220

TERMS OF SURRENDER.

capitulation, and suggesting an armistice until noon. Wallace immediately sent word to Grant that Dover was surrendered, and his troops were in possession of the town. This made Grant's reply to Buckner short and explicit. He considered Buckner and his troops as simply rebels in arms, with no right to ask any terms excepting such as humanity required, so he said, "No terms other than unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works."

Grant's reply irritated the helpless Buckner, and, with folly equal to his chagrin, he answered, "The distribution of the forces under my command, incident to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success

99

of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose.' This was followed by the speedy surrender of the fort, with thirteen thousand five hundred men, as prisoners of war (including the sick and wounded), a large proportion of whom were sent to Camp Douglas, near Chicago;' also three thousand horses, forty-eight field

1 Generals Buckner and Tilghman, who were captured at Fort Henry, were sent to Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor. Leading Unionists of Kentucky asked for the surrender of Buckner to the civil authorities of that

State, to be tried for treason against that commonwealth. The application was refused, and he was afterward exchanged.

Camp Douglas was so named in honor of Senator Douglas, and was situated on land that had belonged to him. In this camp many of the Western regiments, that performed such signal service, were drilled. It was converted into a prison, and early in April, 1862, after the battle of Shiloh, it contained full 8,000 captives, most of whom were from Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. The passage of these prisoners through the country to their destinatiog produced a profound sensation. A St. Louis journal mentioned the arrival there of ten thousand of them, on ten steamers.

A large number of the captives at Forts Henry and Donelson were also sent to Camp Chase, at Columbus,

SURRENDER OF FORT DONELSON.

221

pieces, seventeen heavy guns, twenty thousand muskets, and a great quantity of military stores.. On the following day, two regiments of Tennessee

troops, that came up to re-enforce the garrison, in ignorance of the surrender, were also made prisoners. During the siege, the Confederates had lost, it

Ohio, which was so named in honor of the Secretary of the Treasury. The prison there was in the southeast corner of the camp. The strong inclosure was about sixteen feet in height, built of two-inch pine plank, with Scantling well bolted and braced. The picture shows the exterior of the prison and the guard-houses.

A participant in the scenes at Fort Donelson wrote as follows concerning the surrender: "One of the grandest sights in the whole siege, and one which comes only once in a century, was the triumphal entry into the Fort on Sunday morning. The sight from the highest point in the fort, commanding a view of

both river and camp, was imposing. There were on one side regiment after regiment pouring in, their flags floating gayly in the wind; some of them which had been rent and faded on the fields of Mexico, and others with Springfield emblazoned on their folds; one magnificent brass band pouring ont the meloes of 'Hail Columbia, Star Spangled Banner, Yankee Doodle, etc., in such style as the gazing captives had never heard, even in the palmy days of peace. On the other was a spectacle which surpasses all description. The narrow Cumberland seemed alive with steamers. First came the gun-boats, firing salutes: then came little bla. tugs, snorting their acclamations; and after them the vast fleet of transports, pouring out volumes of black smoke, their banners floating gayly in the breeze, firing salutes, their decks covered with people sending deafening shouts in response to those from the shore. The scene was sublime, impressive, and will not easily be forgotten."

222

EFFECT OF THE FALL OF DONELSON.

was estimated, two hundred and thirty-seven killed, and one thousand and seven wounded. The National loss was estimated at four hundred and fortysix killed, one thousand seven hundred and forty-five wounded, and one hundred and fifty prisoners. The latter had been sent across the river, and were not re-captured.'

The victory at Fort Donelson was of the greatest importance to the National cause, and the official announcement of it, spreading with speed of lightning over the land, produced intense joy in every loyal bosom. Cities were illuminated, heavy guns thundered forth National salutes; and everywhere the flag of the Republic was flung to the breeze, in token of profound satisfaction. The news filled the conspirators with despair, and terribly depressed the spirits of the soldiers of the Confederate army. By it Europe was made to doubt the success of the rebellion; and at some courts it produced the first serious thoughts of abandoning the cause of the conspirators. Its effect, in all relations, was similar to that of the capture of Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga, in 1777. So powerful was the impression, that the Confederate Commissioners abroad felt compelled to do all in their power to belittle the event, and, by taking advantage of the general deficiency of knowledge of American geography,3 to satisfy the ruling class that it was of no military importance whatever. In that effort the Commissioners failed.

At Richmond the fall of Fort Donelson caused emotions of mingled anger and dismay. The loss of Roanoke Island, a few days before, had greatly alarmed and irritated the conspirators; and now the chief of the Confede

1 Reports of Generals Grant, McClernand, Wallace, and subordinate officers; and of Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner, and their subordinates. Also written and oral statements to the author by participants in the action.

