the success of our Navy elsewhere in this war.  The whole south-western Atlantic coast has been swept by the fleet of the gallant Du Pont, and is now effectually held by both and inside and outside blockade.  The enemy have been driven from the waters of North Carolina by Goldsborough, their whole navy in that quarter destroyed, and their coast towns occupied.  Such progress has been made in the Gulf of Mexico, that I venture to predict that in a few days at furthest intelligence will reach us that the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi river have been captured, and that Farragut and Porter are now or soon will be in possession of New Orleans.  But the startling events that have recently occurred in Hampton Roads attract, as they ought, the attention of all.  It would be well for us to reflect upon what those events have clearly demonstrated.  They are – first, that in modern naval warfare, wooden sailing vessels of war are perfectly harmless and helpless; second, that the strongest stone fortifications can be no obstruction to the entrance of iron clad vessels of war into any of our harbors, and that one or two such vessels, unopposed by vessels of a similar character can hold any commercial city on the continent at their mercy; third, that we can now commence the creation of a proper navy upon a footing of comparative equality with all of the naval Powers of the world.

Mr. President, no man sympathizes with the relatives and friends of the gallant dead who perished on the Congress and Cumberland more deeply that I do.  Perhaps, however their loss was necessary to teach us that our true path of duty to the country.  Let us not suffer more valuable lives to be periled upon such worthless vessels; and while we deplore the loss of so many brave men, let us rejoice that so many more are left to the service who are willing to do and die for their country.  Especially let us give thanks for the brilliant example of courage, seamanship, and patriotism furnished to the country and to the world by that matchless officer, Lieutenant John L Worden, and the officers and men under his command on board the Monitor.  In that unexampled engagement of Sunday last, after a terribly suffocating and dangerous passage from New York, without having slept, with an undrilled crew and handling an untried experiment, Lieut. Worden and his crew performed prodigies of skill and valor that will render all on board the Monitor immortal.  They will be immortal not for their valor alone.  Who shall undertake to estimate the influence that ballet will exert upon all of the maritime powers of the earth?  Who shall undertake to tell the number of homes to which the news of its successful result carried quiet on that eventual evening, which had been for hours disturbed by the most distracting fears?  Is it too much to say that it rescued our commerce and our commercial cities from ravage, and in one hour completely revolutionized all systems of naval architecture and naval warfare?  Captain Ericsson, too, may well be proud of the place his name will henceforth occupy in the history of nautical science, and we may well be proud that the country of our birth is the country of his adoption.

But, Mr. President, while I would thus honor the gallant living, I would bear my tribute of affectionate respect for the memory of the heroic dead who fell in the engagement in Hampton Roads.  Let the remembrance of that brave young officer, whose obsequies are now being performed in another part of this city, who, when his vessel was sinking beneath his feet, replied to a summons to surrender, that he would never give up the flag [entrusted] to his keeping, and the next moment met death with composure, be cherished by his countrymen. – The name of Smith, already illustrious in the annals of the American Navy, will be added to the bright galaxy of those who have freely laid down their lives at the call of their country.

Mr. President, the nation has cause to be proud of the Navy; let it be honored and maintained.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 1

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Seige Of Donelson

The Bombardment by the Fleet.

THE FIGHT AND THE SURRENDER.

(Correspondence of the Chicago Tribune.)

FT. DONELSON, Feb. 17, 1862.

The Stars and Stripes wave over Donelson. – I can only give you an outline of what has taken place to accomplish its reduction.  The telegraph has given you a few facts, but a few only.  Let me give a general review, leaving out a thousand incidents which would be of great interest, had I the time to give them.  First, let me try to give a description of the defences, for without some such attempt, all the features of the battle field will not be understood.

