Page images
PDF
EPUB

BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON.

991

215

Ferry road, at about the same time, so that it should not be in a condition. to aid McClernand. Pillow expected, he said, "to roll the enemy in full retreat over upon General Buckner, when, by his attack in flank and rear," they "could cut up the and enemy put him completely to rout." McClernand's division was well posted to resist the assailants, had they been on the alert; but the movement of the Confederates appears not to have been even suspected. Reveillé was just sounding, and the troops were not under arms; and so sudden and vigorous was Pillow's attack, that the whole of Grant's right wing was seriously menaced within twenty minutes after the presence of the Confederates was observed. Then vigor and skill marked every movement, and Pillow's attempt to throw cavalry in the rear of McArthur, on Oglesby's extreme right, was thwarted.

The attack was quick, furious, and heavy. Oglesby's brigade had received the first shock of the battle, and gallantly withstood it until their ammunition began to fail. Colonel W. H. L. Wallace's brigade hastened to their relief, but the pressure was SO tremendous that Oglesby's line all gave way, excepting the extreme left, held by the Thirty-first Illinois, whose commander, Colonel John A. Logan, inspired his troops with such courage and faith by his own acts, that they stood like a wall opposed to the foc, and prevented a panic and a rout. In the mean time the light batteries under Taylor, McAllister, and Dresser, shifting positions and continually sending heavy volleys of grape and canister shot, made the line of the assailants recoil again and again. But the fresh troops continually pressing forward in greater numbers kept its strength unimpaired, and very soon the whole of McClernand's division was in such a perilous situation, that at about eight o'clock he sent to General Lewis Wallace, commanding the Third Division, for immediate assistance. As the latter was assigned to the special duty of preventing the escape of the Confederates, he applied to head-quarters for instructions. Grant was away in conference with Commodore Foote. Again McClernand sent for assistance, saying substantially that his flank was turned, and his whole command was endangered. Wallace took the responsibility of immediately ordering Colonel Cruft to move his brigade on to the right, and report to McClernand. An incompetent guide took Cruft too far to the right, where he was fiercely assailed by a greatly superior force, and compelled to bear the brunt of battle for a time. He struggled gallantly with an equally gallant foe, charging and receiving charges with varied fortunes, until his antagonists gave up the fight.

[graphic]

JOHN A. McCLERNAND.

In the mean time General Buckner had made his appearance, in consider

1 Pillow's report to Captain Clarence Derrick, "Assistant Adjutant-General," written at his home in Columbia, Tennessee, on the 18th of February, 1862.

216

BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON.

able force, to attack the left of the center of Grant's line, and produce the confusion as directed in Floyd's programme. There seemed to be much peril to the National troops in this movement, and the danger seemed more imminent when some frightened fugitives from the battle came crowding up the hill in the rear of Wallace's Division, and a mounted officer dashed along, shouting, "We are cut to pieces!" It was here that the whole of McClernand's line, including Cruft's men, was rapidly falling back. Colonels Logan, Lawler, and Ransom were wounded, and a large number of subalterns had been killed, yet there was no confusion in that line. This was the crisis of the battle, and it was promptly met. To prevent a panic in his own brigade, Wallace ordered Colonel Thayer to move on by the right flank. Riding at the front, he met the retiring troops, moving in good order and calling for ammunition, the want of which had been the chief cause of their misfortune. He saw that every thing depended upon prompt action. There was no time to wait for orders, so he thrust his third brigade (Colonel Thayer commanding) between the retiring troops and the flushed Confederates, who were rapidly following, formed a new line of battle across the road, with the Chicago artillery, Lieutenant Wood, in the center, and the First Nebraska, Fifty-eighth Illinois, Fifty-eighth Ohio, and a company of the Thirty-second Illinois on its right and left. Back of these was a reserve, composed of the Seventy-sixth Ohio, and Forty-sixth and Fiftyseventh Illinois. In this position they awaited attack, while McClernand's retiring troops, halting near, supplied themselves with ammunition from wagons which Wallace had ordered up.

66

These preparations were just completed when the Confederates (the forces of Pillow and Buckner combined') fell heavily upon the battery and First Nebraska, and were cast back by them as the rock throws back the billows. "To say they did well," said Wallace, "is not enough; their conduct was splendid. They alone repelled the charge;" and the Confederates, after a severe contest, retired to their works in confusion. They withdrew," said Buckner, "without panic, but in some confusion, to the trenches." This was the last sally from the fort, for, by the timely and effeccual interposition of the Third Division, the plans of the Confederates were frustrated. "I speak advisedly," wrote Captain W. S. Hillyer (Grant's Aidde-camp) to General Wallace the next day, on a slip of paper with pencil, "God bless you! you did save the day on the right!" Poor Pillow, with his usual shallowness, had sent an aid, when McClernand's line gave way, to telegraph to Johnston, that "on the honor of a soldier" the day was theirs ; and he foolishly persisisted in saying, in his first report, a few days afterward, that the Confederates had accomplished their object, when it was known to all that they had utterly failed.