2 Commander Walke, in the Carondelet, carried the first news of the victory to Cairo, from which it was telegraphed to General McClellan by General George W. Cullum, Halleck's Chief of Staff, then at Cairo, saying: "The Union flag floats over Donelson. The Carondelet, Captain Walke, brings the glorious intelligence. The fort surrendered at nine o'clock yesterday (Sunday) morning. Generals Buckner, Bushrod R. Johnston, and 15,000 prisoners, and a large amount of materials of war, are the trophies of the victory. Loss heavy on both sides. Floyd, the thief, stole away during the night previous with 5,000 men, and is denounced by the rebels as a traitor." He then spoke of the good conduct of Commodore Foote, and announced the fact that, notwithstanding his sufferings from the wound in his foot, he would immediately make an attack on Clarksville, an important post about forty miles above. He concluded by saying, We are now firing a National salute from Fort Cairo, General Grant's late post, în honor of the glorious achievement."

The women of St. Louis, desirous of testifying their admiration of General Halleck, in whose Department and by whose troops these victories had been achieved (and because of his energy in suppressing secession in Missouri), ordered an elegant sword to be made by Tiffany & Co., of New York, to be presented to him in their naine. This was done in the parlor of the Planters' Hotel, in St. Louis, on the evening of the 17th of March, 1862, by Mrs. Helen Budd, who spoke in behalf of the donors. In his brief reply, General Halleck assured the women of St. Louis that it should be "used in defense of their happiness, their rights, and their honor, and solely in behalf of justice." The weapon was an elegant one, richly ornamented with classical designs.

HALLECK'S SWord.

s The amazing territorial extent of the United States is but little comprehended in Europe, and the relative position of places mentioned in connection with the war seemed to be very little understood, even by some of the best informed writers and speakers. This lack of exact information led writers on American affairs into the most absurd speculations as well as serious blunders. An illustrative example was found in the summary of war news from America in the Paris Moniteur, at about the time we are considering. Speaking of the capture

of Roanoke Island, and of Elizabeth City, in Eastern North Carolina, the writer observed: Feb., 1862. "The Federal army landed, and proceeded toward Elizabeth City, which it found evacuated and burned by the Southern troops. From there a detachment advanced as far as the Tennessee River, and thus occupies the principal road between Memphis and Columbus. This movement establishes the troops of General Burnside in the rear of the great army of the Potomac." Elizabeth City, on the Atlantic coast, and the Tennessee River, at the point indicated, are fully 750 miles apart, in an air line, and at least 1,200 miles by any route troops might be taken.

FLOYD AND PILLOW DISGRACED.

223

rates, with as much dignity as possible, commented seriously on their calamities in a message to his Congress." Official information had not reached him. "Enough is known," he said, "of the surrender of Roanoke Island to make us feel that it was deeply humiliating." Of the disaster at Fort Donelson, he said: "I am not only unwilling but unable to believe that a large army of our people has surrendered without a desperate effort to cut its way through the investing forces, whatever may have been their numbers, and to endeavor to make a junction with other divisions of the army." A little later, in transmitting to his "Congress" the reports of Floyd and Pillow, he said they were "incomplete and unsatisfactory. It is not stated," he said, "that re-enforcements were at any time asked for; nor is it demonstrated to have been impossible to have saved the troops by evacuating the position; nor is it known by what means it was found practicable to withdraw a part of the garrison, leaving the remainder to surrender; nor upon what authority or principle of action the senior generals abandoned responsibility by transferring the command to a junior officer." Notwithstanding General Johnston attempted to gloss the cowardice of Floyd and Pillow, Davis, in the communication we are considering, said: "I have directed, upon the exhibition of the case as presented by the two senior Generals, that they should be relieved from command, to await further orders, whenever a reliable judgment can be rendered on the merits of the case.

993

Davis himself, it has been charged since the close of the rebellion (for all spoke of him during the war with bated breath), was continually interfering in military affairs, and with the action of skillful commanders most mischievously.*

Generals Grant, McClernand, and Wallace issued orders congratulating their victorious troops; and General Halleck, who had drawn from General

1 Message of Jefferson Davis to the Confederate Congress, Feb. 28th, 1862.

* General Johnston said in a private letter to Jefferson Davis: " Although the command was irregularly transferred, it was not apparently to avoid any just responsibility, or from any lack of personal or moral intrepidity." Johnston could not have been aware of the disgraceful scene in the midnight council at Pillow's quarters in Dover, when he wrote that apology. The temper of the Conspirators in Richmond was in no mood to receive an apology. They had been elated beyond measure by Pillow's premature boast of victory, and now the disappointment was of corresponding force.