The current of the Cumberland river at Dover runs nearly north, but immediately at the town as you ascend the stream, it leads towards the east, not in an abrupt bend but a gentle curve.  The banks on the west side are quite elevated, but the hills are cut by numerous ravines.  The hills are about one hundred feet high, just such elevations as are to be seen in Egypt or along the Ohio.  About one half mile below or north of the town, there is a round knob cleared, and planted with corn the past season.  It is fully one hundred feet high, and the ascent on the north side is very steep – to steep to be plowed.  It was covered with a forest, which was cleared when the work of entrenching began.  There the rebels set up their batteries for the defence of the river.

Before describing these, I may say that there are three separate works – the water batteries, the fort, and the rear line of the entrenchments.  Commanding with the water batteries, low down close upon the bank, you see, as you stand in front of them, what appears to be a hole in the side of the hill.  Upon examination you find it to contain one 128-pound rifled gun from the Tredegar works at Richmond, and two 32-pounder howitzers.  The rifled gun is a fair piece of workmanship, as you  run your eye along the sights, you can easily imagine that it will sent a ball straight down the stream a mile and a half to the distant level, plump into any boat.  It is in an admirable position.

Right above it commences a trench which is dug to the side of the hill, or rather which runs up it in a diagonal, as if an attempt was being made to construct a road.  The hill is so steep that in ten rods’ distance there is room for eight 32-pounders.  At the upper end of the trench is a second 128-pounder.

Standing at any gun, you can see that all can be brought to bear upon any object down the river, that a gunboat approaching can be raked from stem to stern, and that shot can be poured straight into her bows, point blank from the lower guns, and upon her decks, a plunging fire from the big gun at the top of the trench.  The embankment is well constructed and from the nature of the ground it is almost a casemate. – A shot striking below or above would do no damage.

Now, transferring yourself to a gunboat, you would see that it would be next to an impossibility to reach the big gun at the upper end of this trench, for, turn your bow’s head on to avoid the shot, you would still be raked by some of the rebel guns.  This was the river defense, and a most admirable defense it was – almost impregnable, as we found, in the attempt to bombard it.

Ascending the crest of the ridge, you see Ft. Donelson – enclosing about five or six acres – an embankment with a ditch outside.  The ditch is narrow and the embankment thin.  It has a vast number of angles – nearly fifty, I should judge – the most irregular thing imaginable. – It’s like was never before constructed.  A little creek runs in rear of the hill, and on its southern side, a spring bubbles from the ground which supplied the surrounding camp with water.  At the northwest angle, a curtain extended to the southwest, running along a ridge of land, conforming to the undulations and variations of the ground, to a creek which empties into the river above the town of Dover.  It is simply a breastwork with a shallow ditch inside.  It runs through a forest all the way.  Still farther to the rear, is a second ridge upon which the rebels erected rifle pits near the creek, in the rear of the town, and protecting the road which comes in from the southwest on a river line – simply a breastwork.

It will be seen that the line was very extensive, and it needed but a glance to see that there had been defective engineering.  With the force they had there was too much ground to look after.  A more skillful engineer would have selected commanding points on the ridge and thus concentrated strength.  The creek defended the south side, although when they found it convenient to leave the place, it was in the way.  With this view we are ready to look at the operations.

After the capture of Fort Henry, Gen. Grant as soon as possible moved across the twelve mile strip of land between the rivers and invested the place by throwing McClernand’s division upon the right, at the creek – extending his pickets down to the river beyond.  Gen. Wallace occupied the centre, while Gen. Smith closed up all communications with the outside world to the north.  Our forces occupied a range of hills almost one mile distant from the enemy’s outer works – Gen. Grant’s headquarters being between Smith’s and Wallace’s commands.  The rebels still had communication with Clarksville by the river, and daily received reinforcements and supplies by steamers.

Passing over all the skirmishing of Tuesday and Wednesday, we briefly notice the gunboat fight.


THE GUNBOAT FIGHT.

Thursday, Feb. 6th, had been marked by the successful bombardment of Fort Henry, an event that will live in the history in the list of brilliant naval achievements to the lasting fame of Com. Foote.

