February 26-28, 1862: The diary of John B. Jones

As February 1862 came to an end, Confederate war clerk John B. Jones noted the downturn in Confederate fortunes.

February 26th.—Congress, in secret session, has authorized the declaration of martial law in this city, and at some few other places. This might be well under other circumstances; but it will not be well if the old general in command should be clothed with powers which he has no qualifications to wield advantageously. The facile old man will do anything the Secretary advises.

Our army is to fall back from Manassas! The Rappahannock is not to be our line of defense. Of course the enemy will soon strike at Richmond from some direction. I have given great offense to some of our people by saying the policy of permitting men to go North at will, will bring the enemy to the gates of the city in ninety days. Several have told me that the prediction has been marked in the Secretary’s tablets, and that I am marked for destruction if it be not verified. I reply that I would rather be destroyed than that it should be fulfilled.

February 27th.—Columbus is to be evacuated. Beauregard sees that it is untenable with Forts Henry and Donelson in possession of the enemy. He will not be caught in such a trap as that. But he is erecting a battery at Island No. 10 that will give the Yankees trouble. I hope it may stay the catalogue of disasters.

February 28th.—These calamities may be a wholesome chastening for us. We shall now go to work and raise troops enough to defend the country. Congress will certainly pass the Conscription Act recommended by the President.

February 28, 1862: Scrounging gunpowder for C.S.S. Virginia

While the U.S.S. Monitor was forced to turn around and go back to port with a defective rudder, the Confederates were having their own troubles in the race to deploy an operational ironclad in Hampton Roads. On this day 150 years ago, French Forrest, the Confederate commandant of the Gosport navy yard, was frantically scrounging the area for gunpowder for the C.S.S. Virginia's big guns.

COMMANDANT'S OFFICE, DOCKYARD,
Gosport [Norfolk], February 28, 1862.

COLONEL: In reply to your communication of the 27th, I have to inform you that I consider it of vital importance that the Virginia be furnished with as much powder as you can possibly spare. I require 18,000 pounds, of which I have received 1,000 from Richmond. The quantity you can furnish will be wanted at once, as it will take three days to fill the ship's cartridge bags. The messenger is instructed to wait for your reply.

Very respectfully,

F. FORREST,
Flag-Officer and Commandant.

Colonel S.S. ANDERSON,
C.S. Army.

Forrest did not restrict his search for gunpowder to the Confederate Army, and he was not above cannibalizing some of the necessary supply from other Confederate warships, like the C.S.S. United States.

FEBRUARY 28, 1862.

You will be pleased to reserve for the [United] States, under your command, 50 rounds of powder for each gun, and transfer the balance to the Virginia.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

F. FORREST,
Flag-Officer.

Lieutenant Commanding VAN R. MORGAN,
Frigate [United] States.

The C.S.S. United States had originally been commissioned in 1797 as a proud sister ship of the U.S.S. Constitution. Captured by the Confederates with the rest of the Gosport navy yard, the old frigate had been converted to a partially disarmed guard ship and floating barracks. Obviously Forrest felt that the Virginia had a higher need for the gunpowder than the old frigate.

February 28, 1862: U.S.S. Monitor delayed by defective rudder

The U.S.S. Monitor was a revolutionary new kind of ship and was packed with new inventions of every kind. With so much new technology, it was probably inevitable that there would be bugs. On February 28, 1862, the little ironclad left New York City for Fortress Monroe at the entrance to Hampton Roads, only to have to turn back with a defective rudder.

NEW YORK, February 28, 1862.

SIR: The Monitor left the navy yard yesterday morning for Fortress Monroe, but did not proceed far before it was ascertained that the man at the wheel had not sufficient command over the rudder to enable him to steer the vessel, and we returned to the anchorage off the yard, where she now lies.

Captain Ericsson is now multiplying the power of the wheel over the rudder, and will have it ready for another trial by tomorrow night.

I consider that if we can efficiently command the rudder, we can steer the vessel with ease. In this opinion I am not sustained by Commander Worden, who desires me to state to you that he would like to have a board of three officers to accompany us on a trial trip of twenty-four hours, to test the steering qualities of the vessel after the present change is completed.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ALBAN C. STIMERS,
Superintendent.

Commodore JOSEPH SMITH, U.S. Navy,
Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks, Navy Dept., Washington, D.C.

The Union Navy had lost another step in the race to get an operational ironclad into Hampton Roads.

February 27, 1862: The C.S.S. Virginia is almost ready, but lacks ammunition

On this day 150 years ago, the C.S.S. Virginia was more or less complete with the exception of one major detail: she had no ammunition for her big guns. The big 4,000 ton ironclad was armed with two 7-inch Brooke rifles, two 6.4-inch Brooke rifles, and six 9-inch Dahlgren smoothbore guns. Every shot fired from one of these big guns consumed 10-16 pounds of gunpowder. Explosive shells would have required a few more pounds of gunpowder as their explosive filling. The Virginia would require a supply of several thousand pounds of gunpowder before she would be ready to face the Union fleet. French Forrest, commandant of the Gosport navy yard, appealed to Benjamin Huger, the local Confederate Army commander in Norfolk, for a loan of some gunpowder.

