The Next Point of Attack

The rebels having been defeated at Forts Henry and Donelson, and abandoned their strongholds at Bowling Green and Columbus and fled from Clarksville and Nashville, the next question is, where will they make a stand?  It is reported that they have retreated to Fort Randolph and not as first rumored to Fort Pillow or Island No. 10, in the Mississippi river.  The Mo. Democrat says, “In the minds of our military men, the Columbus fortifications were the only formidable impediments to the easy descent of the Mississippi River.  No other point can be made so strong against the attacks of Com. Foote’s flotilla.  Island No. 10, Fort Pillow and Memphis will be completely at the mercy of our mortar boats and gun boats.”

Fort Randolph is eligibly located at the town of Randolph in Tipton county, Tenn., on a bluff bend of the Mississippi river, some thirty of forty miles above Memphis.  Above it is Fort Wright and below it is Fort Harris.

According to the Memphis Avalanche the troops at Fort Pillow and New Madrid were to concentrate at Memphis, making an army of about 50,000 strong.  Memphis is the city of Tennessee, and by far the most important point in it – that taken, and the rebellion will be effectually quelled in the State.  From all the information at hand we are inclined to the impression that that will be the next point of attack, and we are confident in the opinion that it must succumb, as from its location it would seem hardly possible to fortify it so strongly as was Fort Donelson.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, March 11, 1862, p. 2