Forts Henry and Donelson
The Key to the Confederate Heartland

The front in Virginia was relatively narrow (Chesapeake Bay to Blue Ridge Mountains) while in Tennessee the front stretched hundreds of miles from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains. To cover this extensive area the Confederates had a much smaller force than in Virginia

Fort Henry
Civil War Tennessee


American Civil War
February 6, 1862


Struggle for the Heartland: The Campaigns from Fort Henry to Corinth
The military campaign that began in early 1862 with the advance to Fort Henry and culminated in late May. The first significant Northern penetration into the Confederate west

By February 1862, Fort Henry, a Confederate earthen fort on the Tennessee River with outdated guns, was partially inundated and the river threatened to flood the rest. On February 4-5, Brigadier General U.S. Grant landed his divisions in two different locations, one on the east bank of the Tennessee River to prevent the garrison's escape and the other to occupy the high ground on the Kentucky side which would insure the fort's fall.

Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote's seven gunboats began bombarding the fort.  Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman, commander of the fort's garrison, realized that it was only a matter of time before Fort Henry fell. While leaving artillery in the fort to hold off the Union fleet, he escorted the rest of his force out of the area and sent them safely off on the route to Fort Donelson, 10 miles away. Tilghman then returned to the fort and, soon afterwards, surrendered to the fleet, which had engaged the fort and closed within 400 yards.

Fort Henry's fall opened the Tennessee River to Union gunboats and shipping as far as Muscle Shoals, Alabama. After the fall of Fort Donelson, ten days later, the two major water transportation routes in the Confederate west, bounded by the Appalachians and the Mississippi River, became Union highways for movement of troops and material.

Result(s): Union victory

Location: Stewart County and Henry County, Tennessee, and Calloway County, Kentucky

Campaign: Federal Penetration up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers (1862) Next Battle in Campaign   Campaigns

Date(s): February 6, 1862

Principal Commanders: Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant and Flag-Officer A.H. Foote [US]; Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman [CS]

Forces Engaged: District of Cairo [US]; Fort Henry Garrison [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 119 total (US 40; CS 79)

Kindle Available

Civil War Curiosities: Strange Stories, Oddities, Events, and Coincidences
This work was fascinating to read and was neither over dramatic or under written. The stories were lively and interesting and the additon of old photos and draqwings helped fill out the book.

  Kindle Available

Men of Fire: Grant, Forrest, and the Campaign That Decided the Civil War
In the winter of 1862, on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, two extraordinary military leaders faced each other in an epic clash that would transform them both and change the course of American history forever

Kindle Available
Tennessee in the Civil War
Tennessee in the Civil War

Selected Contemporary Accounts of Military and Other Events, Month by Month
Battle of Fort Henry - Civil War Panoramic Map
Battle of Fort Henry
Civil War Panoramic Map

24 in. x 18 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed   Mounted



Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy : The Journal and Letters of John M. Brooke
Information about the Confederate Navy's effort to supply its fledgling forces, the wartime diaries and letters of John M. Brooke tell the neglected story of the Confederate naval ordnance office, its innovations, and its strategic vision.



Kindle Available

Civil War Curiosities: Strange Stories, Oddities, Events, and Coincidences
This work was fascinating to read and was neither over dramatic or under written. The stories were lively and interesting and the additon of old photos and draqwings helped fill out the book.

Line engraving after a drawing by Rear Admiral Henry Walke, published in the "History of the Great Rebellion", by Harper. The print depicts the Federal gunboats Saint Louis, Carondelet, Essex and Cincinnati bombarding Fort Henry

Situation Prior to Start of Campaign - Click to enlarge Map
Fort Henry Tennessee Battle Map
Civil War Revolver Pistol
Civil War Model 1851 Naval Pistol
Engraved Silver Tone / Gold Tone Finish and Wooden Grips - Replica of Revolver Used by Both USA / Union and CSA / Confederate Forces
Tennessee State Battle Map
State Battle Maps
American Civil War Exhibits
Civil War Timeline
Women in the War
Civil War Summary
Documents of the Civil War
Civil War Cooking
Civil War Submarines
Kids Zone Causes of the War
Tennessee Civil War Battlefields
Tennessee's Civil War Battlefields: A Guide to Their History and Preservation

Well researched, with detailed maps and photographs, this book allows you to follow General Forrest over his many engagements and march alongside the Army of Tennessee.
Tennessee American Civil War Book Titles
Kindle Available
John Morgan
John Hunt Morgan and His Raiders

The "Thunderbolt of the Confederacy" John Hunt Morgan from Tompkinsville, Kentucky to Greeneville, Tennessee.
Confederacy
The Partisan Rangers of the Confederate States Army: Memoirs of General Adam R. Johnson

The capture of Newburg, Indiana, with only twelve men and two joints of stovepipe mounted on the running gear of a wagon. This episode won him a nickname of "Stovepipe." He was promoted to Brigadier General in June 1864
Tennessee Civil War Battlefields
Tennessee's Civil War Battlefields: A Guide to Their History and Preservation

Well researched, with detailed maps and photographs, this book allows you to follow General Forrest over his many engagements and march alongside the Army of Tennessee.
Tennessee Civil War Story
The Bridge Burners: A True Adventure of East Tennessee's Underground Civil War

The railroad that proved such a peacetime boon would become a point of conflict only three years later
General John Hood
The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville

John Bell Hood rallied his demoralized troops and marched them off the Tennessee, desperately hoping to draw Sherman after him and forestall the Confederacy's defeat
Where the South lost the war
Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign

The war probably could have been over in 1862 had Lieutenant Phelps destroyed the bridge at Florence. Not doing so provided a retreat for A. S. Johnston to move his men to Corinth and then to Shiloh
A Very Violet Rebel Ellen Renshaw Diary
A Very Violent Rebel: The Civil War Diary of Ellen Renshaw House

The Siege of Knoxville (November 1863) is covered and Sutherland's footnotes make for good historyl
Shiloh Tennessee
The Untold Story of Shiloh:
The Battle and the Battlefield

Fought in south central Tennessee, north of Corinth, Mississippi, the battle showed the nation that the Civil War would be long and difficult. The Battle of Shiloh opened up the western Confederacy to the Union invasion that would ultimately prove its undoing

Chattanooga Tennessee City History Current Weather Hotel Motel camping and attractions




Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
US Military Academy
U.S. Library of Congress

Search
AmericanCivilWar.com
 
Enter the keywords you are looking for and the site will be searched and all occurrences of your request will be displayed. You can also enter a date format, April 19,1862 or September 1864.
Books
Civil War
Womens Subjects
Young Readers
Military History

DVDs
Confederate Store
Civil War Games
Music CDs
Reenactors