COMMANDANTS OFFICE, DOCKYARD,
Gosport [Norfolk], February 27, 1862.

GENERAL: The Virginia is now detained for powder. When it will arrive I am unable to say, and in the present exigency I write to suggest that if you feel authorized to make the transfer from Forts Norfolk and Nelson of the necessary ammunition, it would relieve us greatly and add materially, in my judgment, to the strength of our front and left flank defenses. When the powder for the ship arrives, it will be delivered, or so much as required, to you, to replace that which you may be able to spare me to meet the present emergencies. Very respectfully,

F. FORREST,
Flag-Officer and Commandant.

Major-General HUGER,
Commanding Department of Norfolk.

Out on Hampton Roads, the wooden Union fleet rode at anchor--a tempting target. The only operational Union ironclad on the East Coast was the Monitor, hundreds of miles away in New York harbor. But without ammunition, the Virginia was unable to venture out of Gosport navy yard.

February 26, 1862: The U.S.S. Monitor prepares to get underway

The U.S.S. Monitor was at New York city taking on ammunition for her two 11-inch Dahlgren guns. While reporting the reason for the delay, Superintendent Alban C. Stimers described the new vessel to his superior.

NEW YORK, February 26, 1862.

SIR: The Monitor would have gone to sea this morning, but was detained for her ammunition. At dusk this evening, however, the last shell was snugly stored, and we sail at daylight in the morning, unless the weather prove unfavorable.

The draft of water, taken at the extremes of upper vessel, is: Forward, 9 feet 2 inches; aft, 10 feet 5 inches; mean draft, 9 feet 9 inches. She has 80 tons of coal in the bunkers, which will lighten the stern as it comes out, and I consider it advisable that she shall always trim by the stern at sea, as when a sea breaks over the bow it has to sustain the superincumbent weight of the wave while it rolls across, which, of course, depresses it, and if we trimmed to an even keel in smooth water we would always be down by the head when underway in rough weather.

I have not yet had time to describe her completely to you, and perhaps had better defer it now until called upon by you to give you the list of omissions contemplated in the contract.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ALBAN C. STIMERS,
Superintendent.

Commodore JOSEPH SMITH, U. S. Navy,
Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks, Navy Dept., Washington, D.C.

Drawing less than 11 feet at her deepest point, The Monitor drew about half the water as her future antogonist, the C.S.S. Virginia, which required water more than 21 feet deep to operate. This fact would become significant when the two vessels met in combat.

February 25, 1862: Nashville occupied by Union forces

Thomas A. Scott

On this day 150 years ago Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, fell to advancing Union troops without resistance. Assistant Secretary of War Thomas A. Scott reported to fall of the city in a message to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

NASHVILLE, TENN., February 25, 1862.

Nashville was taken possession of to-day. The mayor, accompanied by committee of citizens, met General Buell this morning on the north bank of the Cumberland. Interview entirely satisfactory to all parties. One gunboat and twelve steamers at the wharf. Troops passing the river in good order.

THOMAS A. SCOTT.

Hon. E. M. STANTON.

It was, perhaps, no coincidence that Thomas A. Scott should be near the front of the Union advance at Nashville. Scott was, in civilian life, a railroad executive and he would play a key role during the war in organizing the Union's railroad logistics. Nashville would become a key Union supply, logistics, and transportation hub during the war. Control of Nashville gave the Union an advanced base in the heart of the Confederacy that could easily be resupplied by rail and riverboat. It's fall without a fight was a disaster for the Confederacy.

February 24, 1862: Franklin Buchanan given command of C.S.S. Virginia

Franklin Buchanan

Captain Franklin Buchanan was a long service veteran of the U.S. Navy. Of his 62 years, 45 had been spent in service to the U.S. Navy. A native of Maryland, Buchanan had resigned his commission when he thought his home state was about to secede. When Maryland failed to secede, Buchanan had tried to withdraw his resignation, only to be declined. It was with some sense of bitterness then that Buchanan had sought employment with the new Confederate Navy, a service with few commands suitable for such a senior officer.

On this day 150 years ago, Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory notified Buchanan that he had been given command of the new ironclad C.S.S. Virginia as well as the various small gunboats of the Confederate James River Squadron. Mallory had extremely high hopes for the new ironclad:

C.S. Navy Department, Richmond, February 24, 1862.

SIR: You are hereby detached from the Office of Orders and Detail and will proceed to Norfolk and report to Flag-Officer Forrest for the command of the naval defenses, James River.

