Chris Mackowski
Appearances
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Es gibt verschiedene Gründe, weshalb es nicht überraschend ist, was in vielen verschiedenen Gründen so ambivalent klingt. Die Föderalen sind nicht ganz überrascht, weil sie Pizzas auf Dudley Hill haben. Und weil es so kalt war die Nacht vorher, sind diese Leute nicht schlafen. Sie versuchen einfach nur zu gehen, sich aufzuwachen, sich aufzuwachen.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Sie sehen also die Konfederaten kommen, also sind sie nicht auf der Warte. Grant ist ein bisschen auf der Warte, weil er eigentlich auf der 14. Nacht auf dem Schlachtfeld losgeht, um mit Foote zu konsultieren. Und er designiert nicht jemanden, der in seiner Absenz ist. Es passiert ihm nie, dass die Konfederaten einen Attacken starten.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Also sagt er seinen drei Division-Kommandanten, seinen drei Top-Subordinaten, mach nichts, was einen generalen Engagement bringt. Ich bin zurück. Also sind diese Leute wirklich ohne jemanden, der in der Absence ist. Grant ist weg. Die Konfederaten haben diesen Angriff auf den 15. Er kommt zurück auf die Battlefield und sagt, schnell, schnell. Er kommt da.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Einer seiner Top-Subordinaten ist ein Typ namens John McClernand, ein politischer Anwalt aus Illinois. Und McClernand ist neben sich und sagt, diese Armee braucht einen Kopf. And his men are the ones who've been really kind of attacked in this flank attack.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And as you point out, Grant is very calm, cool, and he starts giving orders to make sure the men have the supplies they need, make sure that they are armed with enough ammunition. Yeah. And then he turns to, once he gets that under control, he then turns to one of his other support minutes, Charles Francis Smith, and says, I want you to launch an attack against the Confederate position.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
If they're distracted over here on our right, they're going to be vulnerable on their left or on our left. Launch that attack and go. And so Grant very coolly comes into this. But he's learning. This is a mistake on his part. He won't repeat it again. And so he's going to take these lessons and improve.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Er hat einen wirklich guten Sinn für psychologische Aufmerksamkeit, auch weil, obwohl McClernand verabschiedet ist und seine Männer von ihrer Position entfernt wurden, er merkt, dass die Konfederaten sich ebenfalls von ihrer Sieg verabschiedet haben. Es war bei Grant in Belmont im Frühjahr 1981 und er merkt, dass es in den Konfederaten jetzt passiert. Und er sagt,
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
So that's how the day ends on the 15th. As the day opens on the 16th, what are the Confederates planning to do? So the Confederates at this point realized their opportunities to break out have been closed off. The Federals are now on guard. They have taken away any opportunity for escape. And so now the commanders are really looking out for themselves as well as for their garrison.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
So of course, Floyd is like, I can't stay here. I'm going to get arrested. He hops on a steamship and flees, turning command over to Pillow. Pillow doesn't want the indignity of surrender. So he's going to actually take a few, a hundred of his guys, Die andere wichtige Komponente der Konfederaten-Kommandstruktur hier ist Nathan Bedford Forrest, der Kavalierkommander.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Und ich bin sicher, dass Sie über ihn viel über Ihren Podcast sprechen. Sehr berühmter Typ, ja. Sehr berühmter Typ, ja. Und er sagt im Grunde, ich bin nicht nach Fort Donelson gekommen, um meine gesamte Kommande zu verlieren. Also er wird 700 oder 800 seiner Horsen nehmen. Sie werden durch eine schwammige Areal, Wasser nach den Schuhen, als sie ihre Horsen reiten, und durch frische, kaltes Wasser.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Und sie werden escapen. Und das lässt Buckner im Grunde hinter sich, um mit ungefähr 13.000 Männern zu verabschieden.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
The logistics are incredible. Because you don't have enough gunboats to transport them out. You don't have enough transport ships to transport them out. There's no railroad nearby that we can just hop them all on and conveniently get them into Union territory. So what the Federals will actually do is institute a parole system where
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
You pledge, if you're a prisoner, you pledge on your word of honor that you will not take up arms until you have been exchanged. And you will get formally notified that you have been exchanged. So basically you will be traded for someone of equal rank from the other side. And so they'll start issuing parole slips for these guys. Over what period of time? It could take weeks.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Usually it took months. Huh. The commander of Fort Henry, for instance, Lloyd Tillman, he gets captured at Fort Henry. He's going to be a prisoner of war held at Fort Warren in Boston until about August. And he'll be traded for a Union General John Reynolds, who was captured outside of Richmond during the seven days. Wow. Reynolds had only been a prisoner there about a month and a half.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