The gunboats which participated in this splendid action were the Cincinnati, St. Louis, Carondolet, and Essex; the Taylor, Conestoga and Lexington.  These came out of the engagement well nigh unscathed and ready for another encounter which has not been long delayed.

The Gunboats St. Louis, Louisville and Pittsburg, left Cairo on the night of the 11th inst. for the Cumberland river.  The St. Louis was the flag ship – the vessel on board which Commodore Foote remained.  On the way the Conestoga was met coming down the Ohio as a convoy to the Lexington, which had been the most damaged in the Tennessee river affair.  She was hailed and added to the fleet.  From Paducah the gunboats acted as a convoy to the sixteen transport vessels laden with troops for the reinforcement of Gen. Grant.

Thirty-five miles from Fort Donelson the fleet was met by an express steamer coming down to hurry up the transports, Gen. Grant’s dispatch stating that the fighting had commenced and re-enforcements were needed.  The fleet arrived within two miles of the Fort at 12 o’clock on Thursday night.  The Carondolet had been ordered to open the ball at 9 o’clock on Thursday morning.  She advanced within a mile of the Fort and opened fire.  She was quickly responded to, and after firing 188 shots was obliged to retire, having received a 42-pound ball through her port side, striking the main steam pipe. – She retired down stream a couple of miles.  In the afternoon, after repairing the damage sustained in the first sally, she was again ordered to attack.  She fired a number of shots, but without effect.

During Thursday night Gen. Grant had a conference with Com. Foot, and it was decided to make a more general bombardment the next day, Friday.  The gallant Commodore did not hesitate to declare to his fellow officers that a far more difficult task was before him than had been presented in the taking of Fort Henry. – Our readers will understand from the description of localities, elsewhere given, what these increased difficulties were.  Instead of the low batteries on the flanks of the Tennessee, scarcely higher above the water than the decks of the gunboats, the upper batteries of Fort Donelson frowned down from the bluff one hundred feet above the river.

Nevertheless, there was no hanging back, and Commodore Foote and his officers were called upon to restrain by stringent orders the ardor of their men, who burned to open the conflict.  On steamed the boats, and while at long range the enemy opened fire from their middle batteries – their first shots falling short – first a thirty-two, then a sixty-four.  Still all was silence on board of the gunboats, the dip of whose paddles alone broke the stillness of their approach.  Thus fifteen minutes passed, which seemed a tardy hour to the impatient gunners. – At last the point was reached, and precisely at ten minutes to 3 o’clock P. M., a puff of white smoke and the boom of her sixty-four came from the bow port of the St. Louis.  The other boats quickly followed suit.  Such was the difficulty of getting accurate range that our first shots fell wide of the mark; but this was remedied speedily, and the engagement became terrific.  The enemy poured their 32 and 64-pounders into our vessels with great effect, and our gunners returned with 8 inch shell and 65-pound rifle balls, with admirable precision, cheering as they fought their guns, and doing great execution to the enemy’s works, dismounting their guns on the lower batteries, and driving the rebels like frightened sheep from their pens.  But the diagram will tell our readers what the first glance at the locality itself declared to the experienced eye of Commodore Foote.  The gunboats were fighting against fearful odds, the long oblique middle range of heavy guns raked the fleet terribly as they came on, the angle giving them the least advantage from the plating and defenses.  At Fort Henry the boats came up, exposing only their bows as the smallest mark to the enemy, here their broadsides were exposed.  Soon after the fight commenced, a shot from the enemy’s water battery carried away the flag-staff of the St. Louis; almost the next shot took the chimney guys of the same boat.  But it was flag-staff or no flag-staff; a few minutes later away went the rebel bunting from the fort, its staff cut by a ball from the St. Louis, who thus avenged the indignity offered to herself.