You will hoist your flag on the Virginia, or any other vessel of your squadron, which will, for the present, embrace the Virginia, Patrick Henry, Jamestown, Teaser, Raleigh, and Beaufort.

The Virginia is a novelty in naval construction, is untried, and her powers unknown, and the Department will not give specific orders as to her attack upon the enemy. Her powers as a ram are regarded as very formidable, and it is hoped that you may be able to test them.

Like the bayonet charge of infantry, this mode of attack, while the most distinctive, will commend itself to you in the present scarcity of ammunition. It is one also that may be rendered destructive at night against the enemy at anchor.

Even without guns the ship would be formidable as a ram.

Could you pass Old Point and make a dashing cruise up the Potomac as far as Washington, its effect upon the public mind would be important to the cause.

The condition of our country, and the painful reverses we have just suffered, demand our utmost exertions, and convinced as I am that the opportunity and the means of striking a decided blow for our Navy are now for the first time presented, I congratulate you upon it, and know that your judgment and gallantry will meet all just expectations.

Action—prompt and successful action—now would be of serious importance to our cause, and with my earnest wishes for your success, and for the happiness of yourself, officers, and crew,

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. R. MALLORY, Secretary of Navy.

Mallory admitted that the Virginia was "untried" and a "novelty," but he dreamed of the ship steaming up the Potomac to attack Washington, DC. In fact, the Virginia drew too much water to ever sail up the Potomac and was too unseaworthy to leave the sheltered waters of the Chesapeake. The new Confederate sea monster was effectively limited to the deep but sheltered waters of Hampton Roads.

February 23, 1862: Watching for the Merrimack

On this day 150 years ago, Captain Gershom J. Van Brunt wrote to his friend and commanding officer, Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough. Goldsborough was away with the Burnside Expedition, and had been away longer than planned, so Van Brunt was forwarding some fresh clothing for Goldsborough. Van Brunt was the captain of the U.S.S. Minnesota, normally Goldsborough's flagship, but the big, deep-draft steam frigate had been left behind because she could never have made it over the bar at Hatteras Inlet, and because she was needed to watch for the appearance of the C.S.S. Virginia (which Union men persisted in calling the Merrimack).

U.S.S. MINNESOTA,
Hampton Roads, February 23, 1862.

My DEAR GOLDSBOROUGH: I have this moment learned that the Eastern State is to leave for Hatteras this evening, and I only write this to tell you that we are all well on board and anxiously expecting the long-looked-for Merrimack. We are told that she came out of dock on Monday last and is everything they expected to make her; in other words, a complete success. We are all ready, and the sooner she gives us the opportunity to test her strength the better.

I send you your trunk containing clean clothes for you and Case. There have been several arrivals of troops here within a few days (about 4,000), all of which have been immediately sent to Newport News, as General Wool believes a combined attack will be made upon that point.

I send you all the late papers with your mail, which will give you all the glorious news from the West. I think it rather unfortunate that the Western victory came so immediately after yours, as it had a tendency to throw yours in the shade; however, you will give them some more glorious news soon. I see by last accounts from Hatteras that you are again preparing to be off. If there is anything I can do for you here, it will give me pleasure if you will inform me.

I hope Henry [Van Brunt] executed his mission to Washington to your satisfaction.

Please remember me affectionately to Case and Rowan, and believe me, my dear Goldsborough,

Your friend, truly and affectionately,

VAN BRUNT.

Flag-Officer L.M. GOLDSBOROUGH.

The Union squadron in Hampton Roads was built around five large wooden warships. There were two big 50-gun steam frigates, the Minnesota and the Roanoke, which had been near sisters to the Merrimack before that ship was burned, scuttled, and subsequently converted into an ironclad. There were also two large 44-gun sailing frigates, the Congress and the St. Lawrence. These were older ships with smaller guns than the steam frigates, but they were still considered powerful vessels. The St. Lawrence had smashed and sunk the Confederate privateer Petrel with only a partial broadside earlier in the war.

A third sailing warship, the 24-gun sloop-of-war U.S.S. Cumberland, was the fifth major Union vessel in Hampton Roads. The Cumberland had started life as a 50-gun sailing frigate commissioned in 1842. During the years 1855 to 1857, the Cumberland was taken in hand and converted to a sloop-of-war. During this process, the Cumberland had been razeed, cut down by one deck, and rearmed with fewer, but much heavier cannon. Her 32-pounder guns were replaced by 9-inch Dahlgren guns capable of throwing 90-pound shot. Thus, while only rated a sloop, the Cumberland was in fact a more powerful warship than either the Congress or St. Lawrence.

The Union forces in Hampton Roads believed, or rather hoped, that these five ships with a total of 212 heavy guns would be able to contain the C.S.S. Virginia with her ten heavy guns.

February 22, 1862: The Diary of John B. Jones

After returning from Jefferson Davis' second inaugural, Confederate war clerk John B. Jones penned this dismal entry in his diary:

February 22d.—Such a day! The heavens weep incessantly. Capitol Square is black with umbrellas; and a shelter has been erected for the President to stand under.