It was at about noon when the Confederates were driven back to their trenches. General Grant seemed doubtful of his ability to make a successful assault upon their works with his present force, and at about three o'clock in the afternoon he called McClernand and Wallace aside for consultation.

1 General Pillow's first Report

2 Report of General Wallace.

3 Report of General Buckner.

4 On the strength of this, Johnston sent a dispatch to Richmond, announcing a great victory, and on Monday the Richmond Enquirer said: "This splendid feat of arms and glorious victory to our cause will send a thrill of joy over the whole Confederacy."

BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON.

217

They were all on horseback. Grant held some dispatches in his hand. He spoke of the seeming necessity of falling back and intrenching, so as to stand on the defensive, until re-enforcements and Foote's flotilla should arrive. His words were few, as usual, and his face was flushed by strong emotions of the mind, while he turned his eyes nervously now and then on the dispatches. It was suggested that McClernand's defeat uncovered the road by which the enemy might escape to Clarksville. In an instant the General's countenance changed from cloudiness to sunshine. A new thought took possession of him and he acted instantly on its suggestions. Grasping the dispatches more firmly, he ordered McClernand to retake the hill he had lost, while Smith should make a simultaneous attack on the Confederate right.'

The new movement was immediately begun. McClernand requested Wallace to retake the ground lost in the morning. A column of attack was soon formed, with the Eighth Missouri, Colonel Morgan L. Smith, and the Eleventh Indiana (Wallace's old regiment), Colonel George McGinnis (both led by the former as a brigade), moving at the head. Two Ohio regiments, under Colonel Ross, formed a supporting column. At the same time, Colonel Cruft formed a line of battle at the foot of the hill.

The Eighth Missouri led the van, closely followed by the Eleventh Indiana; and when about half way up the hill, they received a volley from its summit. The ground was broken, rough, and partly wooded. The Nationals pressed on, and the struggle was fierce and unyielding for more than an hour. Gradually the Confederates were pushed back, and their assailants soon cleared the hill. They drove the insurgents to their intrenchments, and would have assailed them there had not an order reached Wallace, when he was only one hundred and fifty yards off the works, to halt and retire his column, as a new plan of operations was in contemplation for the next day. That commander was astonished and perplexed. He was satisfied that Grant was not informed of the entire success of his movement. was also satisfied that if he should fall back and give up the hill (it was then five o'clock in the evening) the way would be opened for the Confederates to escape under cover of

approaching darkness. So he assumed the responsibility of disobeying the order, and he bivouacked on the field of victory. All of that keen wintry night his wearied troops were busy in ministering to the wants of the wounded, and in burying the many Illi

THE GRAVES OF THE ILLINOIS TROOPS.2

He

[graphic]

1 General Sherman says that General Grant told him that, at a certain period of the battle, he saw that either side was ready to give way if the other showed a bold front, and he determined to do that very thing, to advance on the enemy, when, as he prognosticated, the enemy surrendered."-Sherman's Letter to the Editor of the United States Service Magazine, January, 1865.

This is from a sketch made by the author early in May, 1866. This burial-place, surrounded by a rude wattling fence, was in Hysmith's old field, in the edge of a wood, near where McArthur's troops were posted. The trees and shrubbery in the adjoining wood showed hundreds of marks of the severe battle.

218

THE CONFEDERATES IN COUNCIL.

nois troops who had fallen in the conflict of the morning. They also made preparations for storming the Confederate works at an early hour on the following day.

While Wallace was carrying on the successful movement on the Confederate left, Smith was assailing their intrenchments on their right. He posted Cavender's heavy guns so as to pour a murderous fire upon these and the fort. Lauman's Brigade formed the attacking column, while Cook's Brigade, posted on the left, was ordered to make a feigned attack.

Lauman was directed to carry the heights on the left of the position that had been assailed on Thursday. He placed the Second Iowa, Colonel Tuttle, in the van. These were followed by the Fifty-sixth Indiana as a support. These, in turn, were closely followed by the Twenty-fifth Indiana and Seventh "and Fourteenth Iowa, while Berge's sharp-shooters were deployed as skir mishers on the extreme right and left of the column. When all were in readi. ness, General Smith rode along the line, told the troops he would lead them, and directed them to clear the rifle-pits with the bayonet alone. At a given signal, the column moved, under cover of Captain Stone's Missouri Battery; and Smith, with a color-bearer at his side, rode in advance, his commanding figure, flowing gray hair, and courageous example, inspiring the men with the greatest admiration.

