Fort Donelson National Battlefield | |
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Location | Calloway County, Kentucky & Stewart County, Tennessee, USA |
Nearest city | Dover, Tennessee |
Coordinates | 36°29′14″N87°51′39″W / 36.48722°N 87.86083°W [1] |
Area | 1,319 acres (5.34 km2) [2] |
Established | March 26, 1928 (War Dept.) August 10, 1933 (NPS) [3] |
Visitors | 208,687(in 2005) |
Governing body | National Park Service |
Website | Fort Donelson National Battlefield |
Fort Donelson National Battlefield preserves Fort Donelson and Fort Heiman, two sites of the American Civil War Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign, in which Union Army Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant and Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote captured three Confederate forts and opened two rivers, the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River, to control by the Union Navy. The commanders received national recognition for their victories in February 1862, as they were the first major Union successes of the war. The capture of Fort Donelson and its garrison by the Union led to the capture of Tennessee's capital and industrial center, Nashville, which remained in Union hands from February 25, 1862, until the end of the war, and gave the Union effective control over much of Tennessee. This struck a major blow to the Confederacy early in the war.
The main portion of the park, in Dover, Tennessee, commemorates the Battle of Fort Donelson ( 36°29′41″N87°51′22″W / 36.49472°N 87.85611°W ). Fort Heiman, in nearby Calloway County, Kentucky, was a Confederate battery in the Battle of Fort Henry.
The most vulnerable area in the Confederate defensive line in the Western Theater was the state of Kentucky. The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers were potential avenues for a Union invasion of the South through Kentucky and into Tennessee and beyond. Since Kentucky had declared neutrality, the Confederacy could not build defensive works within the state without risking alienating the local population. The local population in western and central Kentucky was pro-Confederate. Kentucky's westernmost (First) congressional district elected a secessionist and Lincoln proclaimed it to be in rebellion.
Adna Anderson and William F. Foster, two engineers detached from the Confederate 1st Tennessee Infantry, set to work on May 10, 1861, to find suitable ground just inside the Tennessee border to cover the two strategic rivers. They surveyed possible sites along the Cumberland River, noting the high ridges and deep hollows near the Kentucky border. [4] In mid-May, on the west bank of the river not far below Dover, Anderson laid out the water battery of Fort Donelson, twelve miles (19 km) from the Kentucky line. The new fort was named in honor of the Confederate General Daniel S. Donelson [5] who, along with Colonel Bushrod Johnson of the Corps of Engineers, approved of the site. Construction was begun by a large force of men brought from the nearby Cumberland Iron Works. [6]
The site was established as Fort Donelson National Military Park on March 26, 1928. The national military park and national cemetery were transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. It was redesignated a national battlefield on August 16, 1985. Public Law 108-367 (October 25, 2004) increased the authorized boundary of the national battlefield from 551.69 acres (2.23 km2) to 2,000 acres (8.09 km2). On October 30, 2006, Calloway County transferred the Fort Heiman site, which was purchased through the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves' Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund, to the Park Service. Fort Heiman had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1976.
The park preserves much of the original battle site, including the river batteries and the eroded remains of the fort, but the area in which the Confederate States Army attacked on February 15, 1862, is largely in private hands and occupied by residential development. The Cumberland River was dammed in the 1960s; this area is currently referred to as Lake Barkley. It covers an area roughly similar to the original river while at flood stage, as it was during the battle. The Civil War Trust (a division of the American Battlefield Trust) and its partners have acquired and preserved 368 acres (1.49 km2) of the battlefield, most of which has been conveyed to the NPS and incorporated into the battlefield park. [7]
The Fort Donelson National Cemetery, at 15.34 acres (62,080 m2) in Stewart County, [8] contains 670 Union dead, reinterred in 1867. There are numerous veterans from later wars. The cemetery is presently unavailable for additional burials.
Stewart County is a county located on the northwestern corner of Middle Tennessee, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,657. Its county seat is Dover. Stewart County is part of the Clarksville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Dover is a city in and the county seat of Stewart County, Tennessee, 67 miles (108 km) west-northwest of Nashville on the Cumberland River. Fort Donelson National Cemetery is in Dover. The population was 1,442 at the 2000 census and the 2010 census showed a population of 1,417.
Fort Donelson was a fortress built early in 1862 by the Confederacy during the American Civil War to control the Cumberland River, which led to the heart of Tennessee, and thereby the Confederacy. The fort was named after Confederate general Daniel S. Donelson.
The Battle of Fort Henry was fought on February 6, 1862, in Stewart County, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. It was the first important victory for the Union and Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater.
The Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 11–16, 1862, in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The Union capture of the Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border opened the Cumberland River, an important avenue for the invasion of the South. The Union's success also elevated Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant from an obscure and largely unproven leader to the rank of major general, and earned him the nickname of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
Lloyd Tilghman was a Confederate general in the American Civil War.
There is widespread disagreement among historians about the turning point of the American Civil War. A turning point in this context is an event that occurred during the conflict after which most modern scholars would agree that the eventual outcome was inevitable. The near simultaneous Battle of Gettysburg in the east and fall of Vicksburg in the west, in July 1863 is widely cited as the military climax of the American Civil War. Several other decisive battles and events throughout the war have been proposed as turning points. The events are presented here in chronological order with only the positive arguments for each given.
Bushrod Rust Johnson was a Confederate general in the American Civil War and an officer in the United States Army. As a university professor he had been active in the state militias of Kentucky and Tennessee and on the outbreak of hostilities he sided with the South, despite having been born in the North into a family of abolitionist Quakers. As a divisional commander he managed to evade capture at the Battle of Fort Donelson, but was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh. He served under Robert E. Lee throughout the 10-month Siege of Petersburg, and surrendered with him at Appomattox.
The Battle of Dover, also known as the Second Battle of Fort Donelson, was a battle of the American Civil War, occurring on February 3, 1863, in Stewart County, Tennessee.
The Battle of Johnsonville was fought November 4–5, 1864, in Benton and Humphreys counties, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. Confederate cavalry commander Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest culminated a 23-day raid through western Tennessee by attacking the Union supply base at Johnsonville. Forrest's attack destroyed a total of 28 Union boats and barges in the Tennessee River and millions of dollars of supplies, disrupting the logistical operations of Union Major General George H. Thomas in Nashville. As a result, Thomas's army was hampered in its plan to defeat Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's invasion of Tennessee, known as the Franklin–Nashville campaign.
The Battle of Mill Springs, also known as the Battle of Fishing Creek in the Confederacy, and the Battle of Logan's Cross Roads or Battle of Somerset in the Union, was fought in Wayne and Pulaski counties, near the current unincorporated community of Nancy, Kentucky, on January 19, 1862, as part of the American Civil War. The Union victory concluded an early Confederate offensive campaign in south central Kentucky.
The western theater of the American Civil War encompassed major military operations in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. Operations on the coasts of these states, except for Mobile Bay, are considered part of the Lower Seaboard Theater. Most other operations east of the Appalachian Mountains are part of the eastern theater. Operations west of the Mississippi River took place in the trans-Mississippi theater.
Graves' Artillery Battery, also known as [Kentucky] Issaquena Artillery Battery, was organized as a Confederate States Army artillery battery from Mississippi and Kentucky on November 8, 1861. During its formation, as a still understrength battery, the first commander was Captain Selden Spencer. In December, at Bowling Green, Kentucky, then Confederate Army Brigadier General (CSA) John C. Breckinridge chose Captain Rice E. Graves, Jr., as captain of the new battery to be attached to the 2nd Kentucky Infantry Regiment and assigned to his division. The unit was first assigned to Reserve, 1st Geographical Division, Department #2. Then the regiment was assigned to the Kentucky Brigade, Army of Middle Tennessee, Department #2 in October–November 1862. In November 1862, the regiment was assigned to the Kentucky Brigade, Breckinridge's Division, 1st Corps, Army of Tennessee in November 1862, nicknamed the "Orphan Brigade".
John W. "Jack" Hinson, nicknamed "Old Jack" was a farmer in Stewart County, Tennessee, who operated as a Confederate partisan sniper in the Between-the-Rivers region of Tennessee and Kentucky during the American Civil War.
Fort Defiance was a fort built during the American Civil War at Clarksville, Tennessee, on the Cumberland River. It changed hands several times during the war, and is now preserved by the city administration.
The June 1862 capture of the Cumberland Gap was a Union victory during the American Civil War leading to Union occupation of the Cumberland Gap for three months.
Adolphus Heiman was a Prussian-born American architect and soldier; later becoming a Confederate officer during the American Civil War.
The Civil War Trust's Civil War Discovery Trail is a heritage tourism program that links more than 600 U.S. Civil War sites in more than 30 states. The program is one of the White House Millennium Council's sixteen flagship National Millennium Trails. Sites on the trail include battlefields, museums, historic sites, forts and cemeteries.
The Battle of Riggins Hill was a minor engagement in western Tennessee during the American Civil War. A Confederate raiding force under Colonel Thomas Woodward captured Clarksville, Tennessee, threatening Union shipping on the Cumberland River. Several Union regiments led by Colonel William Warren Lowe advanced from nearby Fort Donelson and drove off the Confederates after a struggle lasting less than an hour. The action occurred during the Confederate Heartland Offensive but only affected the local area.