I walked up to the monument and heard the Inaugural read by the President. He read it well, and seemed self-poised in the midst of disasters, which he acknowledged had befallen us. And he admitted that there had been errors in our war policy. We had attempted operations on too extensive a scale, thus diffusing our powers which should have been concentrated. I like these candid confessions. They augur a different policy hereafter, and we may hope for better results in the future. We must all stand up for our country.

Mr. Hunter has resigned, and taken his place in the Senate.

February 22, 1862: The Inauguration of Jefferson F. Davis

On this day 150 years ago, Jefferson F. Davis was sworn into office as the President of the Confederate States of America. Davis had previously served as the provisional president, but had won overwhelming re-election under the permanent Confederate Constitution and thus was sworn in a second time, delivering his second inaugural address in less than a year:

Jefferson Davis' Second Inaugural Address

Virginia Capitol, Richmond, February 22, 1862

Fellow-Citizens: On this the birthday of the man most identified with the establishment of American independence, and beneath the monument erected to commemorate his heroic virtues and those of his compatriots, we have assembled to usher into existence the Permanent Government of the Confederate States. Through this instrumentality, under the favor of Divine Providence, we hope to perpetuate the principles of our revolutionary fathers. The day, the memory, and the purpose seem fitly associated.

It is with mingled feelings of humility and pride that I appear to take, in the presence of the people and before high Heaven, the oath prescribed as a qualification for the exalted station to which the unanimous voice of the people has called me. Deeply sensible of all that is implied by this manifestation of the people's confidence, I am yet more profoundly impressed by the vast responsibility of the office, and humbly feel my own unworthiness.

In return for their kindness I can offer assurances of the gratitude with which it is received; and can but pledge a zealous devotion of every faculty to the service of those who have chosen me as their Chief Magistrate.

When a long course of class legislation, directed not to the general welfare, but to the aggrandizement of the Northern section of the Union, culminated in a warfare on the domestic institutions of the Southern States--when the dogmas of a sectional party, substituted for the provisions of the constitutional compact, threatened to destroy the sovereign rights of the States, six of those States, withdrawing from the Union, confederated together to exercise the right and perform the duty of instituting a Government which would better secure the liberties for the preservation of which that Union was established.

Whatever of hope some may have entertained that a returning sense of justice would remove the danger with which our rights were threatened, and render it possible to preserve the Union of the Constitution, must have been dispelled by the malignity and barbarity of the Northern States in the prosecution of the existing war. The confidence of the most hopeful among us must have been destroyed by the disregard they have recently exhibited for all the time-honored bulwarks of civil and religious liberty. Bastiles filled with prisoners, arrested without civil process or indictment duly found; the writ of habeas corpus suspended by Executive mandate; a State Legislature controlled by the imprisonment of members whose avowed principles suggested to the Federal Executive that there might be another added to the list of seceded States; elections held under threats of a military power; civil officers, peaceful citizens, and gentle-women incarcerated for opinion's sake--proclaimed the incapacity of our late associates to administer a Government as free, liberal, and humane as that established for our common use.

For proof of the sincerity of our purpose to maintain our ancient institutions, we may point to the Constitution of the Confederacy and the laws enacted under it, as well as to the fact that through all the necessities of an unequal struggle there has been no act on our part to impair personal liberty or the freedom of speech, of thought, or of the press. The courts have been open, the judicial functions fully executed, and every right of the peaceful citizen maintained as securely as if a war of invasion had not disturbed the land.

The people of the States now confederated became convinced that the Government of the United States had fallen into the hands of a sectinal majority, who would pervert that most sacred of all trusts to the destruction of the rights which it was pledged to protect. They believed that to remain longer in the Union would subject them to a continuance of a disparaging discrimination, submission to which would be inconsistent with their welfare, and intolerable to a proud people. They therefore determined to sever its bonds and establish a new Confederacy for themselves.

The experiment instituted by our revolutionary fathers, of a voluntary Union of sovereign States for purposes specified in a solemn compact, had been perverted by those who, feeling power and forgetting right, were determined to respect no law but their own will. The Government had ceased to answer the ends for which it was ordained and established. To save ourselves from a revolution which, in its silent but rapid progress, was about to place us under the despotism of numbers, and to preserve in spirit, as well as in form, a system of government we believed to be peculiarly fitted to our condition, and full of promise for mankind, we determined to make a new association, composed of States homogeneous in interest, in policy, and in feeling.

True to our traditions of peace and our love of justice, we sent commissioners to the United States to propose a fair and amicable settlement of all questions of public debt or property which might be in dispute. But the Government at Washington, denying our right to self-government, refused even to listen to any proposals for a peaceful separation. Nothing was then left to do but to prepare for war.