A little later the Louisiana was struck by a 64-pound shot from the right of the middle tier of batteries, which broke her rudder post, rendering her unmanageable.  At this time the boats were all held under heavy steam, just stemming the current to prevent drifting.  Another shot killed William Hinton, the pilot, in the pilot house of the Carondolet, and a 32, nearly the same instant, came crashing into the pilot-house of the St. Louis, mortally wounding one of the pilots, F. A. Riley, injuring two other pilots, and also wounding the brave Commodore himself, across whose left foot a large fragment of a splintered oaken beam fell, severely crushing and bruising it.  Of the four in the pilot-house at the time only one escaped injury.

I will add here that Commodore Foote’s injury is of such a nature that care for the wounded member requires him to use a crutch, which the brave officer regrets, saying that but for this needed exposure no one would learn that he was hurt.  He will soon be on both pins again however.  This mischievous shot passed through the pilot house and knocked into pi one of the wheel of the St. Louis, which, like a sea bird with a broken wing, swung round and became unmanageable in the current.  Here then, were three vessels disabled – the Louisiana with her rudder post shattered, the Carondolet pilotless, and the St. Louis with her wounded wheel – all in a swift current under the fire of the rebel batteries.  To continue the fight longer was useless, and the rudderless boat must be called out of the fight.  The brave crews saw this necessity unwillingly and burned to continue their advantage gained.  Said commodore Foote, “If they had not crippled my boats, I should have had possession of the fort in ten minutes more.”  The gunboats had passed up to within two hundred yards of the fort.  The enemy had been driven from the lower battery, and their fire had slackened perceptibly.  But when disabled, the engines were stopped and the boats floated from their position.  The enemy saw what had happened, and they rushed back to their guns with the same speed with which they had deserted them, which is saying a great deal.  Their fire was redoubled, but our gunners did not leave without a parting shot.  One heavy shell from the Carondolet was seen to alight in the middle battery, and with its explosion away from its carriage went a gun, and into the air went dust, splinters and fragments of rebel gunners, and the spot of the carnage was distinctly to be traced when two days later the star[s] and stripes floated over the captured fort.

The fleet retired in good order and anchored a little over a mile and a half below the fort.  Old man-of-war’s men say the fight was the hottest they had ever seen.  Commodore Foote, who is no chicken, says the firing was the most terrific he had ever seen.

The army made no movement on Friday of consequence, but waited any demonstration the rebels might make.  They were elated with the repulsed of the gun-boats, and undoubtedly concluded that, they would either repulse the army or if not that they would cut their way through and escape to Clarksville.

Prepared to do either, as circumstances might decide, at six o’clock on Saturday morning they appeared in solid column upon the road, which seems partly parallel to the creek, at McClernand’s right.  It was a few minutes past six when our pickets exchanged shots with their skirmishers.

Perhaps a few straight lines, such as the printer can readily set up, will give an idea of the position of our forces.



The lines, of course do not represent exact positions, for you are to remember that it is a broken country – hills and hollows as irregular as waves of Lake Michigan – that a portion of McClernand’s force was on the right and side of the road, a portion east of it, and some troops in it; that when the enemy advanced they were just as they had been lying in their blankets in the open air, or getting ready for breakfast.

Immediately the whole division was astir, waiting for what might turn up.  As the rebels neared our forces they deployed and formed in line of battle making the most furious attack upon the right; also sending their Mississippi sharp shooters, as one of the Captains, now a prisoner informed me, to the left to throw the 11th and the 20th regiments into confusion.

It was about seven o’clock, when the firing began on the right, and in a few minutes it was running like a train of powder on a floor, along the entire line.  The rebels advanced with determination – not in a regular line, but in the guerilla mode – availing themselves of the trees and the undulations of the ground.  Their design was to cut the division at the center, turn the regiments on the right, composing Ogelsby’s brigade up against the creek and capture them.  But their movements to that end were foiled.  The regiments at the center being pressed, after standing a hot fire begun gradually to fall back, which rendered it necessary for Oglesby to do the same as he separated, from the division, and the entire right wing of the division accordingly swung back, slowly at first.  Dresser’s and Schwartz’s batteries were brought into position as soon as possible, and for a while there was a very heavy fire, accompanied by continued rolls of musketry.  If one were to judge by sound alone, all battles would be terrific; but when a fight is waged in a forest, the trees high up the branches usually suffer more.  There, was however, considerable loss on both sides, at this point.

