. . . who was present at the capture of Fort Donelson says:
No idea can be formed of the immense strength of the rebel fortress from a written description. The amount of labor bestowed upon it is immense. The moral advantages are less great, although tinged with the regret that they are not still greater. We ought to have captured the rest of the command, and above all that arch traitor, John B. Floyd. The public will learn with astonishment that up to Saturday morning, the Rebel steamers were permitted to come to the landing at Dover and discharge both men and munitions of war, while the garrison was supposed to be beleaguered. The telegraph line to Nashville, was, we believe, cut after the place was completely invested. That a battery was not placed to command the river above the fort is certainly a matter of infinite regret. A simultaneous attack on the place on Saturday evening would most probably have resulted in the surrender of the entire garrison.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 1, 1862, p. 2
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