The first year in our history has been the most eventful in the annals of this continent. A new Government has been established, and its machinery put in operation over an area exceeding seven hundred thousand square miles. The great principles upon which we have been willing to hazard everything that is dear to man have made conquests for us which could never have been achieved by the sword. Our Confederacy has grown from six to thirteen States; and Maryland, already united to us by hallowed memories and material interests, will, I believe, when able to speak with unstifled voice, connect her destiny with the South. Our people have rallied with unexampled unanimity to the support of the great principles of constitutional government, with firm resolve to perpetuate by arms the right which they could not peacefully secure. A million of men, it is estimated, are now standing in hostile array, and waging war along a frontier of thousands of miles. Battles have been fought, sieges have been conducted, and, although the contest is not ended, and the tide for the moment is against us, the final result in our favor is not doubtful.

The period is near at hand when our foes must sink under the immense load of debt which they have incurred, a debt which in their effort to subjugate us has already attained such fearful dimensions as will subject them to burdens which must continue to oppress them for generations to come.

We too have had our trials and difficulties. That we are to escape them in future is not to be hoped. It was to be expected when we entered upon this war that it would expose our people to sacrifices and cost them much, both of money and blood. But we knew the value of the object for which we struggled, and understood the nature of the war in which we were engaged. Nothing could be so bad as failure, and any sacrifice would be cheap as the price of success in such a contest.

But the picture has its lights as well as its shadows. This great strife has awakened in the people the highest emotions and qualities of the human soul. It is cultivating feelings of patriotism, virtue, and courage. Instances of self-sacrifice and of generous devotion to the noble cause for which we are contending are rife throughout the land. Never has a people evinced a more determined spirit than that now animating men, women, and children in every part of our country. Upon the first call the men flew to arms, and wifes and mothers send their husbands and sons to battle without a murmur of regret.

It was, perhaps, in the ordination of Providence that we were to be taught the value of our liberties by the price which we pay for them.

The recollections of this great contest, with all its common traditions of glory, of sacrifice and blood, will be the bond of harmony and enduring affection amongst the people, producing unity in policy, fraternity in sentiment, and just effort in war.

Nor have the material sacrifices of the past year been made without some corresponding benefits. If the acquiescence of foreign nations in a pretended blockade has deprived us of our commerce with them, it is fast making us a self-supporting and an independent people. The blockade, if effectual and permanent, could only serve to divert our industry from the production of articles for export and employ it in supplying the commodities for domestic use.

It is a satisfaction that we have maintained the war by our unaided exertions. We have neither asked nor received assistance from any quarter. Yet the interest involved is not wholly our own. The world at large is concerned in opening our markets to its commerce. When the independence of the Confederate States is recognized by the nations of the earth, and we are free to follow our interests and inclinations by cultivating foreign trade, the Southern States will offer to manufacturing nations the most favorable markets which ever invited their commerce. Cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, provisions, timber, and naval stores will furnish attractive exchanges. Nor would the constancy of these supplies be likely to be disturbed by war. Our confederate strength will be too great to tempt aggression; and never was there a people whose interests and principles committed them so fully to a peaceful policy as those of the Confederate States. By the character of their productions they are too deeply interested in foreign commerce wantonly to disturb it. War of conquest they cannot wage, because the Constitution of their Confederacy admits of no coerced association. Civil war there cannot be between States held together by their volition only. The rule of voluntary association, which cannot fail to be conservative, by securing just and impartial government at home, does not diminish the security of the obligations by which the Confederate States may be bound to foreign nations. In proof of this, it is to be remembered that, at the first moment of asserting their right to secession, these States proposed a settlement on the basis of the common liability for the obligations of the General Government.

Fellow-citizens, after the struggle of ages had consecrated the right of the Englishman to constitutional representative government, our colonial ancestors were forced to vindicate that birthright by an appeal to arms. Success crowned their efforts, and they provided for the posterity a peaceful remedy against future aggression.

The tyranny of an unbridled majority, the most odious and least responsible form of despotism, has denied us both the right and the remedy. Therefore we are in arms to renew such sacrifices as our fathers made to the holy cause of constitutional liberty. At the darkest hour of our struggle the Provisional gives place to the Permanent Government. After a series of successes and victories, which covered our arms with glory, we have recently met with serious disasters. But in the heart of a people resolved to be free these disasters tend but to stimulate to increased resistance.

To show ourselves worthy of the inheritance bequeathed to us by the patriots of the Revolution, we must emulate that heroic devotion which made reverse to them but the crucible in which their patriotism was refined.

With confidence in the wisdom and virtue of those who will share with me the responsibility and aid me in the conduct of public affairs; securely relying on the patriotism and courage of the people, of which the present war has furnished so many examples, I deeply feel the weight of the responsibilities I now, with unaffected diffidence, am about to assume; and, fully realizing the inequality of human power to guide and to sustain, my hope is reverently fixed on Him whose favor is ever vouchsafed to the cause which is just. With humble gratitude and adoration, acknowledging the Providence which has so visibly protected the Confederacy during its brief but eventful career, to thee, O God, I trustingly commit myself, and prayerfully invoke thy blessing on my country and its cause.