And now occurred one of those blunders common in warfare.  The enemy pressing hard upon our forces, Gen. McClernand sent Major Brayman for reinforcements.  He rode rapidly to the rear and came upon Col. Cruft’s brigade, who moved forward, and crossed the road, and came up in the rear of the 30th and 31st.  These regiments were lying down and firing over the crest of a ridge.  As Col. Cruft came in the rear of them they rose to their feet, not knowing whether the force in their rear was friend or foe.  The 25th Ky., supposing them to be rebels, poured in a volley, which did terrible execution.  It is not possible to ascertain how many fell under the fire, but it was sufficient to throw the entire division into disorder, and at once there was almost panic.  Some of them took to their heels, threw down their guns and equipments, and fled to the rear crying “All is lost!”  We are all cut to pieces!” and similar expressions.  Some of them even fled to Fort Henry, twelve miles distant, and immediately the woods were filled with stragglers.

The enemy improved the opportunity, and advanced upon Dresser’s and Schwartz’s batteries, capturing five guns, taking possession of Gen. McClernand’s headquarters, and driving our forces nearly a mile and a half.  They had opened the gap; and not only that, but had in the joust driven us, captured five guns and had reason to feel that the day was theirs.

But now they committed a fatal mistake.  Instead of adhering to the original plan, to escape, they resolved to follow up their advantage by pursuit, cut us up and capture the entire army.

The fight had lasted nearly four hours, and McClernand’s division was exhausted; besides they were out of ammunition.

At this juncture Gen. Wallace’s division was thrown in front.  They took up a position on a ridge, with Captain Taylor’s battery in the center at the road, commanding it down the ridge to the bottom of a ravine.  McClernand’s division was making up its scattered ranks, ready to support Wallace.  It was now just noon – nearly 1 o’clock.  The rebels formed upon the ridge which Gen. McClernand had occupied through the night.  They were flushed with success and descended the ridge with the expectation of routing the Yankees.  As they came in range, Taylor opened upon them with shell, grape and canister.  They quelled before it, advanced at a slow pace, came to a halt, and as the infantry opened, began to fall back.  Wallace improved the moment, moved on, drove them before him, regained the lost ground, recovered McClernand’s tent and occupied the old ground.

This is only a brief note – conveying a general idea.  I cannot speak of the prowess of the troops, of instances of individual bravery, although it is generally admitted that Taylor’s battery saved the day.

The rebels might have escaped when Wallace was driving them back, but by some faulty neglected the opportunity and were again boxed up.  This made two distinct fights, but the day was not to close.  There was to be a second display of coolness, daring and determined bravery of Union troops, fighting under the Stars and Stripes, resulting in a signal victory.

The Iowa and Indiana boys composing Lauman’s brigade of Smith’s division, were ready to do their part in crushing out rebellion, and Gen. Grant decided that they should have an opportunity to show their valor.  Directly west of Fort Donelson, and beyond the breastworks there was a second ridge of land running parallel to that on which the breastworks were erected.  The distance across from ridge to ridge, as near as I could judge by a somewhat minute survey, as about forty rods.  On this outer ridge were ten rifle pits, made of logs, with a shallow ditch behind and the excavated earth thrown up in front.  The western slope of the ridge was quite steep.  The distance to the base was thirty rods as I judged, opening upon a meadow and cornfield.  The slope had been forest but the rebels had used their axes and cut down the trees, forming an abattis not impassible because the forest was not dead, but a serious obstruction to the advance of an army.  It was desirable that the rebels should be driven out of their pits, for they in part commanded Fort Donelson, lying about sixty rods further east.