Jefferson Davis's message to his "Congress," March 11th, 1862.

no one

So say military experts, and those most intimately acquainted with his official conduct. “Twenty years hence," says a politician of Mississippi, who was a fellow-worker in rebellion with Davis in Richmond, will be heard to deny that to the direct and unwise interferences in great military movements, on the part of Davis, are to be attributed nearly all the principal disasters of the war. In the gross mismanagement of the War Department, under the supervision and control of Mr. Davis himself, may safely be charged the calamitous occurrences at Forts Donelson and Henry, and at Roanoke Island."- War of the Rebellion, by Henry S. Foote. 5 For their services in the siege of Fort Donelson, Generals Grant, McClernand, and Wallace were each promoted to Major-General of volunteers, the commission of the former bearing the date of the surrender (February 16, 1862), and the other two of March 21st, 1562.

Grant said (February 17th), after congratulating his troops on their “triumph over the rebellion, gained by their valor," that "for four successive nights, without shelter during the most inclement weather known in this latitude, they faced an enemy in large force in a position chosen by himself. Though strongly fortified by nature, all the additional safeguards suggested by science were added. Without a murmur this was borne, prepared at all times to receive an attack, and with continuous skirmishing by day, resulting ultimately in forcing the enemy to surrender without conditions. The victory achieved is not only great in the effect it will have in breaking down rebellion, but has secured the greatest number of prisoners of war ever taken in any battle on this continent. Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked in capitals on the map of our united country, and the men who fought the battle will live in the memory of a grateful people."

McClernand, in a field-order (February 18th), said: "You have continually led the way in the Valley of the Lower Mississippi, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland. You have carried the flag of the Union farther South than any other land forces, marching from the interior toward the sea-board.

"Being the first division to enter Fort Henry, you also pursued the enemy for miles, capturing from him,

224

• Feb. 19, 1862.

THE ARMY MAIL-SERVICE.

Hunter's Kansas Department some of the re-enforcements which he had sent to Grant, said, in a letter to him," "To you, more than to any other man out of this Department, are we indebted for our success at Fort Donelson. In my strait for troops to re-enforce General Grant, I applied to you. You responded nobly, placing your forces at my disposition." The Secretaries of War and of the Navy also issued congratulatory orders. The Government and people were satisfied that a withering blow had been given to the rebellion, and that henceforth its proportions would be less, and its malignity not so dangerous to the life of the Republic.

At Forts Henry and Donelson was successfully begun that army mailservice which was so admirably organized and so efficiently executed during the war by Colonel A. H. Markland. It was suggested to General Grant by Colonel Markland, who was the special agent of the National Post-office Department. It was immediately adopted, and was ever afterward warmly cherished by that sagacious commander; and to him is justly due much of the credit of making it practically effective in blessing the officers and soldiers of the armies of the Republic during the great struggle. The perfection of the system was exhibited even so early as at the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, and it never failed to give ample satisfaction to all, until the end of the war.'

The peculiar army mail-service organized under the auspices of General Grant was finally extended to all Departments, and was managed by Colonel Markland, who was made the general superintendent of the mails of the armies of the Republic. Soldiers in camp or on the march, and even under the fire of the enemy, received letters from home with as much regularity as if they had been residents of a large city. That system was not introduced into the Army of the Potomac while McClellan commanded it. One much less perfect and efficient, which he found in operation, was continued. was established when the troops under the first call began to assemble around Washington, in April and May, 1861. The chaplain of each regiment was recognized as "regimental post-master," and he usually called at the Washington City Post-office for the army mail. When the army was increased

That

in his flight, six field-pieces, many of his standards and flags, a number of prisoners, and a great quantity of military stores. Following the enemy to this place, you were the first to encounter him outside of his intrenchments, and drive him within them." After recounting their exploits, he said: “The battle-field testifies to your valor and constancy. Even the magnanimity of the enemy accords to you an unsurpassed heroism, and an enviable and brilliant share in the hardest-fought battle and must decisive victory ever fought and won on the American continent." "The death-knell of rebellion is sounded; an army has been annihilated; and the way to Nashville and Memphis is opened."

1 The origin and general efficiency of that service is stated in the following letter to the author, dated, Head-quarters Armies of the United States, Washington, D. C., July 30th, 1866:"_

the fort.

DEAR SIR:-Among the subjects that occupied my mind when I assumed command at Cairo, in the fall of 1861, was the regular supply of mails to and from the troops; not only those in garrison, but those on the march when active movements should begin. When I commenced the movement on Fort Henry, on Jan. 7, 1862, a plan was proposed by which the mails should promptly follow, and as promptly be sent from the army. So perfect was the organization, that the mails were delivered to the army imme liately upon its occupation of Within one hour after the troops began to march into Fort Donelson, the mail was being distributed to them from the mail wagons. The same promptness was always observed in the armies under my command, up to the period of the final disbandment. It is a source of congratulation that the postal service was so conducted, that officers and men were in constant communication with kindred and friends at home, and with as much regularity as the most favored in the large cities of the Union. The postal system of the army, so far as I know, was not attended with any additional expense to the service. The system adopted by me was suggested and ably superintended by A. H. Markland, special agent of the Post-office Department.

"Respectfully, &c.,

"U. S. GEANT, General"