So it just depends on finding someone of equal rank that you can be traded for.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Yeah, it's I think just a really great example of how these men knew each other. They were friends. They're waging war as professionals, but their friendship still underlies a lot of these relationships. So when Buckner surrenders, eventually Yeah, and he's hoping for good terms from Grant because he and Grant were friends in the pre-war army.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And Grant sends word that says, I will accept no terms other than unconditional surrender. I propose to move on your works at once. That's enough for Buckner to be like, all right, and I got to give up the whole game.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
After all of the negotiations and the meetings and the signings of the surrender and paroles and all that stuff, Grant actually pulls Buckner aside and he says, Do you have enough money? Do you need anything? Can I help you out? And this is in repayment of a kindness that Buckner had shown to Grant. Grant hatte in der Vorwärtskriegsarmee in Kalifornien gesteigert.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Er wurde ausgesprochen, dass er heute weggehen soll. Wir sind noch nicht klar darüber, aber wir denken, es hat etwas damit zu tun, dass er zu viel trinkt. Und als er bis in die Südseite von Südamerika geht, um in New York zu kommen, wo er dann endlich den Zug nach Illinois nehmen kann, rennt er aus dem Geld.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Und Buckner ist da gesteigert, und er drückt Grant ab und sagt, du brauchst Geld, um nach Hause zu kommen. Ich werde dir dieses Geld zahlen. Wow. Old friends help each other out. So then Grant sees the shoe on the other foot and returns that favor.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
They had both been stationed up along the Great Lakes in the pre-war army. And so they knew each other really well.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And his son will actually be one of the highest ranking generals ever killed military service during World War II.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
They have this wonderful sort of last meeting. During Grant's dying days, he's in a little cottage north of Saratoga Springs, New York, dying of throat cancer, trying to get his memoirs finished. And Buckner is on his honeymoon with his second wife, who is considerably younger. And they go to Niagara Falls, and on their way back home, they stop and see Grant at Mount McGregor in New York. And
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
What's really kind of remarkable about that stretch is because Grant's voice was so shot. Much of what he had to say was written down with pencil and slips of paper that have all been preserved. And so we see this exchange between these old friends and they're busting each other's chops. And, you know, it's like, oh, Buckner, you're looking pretty old and worse for the wear.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
But your wife is lovely. You know, you know, I kicked your field coverage on that one. You know, I mean, it's just just this warm, beautiful reunion that made the cover of Puck magazine, actually.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Historian Stephen Woodworth has said, everything the Confederates do in the West from this point on is basically an attempt to undo the fall of Fort Donaldson. Es sind so große Fähigkeiten, weil erstens öffnet sich der Cumberland-River nach Nashville, die Tennissee öffnet sich jetzt bis nach Corinth, Mississippi.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Und so werden die Föderalen diese beiden Ebenen der Entwicklung nutzen, um weiter und weiter in die Konfederatie zu gehen. Und so wird es einfach sehr problematisch für diese Konfederat-Armee sein, weil sie ausnummeriert, ausgesorbt sind und jetzt versuchen, die Föderalen auf der See zu halten.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Yeah, you know, and you can see there the seeds of what becomes known as the lost cause. It's like, you guys beat us up, but we were still pretty awesome and you're meanies and we're not, you know. Yeah. When Buckner's talking about unshubblerous terms, you know, he wanted, you know, officers keep their swords and firearms and their property, which meant slaves.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And Grant's like, I've got logistic issues that I have to deal with. I'm going to make this as simple as possible. We beat you and this is, I'm going to dictate these terms.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
So, Halleck is going to be really jealous of Grant's battlefield victories here and next year. Halleck, in fact, will tell Grant, don't go into Nashville, because that would be one more feather in Grant's cap. Like, Grant's like, Nashville is a key strategic objective. We have to capture it.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Grant manages to communicate with some other forces under Don Carlos Buell to get some of Buell's guys into Nashville. They're not able to do that before Confederates are able to slip through, but they are able to get there in time to secure the city, the stores that are there, the infrastructure.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And then Nashville is going to play a huge role for the Union Army from there on out, because that's going to serve as their big supply base for everything they do in Tennessee.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Yeah, I mean, that goes to Buckner's comment about the unchivalrous terms. This isn't about chivalry. This is an industrial machine. That's what war is at this point. And Grant understands that.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Es ist. Nashville ist wichtig, weil es eine große Produktion für die Konföderation ist. Es ist auch sehr nahe an der norderlichen Frontier der Konföderation. Also aus einer norderlichen Perspektive, das sind einfache Auswirkungen. Wenn du dazu kommen kannst, kannst du eine konfederatische Staatskapital erzeugen. Du kannst ihre Produktionen kapitalisieren. Und so gibt es viele verschiedene Gründe.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Und natürlich nur der Moral-Bust, um zu sagen, dass du eine Staatskapital und Konföderation erzeugt hast. Wenn du dich an diese Geografie anschaust, ist es alles um die Berge, ist es nicht? So the rivers really act as waterway highways deep into the heart of the Confederacy.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