February 21, 1862: Foote presses for advance to Nashville

While Henry W. Halleck sat in St. Louis, prey to his fears of overreaching, Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote and Brigadier Ulysses S. Grant wanted to press the pursuit of the retreating Confederates up the Cumberland River to Tennessee's capital, Nashville. On this day 150 years ago, Foote expressed his frustration with Halleck's interference:

PADUCAH, February 21, 1862.

General Grant and myself consider this a good time to move on Nashville. Six mortar boats and two ironclad steamers can precede the troops and shell the forts. We were about moving for this purpose when General Grant, to my astonishment, received a telegram from General Halleck not to let the gunboats go higher than Clarksville; no telegram sent to me.

The Cumberland is in a good stage of water and General Grant and I believe that we can take Nashville.

Please ask General Halleck if we shall do it. We will talk per telegraph.

Captain Phelps representing me in the office, as I am still on crutches.

A.H. FOOTE,
Flag-Officer.

General CULLUM,
Cairo.

Even on crutches, Andrew H. Foote was more aggressive than Henry W. Halleck.

February 20, 1862: The U.S.S. Monitor undergoes trials

Plan for the U.S.S. Monitor

On this day 150 years ago, the U.S.S. Monitor was undergoing trials of her machinery en route from her builders' yard to the navy yard. The little warship was a complete revolution in design, yet, amazingly enough, she had only been ordered on October 4, 1861. Only 139 days had elapsed from the placement of that order to the point where the ship was a reality steaming downriver to join the Union Navy. Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers of the U.S. Navy, submitted the following report on the Monitor's performance during her trial trip.

NEW YORK, February 20, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to report to you that the ironclad steamer Monitor is at the navy yard.

She left Green Point at 2 p.m. yesterday under steam, but in consequence of the engine builders having set the cut-off valves for backing, instead of her going ahead, we made but slow progress, 40 revolutions per minute of the engines and 3½ knots an hour of the vessel being the maximum performance. The effect of this mistake in the cut-off valves was to admit steam to the cylinder after the piston had performed one half its stroke, so that the consumption of steam was equal to running full stroke; whereas the effect was only one-half what was due to that consumption, without expansion.

There was another difficulty: One of the blower engines had a valve come off its stem, so that during nearly the whole trip only one was in operation.

We came to anchor off the navy yard at 7:30 p.m., and towed her in to the wharf with a towboat this morning.

In the operation of weighing the anchor this morning I found that the windlass will require some alterations to make it efficient. This, I think, must detain us several days, but I have not been able to see Captain Ericsson yet this morning.

From what I have seen thus far I think your estimate of her speed being 6 knots an hour will prove very correct, though Captain Ericsson feels confident of 8.

Aside from the foregoing easily adjusted difficulties, everything was perfectly satisfactory.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ALBAN C. STIMERS, Superintendent.

There remained some minor glitches to be worked out, but the U.S.S. Monitor was nearing completion, and indeed, this same day her commanding officer received orders to bring the little ship to Hampton Roads, Virginia as soon as possible. It remains amazing to me how quickly this new warship was built and placed into active service in just a matter of weeks.

February 20: The Diary of John B. Jones

After two weeks of uncertainty and not keeping up with his diary, Confederate war clerk John B. Jones poured out his feelings in a long diary entry on this date 150 years ago:

February 8-20th.—Such astounding events have occurred since the 8th instant, such an excitement has prevailed, and so incessant have been my duties, that I have not kept a regular journal. I give a running account of them.

Roanoke has fallen before superior numbers, although we had 15,000 idle troops at Norfolk within hearing of the battle. The government would not interfere, and Gen. Huger refused to allow the use of a few thousand of his troops.

But Gen. Wise is safe; Providence willed that he should escape the “man-trap.” When the enemy were about to open fire on his headquarters at Nag’s Head, knowing him to be prostrated with illness (for the island had then been surrendered after a heroic defense), Lieutenants Bagly and Wise bore the general away in a blanket to a distance of ten or fifteen miles. The Yankees would have gladly exchanged all their prisoners for Gen. Wise, who is ever a terror to the North.

Capt. O. Jennings Wise fell, while gallantly cheering his men, in the heat of the battle. A thousand of the enemy fell before a few hundred of our brave soldiers. We lost some 2500 men, for there was no alternative but to surrender.

Capt. Wise told the Yankee officers, who persisted in forcing themselves in his presence during his dying moments, that the South could never be subjugated. They might exterminate us, but every man, woman, and child would prefer death to abject subjugation. And he died with a sweet smile on his lip, eliciting the profound respect of his most embittered enemies.