Very soon the column was swept by a terrible fire from the Confederate . artillery. It wavered for a moment, but the words and acts of the General soon restored its steadiness, and it moved on rapidly. When Tuttle was within range of the Confederate muskets, he placed himself at the head of his men and shouted "Forward!" Without firing a gun, they charged upon the Confederates with the bayonet, driving them from their intrenchments, and, in the midst of cheers from a thousand voices, the National standard was planted upon them. When darkness fell, General Grant knew that his plan, so suddenly conceived in a moment of anxiety, had secured a solid triumph-that the rich fruit of victory was ripe and ready to fall into his lap. There was joy in the National camp that night, while terror brooded over the imprisoned Confederates.

"How shall we escape ?" was the important question anxiously considered by the Confederate leaders that night, especially by Floyd and Pillow; the former terror-stricken, because of the danger of falling into the hands of the Government, against which he had committed such fearful crimes; and the latter suffering unnecessarily for the same reason, his vanity magnifying his own importance much beyond its true proportions. A Council of War was held at Pillow's head-quarters, in Dover, at midnight, to consider the matter. There were criminations and recriminations, and Floyd and Pillow seemed to think of little else than the salvation of themselves from the power of their injured Government. Buckner, too, desired to escape, and it was resolved to effect it, if possible, by cutting their way through the supposed weak right of the National lines, at five o'clock in the morning, and press on toward Nashville.

Colonel Forest was ordered, at about two o'clock, to ascertain the position of the Nationals, and the practicability of escaping by the river road. He reported, that the position from which the Confederates had been driven by Wallace in the afternoon, on the left, by which lay their projected course of

ACTION OF COWARDLY LEADERS.

219

escape, was held by a large body of troops, and that the back-water above Dover could not be crossed except by cavalry. Again the council deliberated, when is was agreed that the cost of an attempt to cut their way out would probably be the loss of the lives of three-fourths of the troops. "No commander," said Buckner, "has a right to make such a sacrifice." Floyd agreed with him, and quickly said, "Then we will have to capitulate; but, gentlemen," he added, nervously, "I cannot surrender; you know my position with the Federals: it wouldn't do, it wouldn't do." Pillow then said to Floyd, "I will not surrender myself nor the command; will die first.”—“Then,” said Buckner, coolly, "I suppose, gentlemen, the surrender will devolve upon me." The terrified Floyd quickly asked, "General, if you are put in command, will you allow me to take out, by the river, my brigade ?"—" If you move before I shall offer to surrender," Buckner replied. "Then, sir," said Floyd, I surrender the command." Pillow, who was next in rank, and to whom Floyd offered to transfer the command, quickly exclaimed, "I will not accept it—I will never surrender." While speaking, he turned toward Buckner, who said, "I will accept, and share the fate of my command."

66

66

When the capitulation was determined upon, Floyd and Pillow, who, it has been justly remarked, had already disgraced the name of American citizens, proceeded to disgrace the character of a soldier also,' by stealing away under coyer of the night, deserting, in the most cowardly manner, the soldierly Buckner and the brave men who had defended the post. In order to aid their flight, the latter allowed Forest to attempt to cut his way out with his cavalry. In too much haste to save himself, Floyd did not wait for all of his Virginians to get ready to escape with him, but with a few of them, hastily collected, he embarked on a steamer at Dover, followed by the curses and hisses of thousands on the shore, and fled to Nashville. Pillow sneaked away in the darkness, and, in perfect safety at his home in Columbia, in Middle Tennessee, he sat down a few days afterward to write a report to his indignant superiors. Forest and his horsemen, about eight hundred in number, also escaped. There is not in all history a meaner picture of the conduct of traitors than that afforded by the Council of War at Dover, on Sunday morning, the 16th of February, 1862.

That Sunday morning dawned brightly upon the Union army. At daybreak, Wallace prepared to storm the Confederate intrenchments, and while making dispositions for that purpose, a bugle in the direction of the fort sounded a parley. Dimly seen in the morning twilight was an officer with the bugler, bearing a white flag, and at the same time a similar flag was seen waving over the fort, in token of a willingness to surrender. Wallace immediately rode to Buckner's quarters. The latter had posted a letter to Grant, asking for the appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms of

1Sworn statements of Colonel Forest, Major Gustavus A. Henry, Major W. H. Haynes, and Hunter Nicholson, who were present at the council.

2

Coppée's Grant and his Campaigns, page 66.

› An epigrammatist of the day wrote concerning Floyd's escape, saying:—

"The thief is a coward by nature's law;

Who betrays the State, to no one is true;
And the brave foe at Fort Donelson saw
Their light-fingered Floyd was light-footed toa

« PreviousContinue »