The pits were defended by one Mississippi, one Kentucky, and one Tennessee regiment while other regiments were in position in the rear to support them.

Col. Lauman formed his brigade in the meadow, in plain sight of the enemy, just beyond musket range, and advanced.  The following diagram will represent the positions:


The 2d Kentucky held the center, Col. Head’s Tennessee Regiment the rebel right, and the 14th Mississippi the left flank.  The Kentucky regiment was one of the largest, best disciplined and drilled in the rebel army.

Col. Lauman gave the 2nd Iowa the honor of leading the charge.  They moved across to the meadow through a little belt of woods, came to the base of the hill, and met the leaden rain. – But they paused not a moment.  Then they encountered the fallen trees but instead of being disheartened they seemed to feel new life and energy.  Without firing a shot, without flinching a moment or faltering as their ranks were thinned, they rushed up the hill, regardless of the fire in the front or on their flank, jumped upon the rifle pits and drove the rebels down the eastern slope.  They escaped into their inner line of defenses.  Col. Lauman did not deem it prudent to follow, but halted his men and poured a deadly fire upon the foe, in force, with four cannon behind the works.

Then for Ten minutes the fire was exceedingly severe.  I visited the spot on Sunday afternoon and found the ground thick with bullets fired by the rebels.  The trees were scarred but bore the evidence on their limbs that the aim of the rebels had been much too high.  Col. Lauman called his men back to their rifle pits, and there they lay down upon their arms, holding the position through the night, ready with the first flash of dawn to make a breach in the line beyond.

“Oh the wild charge they made
Honor the Lauman brigade!”

I deem it perfectly admissible to alter Tennyson in making this brief note of a brilliant achievement.  Twenty-four hours after the fighting I visited the spot and saw ten of the brave ones whose lives had been given for their country lying upon the slope in front of the rifle pits.  Behind the pits were several of the enemy who had fallen in their attempt to flee.

There were numerous pools of blood upon the crest of the hill where the wounded had fallen but who had been taken to the hospitals.

Col. Lauman was apprised during the night that the rebels were about to surrender, by a negro who escaped his lines.  Soon after daylight an officer, Major Calsbry, appeared, being a white flag and a note from General Buckner to General Grant, proposing a cessation of hostilities and the appointment of Commissioners.  As the telegraph has given you the correspondence that followed, I need not insert it.

The Victory was won, and Fort Donelson was ours, with its seventeen heavy siege guns, its forty-eight field pieces, its fifteen thousand soldiers, with twenty thousand stand of arms, its tents and ammunition – all were unconditionally ours.

Wild were the cheers, loud were the salutes from the fleet and from Taylor’s batteries when the Stars and Stripes, the glorious old flag, was flung to the breeze upon the ramparts of Fort Donelson.

I cannot give you the sights or the incidents.  You must imagine them.  Neither have I time to tell of the appearance of the rebels in their snuff-colored, shabby clothes – their bed-quilts, pieces of carpeting, coverlids, sacking – but there they were, gloomy, downcast, humbled, apprehensive for the future; and yet I think that many of them were not sorry that there was to be no more fighting.  I made myself at home among them, talked with them freely, heard their indignant utterances against Floyd, who had sneaked away with his Virginia regiments, the 36th, 50th and 51st, and a host of stragglers – officers many of them – who did not hesitate to desert their men in the hour of adversity.  They went away at midnight after an angry altercation, as I was informed by a secession officer, between Pillow, Floyd and Buckner.  I am also informed that about five thousand rebels escaped, the boats being loaded to the guards.  Forest’s Louisiana cavalry escaped on their horses along the creek.  But the great bulk of the army is ours.  Fifteen thousand prisoners!  What shall we do with them?  We have indeed drawn an elephant.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 22, 1862, p. 2