The enemy paroled our men taken on the island; and we recovered the remains of the heroic Capt. Wise. His funeral here was most impressive, and saddened the countenances of thousands who witnessed the pageant. None of the members of the government were present; but the ladies threw flowers and evergreens upon his bier. He is dead—but history will do him justice; and his example will inspire others with the spirit of true heroism.

And President Tyler is no more on earth. He died after a very brief illness. There was a grand funeral, Mr. Hunter and others delivering orations. They came to me, supposing I had written one of the several biographies of the deceased which have appeared during the last twenty years. But I had written none—and none published were worthy of the subject. I could only refer them to the bound volumes of the Madisonian in the State library for his messages and other State papers. The originals are among my papers in the hands of the enemy. His history is yet to be written—and it will be read centuries hence.

Fort Henry has fallen. Would that were all! The catalogue of disasters I feared and foretold, under the policy adopted by the War Department, may be a long and a terrible one.

The mission of the spies to East Tennessee is now apparent. Three of the enemy’s gun-boats have ascended the Tennessee River to the very head of navigation, while the women and children on its banks could do nothing more than gaze in mute despair. No batteries, no men were there. The absence of these is what the traitors, running from here to Washington, have been reporting to the enemy. Their boats would no more have ventured up that river without the previous exploration of spies, than Mr. Lincoln would dare to penetrate a cavern without torch-bearers, in which the rattle of venomous snakes could be heard. They have ascended to Florence, and may get footing in Alabama and Mississippi!

And Fort Donelson has been attacked by an immensely superior force. We have 15,000 men there to resist, perhaps, 75,000! Was ever such management known before? Who is responsible for it? If Donelson falls, what becomes of the ten or twelve thousand men at Bowling Green?

Jones obviously had not yet gotten the bad news about the fall of Fort Donelson, but his mood accurately reflects the growing sense of loss and panic in the South at this time.

February 19, 1862: Lee recommends pulling back from the coast

The loss of Roanoke Island, followed quickly by the losses of Forts Henry and Donelson, showed how vulnerable exposed Confederate forces on the coast were to sudden concentrations of Union naval forces. On this day 150 years ago, Robert E. Lee advocated pulling exposed Confederate forces back from the coasts in order to concentrate against Union forces when they tried to take truly critical points.

SAVANNAH, GA., February 19, 1862.

Brig. Gen. R.S. RIPLEY,
Commanding, &c., Charleston:

GENERAL: From the progress of the war, it seems plain that the enemy, when ready to move against Charleston, should he select it as a point of attack, will advance in great force. We should therefore be prepared to concentrate rapidly in his front, on the lines that can be best defended, so as to be able to contend to the utmost of our strength. Beyond these lines every preparation should be made to withdraw guns and munitions of war when it becomes necessary or when the route of the enemy renders them valueless in the positions occupied. My object is to ascertain your opinion, whether, without weakening the plan of defense, our lines could be contracted, and exposed or distant points abandoned.

The batteries at Cole's Island, for instance, would not be available, provided the enemy should advance by the Edisto, and, unless arrangements are made to withdraw them, would be lost. If they can be reached in great force by the enemy's gunboats they might be suppressed, and the Stono seized as an avenue of approach. If it is necessary to maintain these batteries, they should be made as strong as possible and their communications rendered practicable in case of a reverse. So at other exposed points.

I am in favor of abandoning all exposed points as far as possible within reach of the enemy's fleet of gunboats and of taking interior positions, where we can meet on more equal terms. All our resources should be applied to those positions. I wish you therefore to review the whole subject, and see what changes or improvements can be made, both as to the importance and strength of the positions retained.

I am, & c., R.E. LEE,
General, Commanding.

February 18, 1862: Ammunition for the C.S.S. Patrick Henry

Early in the war it became apparent that rifled cannon were important for arming warships. Rifled cannon allowed their users to shoot accurately at much greater distances than smoothbore cannon. In the first years of the war both sides met the demand for more rifled cannon by rifling old smoothbore guns. This process also made it necessary to cast new projectiles for the rifled guns and, as with any new technology, mistakes were made and flaws crept into the design of the new ammunition.

On February 18, 1862, George Minor wrote to the commander of the C.S.S. Patrick Henry regarding a consignment of shells for the rifled cannon of that vessel.

Order of the Chief of Office of Ordnance and Hydrography to Commander Tucker, C.S. Navy, commanding C.S.S. Patrick Henry, regarding shells for that vessel, transmitting information from the Inspector of ordnance at Norfolk.

OFFICE OF ORDNANCE AND HYDROGRAPHY, Richmond, Va., February 18, 1862.

SIR: Herewith you will receive a copy of a letter from Commander Fairfax in relation to the shells for rifled 32-pounders sent to City Point for the Patrick Henry.

It appears that Lieutenant Rochelle was misinformed when he stated to you that these shells had been condemned. You will therefore receive the shells on board and use them until others are supplied.