As you point out, if you get into the Tennessee River in particular, you can go south all the way through Tennessee, down toward Mississippi, into Alabama, circle back up into eastern Tennessee. So these waterways really go deep into the Confederacy in ways that you can't easily get to by road, but you can certainly sail right in, steam right in, I should say.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And the North is trying to figure out how to use that navy. Their navy is a big blue water navy. And now we've got what are called brown water operations in the rivers. And so the army, the navy, like who's in charge here? How do we do this? Who's responsible for outfitting these ships, supplying them? Where do the men come from? And the Union has to invent all of this stuff. The South does too.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
But they have far less infrastructure in order to pull something together. So they're constantly kind of stealing and snatching from northern technology as the north leapfrogs ahead. That's going to become a huge component here because as the Army and Navy get their act together, that's going to be a huge component for Ulysses S. Grant's success in this campaign and throughout the war.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Sure. So Henry and Donaldson are actually placed where they're at because up to that point, Kentucky had started the war as a neutral state. So that's as far north in its frontier that the Confederacy can put some forts without violating that neutrality. Now, the Confederates will eventually violate that neutrality. Grant will then... Er versucht, Paducah, Kentucky zu nehmen.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Es gibt also ein bisschen Rück und Fort in 1861, das hier im Westen überwacht wird. Aber als Grant dann auf diese Wasserwege schaut, die wir gesprochen haben, wie er sich in die Konfederanz stürmt, was er tun will, ist, zuerst den Tennessee River zu kommen, Fort Henry zu nehmen und And then after that, skip across to get Fort Donaldson. They're only separated by about 12 miles of land.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
But to get there river-wise, you have to go all the way back downriver on the Tennessee, upriver on the Ohio, then upriver on the Cumberland. Grant's got good cooperation from his partner, Flag Officer Andrew Foote. Und so ist Foote instrumental in der Erzeugung von Fort Henry. Er konnte es durch ein Bombardement und die Nutzung von Flutwassern, die die Konfederaten auslösen.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Dann sagte Grant, was wir jetzt tun werden, ist, dass wir nach Donaldson gehen und das gleiche wieder probieren. Und so muss Foote dann den Flussweg nach oben und nach unten folgen und von der Flussseite von Fort Donaldson attackieren, während Grant über Land marschiert, um den Fort von der Landseite zu befinden.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And using the same sort of plan that was so successful at Henry, they're going to repeat that at Donaldson and try to take the fort.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Sie tun das. Und Foote muss auch einige Veränderungen an seinen Schiffen gemacht haben. Er konnte also nur fünf seiner Ironclads in Aktion bringen bei Fort Donaldson. Ich verstehe. Aber das ist genug, um die Konfederanten zu spüren. Der gesamte Theaterkommandant dort ist ein Typ namens Albert Sidney Johnston. Er ist der Top-General im Westen für die Konferenz.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Und er denkt nicht, dass die Erde und die Pforte den Artilleriefeuer von Union-Fahrzeugen auslösen können. Nichtsdestotrotz beeinflusst er Fort Donaldson. Er sagt also, unsere Truppen werden das nicht halten können. Lasst uns mehr Truppen da hinkriegen. Es ist also ein riesiger strategischer Fehler von einem Mann, der tatsächlich ein ziemlich scharfer General ist.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Sobald Grant dort herkommt und er anfängt, die Pforte zu besiegen, sind die Konfederaten dort eingeschritten. And here come those gunboats steaming up the river and they start this artillery duel with the 11 pieces that are in Fort Donaldson. And lo and behold, the Confederate artillery drives off the five gunboats. It's about an hour and a half, two hour duel.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And the Confederates are able to hold on and damage the gunboats so badly that they have to withdraw and basically aren't a factor.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
