Fort Donelson National Battlefield

Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Dover, Tennessee, preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Fort Donelson. The battle concluded the Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign, in which Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral Andrew Hull Foote captured three forts, opened two rivers, and received national recognition for victories in February 1862, the first major Union victories of the war.

History

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 through the state and into Tennessee and beyond. But since Kentucky had declared itself neutral in the conflict, defensive works could not be built within the state without alienating the local population.

Two engineers detached from the 1st Tennessee Infantry, Adna Anderson and William F. Foster, set to work in earnest on May 10, 1861, to find suitable ground just inside the Tennessee border to simultaneously cover the two rivers. They then focused on surveying possible sites along the Cumberland River, looking at the high ridges and deep hollows near the Kentucky border. In mid-May, on the west bank of the river not far below the town of Dover, Anderson laid out the water battery of Fort Donelson twelve miles from the Kentucky line. The new fort was named in honor of Gen. Daniel S. Donelson, 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.

Administrative history

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).

Park today

The park preserves much of the original battle site, including the river batteries and the eroded remains of the fort itself, but the area in which the Confederate States Army assaulted on February 15, 1862, is largely in private hands, occupied by residential development. The Cumberland River was dammed in the 1960s and 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.

Cemetery

Fort Donelson National Cemetery, at 15.34 acres (62,080 m²), contains 670 Union dead, reinterred in 1867. There are also numerous veterans from later wars. The cemetery is presently unavailable for further burials.

Notes

The river landing community of Lineport, Tennessee, was considered before the area near Dover, Tennessee, was selected.
The general was a nephew of Andrew and Rachel Donelson Jackson.
One of the many iron ore furnaces in Stewart County, Tennessee. It was located at present day Carlisle community, 10 miles South of Dover, Tennessee.

References

The National Parks: Index 2001-2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.
Gott, Kendall D., Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry—Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, Stackpole books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6.

External links