Thursday, October 24, 2019

Major-General Henry W. Halleck to Brigadier-General Don Carlos Buell, February 7, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,         
Saint Louis, February 7, 1862.
Brig. Gen. D.C. BUELL, Louisville, Ky.:

Fort Henry is ours. The enemy is retreating on Paris, pursued by our cavalry. He has been compelled to abandon a part of his artillery. The gunboats will proceed up the river as far as may be safe. It is believed that the enemy is concentrating his forces at Paris, to operate on our flank. It will require every man we can get to hold him in check there, while a column is sent up the Tennessee or Cumberland, or both, to destroy bridges. We are much in want of artillery. Send down as many light batteries as you can spare. General Grant expects to take Fort Donelson (at Dover) to-morrow. If troops are sent up the Cumberland they will be preceded by gunboats.

H. W. HALLECK,    
Major-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 592

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