He really did. In fact, after he captures Fort Henry, he says, I expect to have Fort Donaldson by the 8th, two days later. Supply issues, issues with the boats. So he's not able to do that, you know, weather works against him. So his men are eventually going to kind of surround that fort and they're going to have to, looks like they're going to have to conduct a siege.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Und das hat tatsächlich ein wirklich schwieriges Problem bei den Union-Soldaten, weil es erst warm wird, nachdem sie Fort Henry begriffen haben. Also lassen sie ihre Klamotten neben der Straße. Sie markieren Fort Donaldson. Und am Abend um die 14 Uhr steigen die Temperaturen in die Einzeldigiten. Da ist drei Inch der Schnee. Und sie haben alle ihre Klamotten und Klamotten hinter sich gelegt.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Sie dürfen keine Feuerzeuge haben, weil es ihre Location gibt. Also ist das Wetter hier wirklich, wirklich schwierig. Erzähl mir über Brigadiergeneral John B. Floyd.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
So, Floyd ist ein politischer Anwalt, er ist ein ehemaliger Staatssekretär der Krieg unter Präsident Buchanan. Er ist derjenige, der tatsächlich eine ganze Menge federalen Installationen der Konfederative übernimmt, bevor er verabschiedet ist. Also, er ist tatsächlich besorgt, dass er, wenn er es jemals erzeugt hat, er von den USA-Gewerkschaften auf Tatsachen von Tatsachen erhoben wird.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
Also, das ist einer der Gründe, weshalb er persönlich wirklich versucht, sich selbst zu halten, um seine eigene Haut zu retten. But he doesn't have a whole lot of military experience, so he's going to lean heavily on his second-in-command Gideon Pillow. Pillow had served in the Mexican War, a long service in the pre-war army, had distinguished himself during the Mexican War.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
But Grant, interestingly enough, knows that if he approaches Fort Donaldson, He doesn't think very highly of Pillow at all. He says, I bet I can get within gunshot range of that fort without them ever shooting at me because Pillow is so meek. So that's the kind of a weird command dynamic that is overseeing the Confederates at this position.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
At first, as I said, the gunboats are supposed to be the stars of the show. That engagement that takes place on the 14th, the federal gunboats are lobbing what become known as Iron Valentines into the fort and the fort's able to resist. Interesting fact here is that one possibility is for the boats to run past the fort.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
and then land troops on the far side where they don't have protection from their guns. Now, we're going to find out in a few minutes that Grant's going to have this grand surrender. He's going to become famous across the country for unconditional surrender. But if the gunboats had captured the fort on the 14th, there isn't the opportunity for that.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
So the fact that the gunboats fail actually allows Grant to then kind of break out as a star in the military world. In what way? What do you mean? He will demand unconditional surrender at the end of this engagement. And that captures newspaper headlines. As you'd mentioned, the union loss at Bull Run is still weighing heavily on people. There have not been a lot of union successes.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And so when he captures this fort, captures an entire Confederate army, does so with bold terms like unconditional surrender, it makes him a national hero. Yeah. Und das war die Entscheidung, dass er das nicht als Siege macht, sondern eher als Angriff machte.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
So, really, events get taken out of his hand, because after the failure of the gunboats, he's going to kind of hunker down, take a look and decide what to do next, and the Confederates are going to break through.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And that's really going to force his hand, and then he's going to do a counterattack that's going to drive the Confederates back into the position, allow him to capture the garrison, and then, of course...
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And Confederates do that because they know if they do get encircled and they are besieged, they'll get starved out. And so their only chance is to break free, try to make a dash at Nashville while they can. Grant's not able to fully encircle the outer defenses of Fort Donaldson. There's the fort itself and then a few hundred yards out in advance there's a set of outer works. Grant can't
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
So just at daylight on the 15th, the Confederates under Gideon Pillow, he's going to lead that breakout, try to push through on the Union right flank to get one of the roads away from the fort. He's looking at Charlotte Road. That's going to provide an opportunity to connect with another road, Wynn's Ferry Road. And these are the roads that are going to lead out to Nashville.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
And Pillow is able to actually drive the Federals back. But there's such poor communication among the commanders between Pillow and Floyd and also between their top subordinate a guy named Simon Bolivar Buckner. They all have a council of war on the night of the 14th where they come up with this plan and they all leave that council of war with different expectations about what's going to happen.
American History Hit
Battle of Fort Donelson
So Pillow, when he breaks through on the 15th, then calls his men back, now we got to get ready to get away. Buckner told most of his men, pack up, we're making a sprint out of here as soon as the doors open. I'll be back with more American History after this short break.