Please communicate this information to Lieutenants Commanding Barney and Webb.

Respectfully, your obedient servant, GEORGE MINOR., Commander, in Charge.

[Enclosure ]

ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, C. S. NAVY YARD, Gosport [Norfolk], Va., February 15, 1862.

SIR: The 100 shells sent to the Patrick Henry via City Point were the very best we have, save those we are preparing for the Merrimack, which, if we have time, will be supplied with those fitted with Tennessee plates, or with heavy leaden packing, as near the Dahlgren pattern as the shells (already cast) will admit of.

The reports as to the results of various trials of the Reed shell, like those sent to the Patrick Henry, are so diverse as to leave us in doubt as to their accuracy. These shells have never, to my knowledge, been condemned. No one pretends that they are as good as either of the other kinds mentioned above, but as it must be some time before we can supply any others it might be well if Captain Tucker would try a few of them with 5 or 6 pound charges, as even their severest critic, Colonel Smith, said they would bear 5 pounds.

Only the scarcity of lead induced me to continue their manufacture after their trial, in comparison with the Dahlgren shell in August last, in which their range was deficient one-quarter of a mile at 22 degrees elevation, with 7 and 8 pound charges. It was also shown conclusively to my mind at that trial that they were not so strong as the others; but as some of each kind broke in or near the gun, other trials were waited for, which have since been made and have shown that where the edges of the wrought-iron cap were left as much as one-eighth of an inch thick they took and kept the rifle motion well. I have enquired as to the thickness of those in question and am informed that they are at least that thick. Many of those which were of less thickness at the edge of the saucer took the rifle motion. It will be remembered by the Bureau that we have been deterred from any experimental firing with rifle guns since August, till authorized by the Department to try the Merrimack guns and projectiles, by the scarcity of powder.

I would remind the Bureau that, in my letter to it of the 6th instant, I requested authority or the direct action of the Bureau to recall to this yard all the shells with leaden bands, having projecting flanges to fit the grooves of the rifle guns, for alteration. This has been proved necessary, by the melting of the lead by the charge in the gun, on such as did not nearly approach the Dahlgren pattern. This recommendation I repeat.

In conclusion, let me hope hereafter to escape the unworthy and undeserved charge of sending ammunition which has been condemned to any Confederate States vessel, or that I may be brought before the proper tribunal.

Respectfully, etc., A. B. FAIRFAX, Inspector of Ordnance.

February 17, 1862: Leroy P. Walker to Judah P. Benjamin

Leroy P. Walker

On February 17, 1862, former Confederate Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker wrote to his successor, Judah P. Benjamin, to offer him some strategis advice in the wake of the loss of Fort Donelson.

TUSCUMBIA, ALA., February 17, 1862.

J.P. BENJAMIN: The Kentucky line of defenses has been lost, with a large part of our army. The line from Memphis to Virginia must now be defended at all hazards. To do this we must have armies at Corinth and Knoxville. To supply these armies, what remains of Johnston's forces, Columbus, the Gulf, the seaboard, and Virginia must be drawn; better lose the seaboard than this line. The Memphis and Charleston Road is the vertebrae of the Confederacy, and there are no troops for its defense. In a week the enemy can threaten it from Eastport, within 8 miles, and Hamburg, within 22 miles, with 50,000 men, unless large forces are immediately sent to its protection. The people will abandon the country to the occupation of the enemy.

With great respect I suggest these views, and urgently ask for immediate action.

L.P. WALKER, Brigadier- General.

Before the war, Walker had breezily offered to wipe up all the spilled blood in any war with his handkerchief: now he knew better.

Judah P. Benjamin

February 17, 1862: C.S.S. Virginia receives her crew

On this day 150 years ago, Lieutenant Morgan, C. S. Navy, commander of the receiving ship C.S.S. United States, was ordered to transfer the crew of the C.S.S. Virginia from their temporary quarters on the receiving ship to their new quarters aboard the new ironclad.

COMMANDANT'S OFFICE, DOCKYARD, Gosport, February 17, 1862.

SIR: You will be pleased to hold the crew of the Virginia in readiness to go on board that ship with their baggage, as an order has been issued to Lieutenant Catesby ap R. Jones for their transfer.

Very respectfully, F. FORREST, Flag- Officer and Commandant.

The C.S.S. United States was the old famous frigate of 1797 vintage that had become an icon of American seapower during the war of 1812. The Union forces that withdrew from the Gosport navy yard in April 1861 had scuttled the old ship, but did not burn her. The Confederates had raised and converted her into a floating barracks and shore defense battery with 19 guns.

February 16, 1862: Lincoln worries about Grant's exposed position

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
February 16, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK, St. Louis, Missouri:

You have Fort Donelson safe, unless Grant shall be overwhelmed from outside; to prevent which latter will, I think, require all the vigilance, energy, and skill of yourself and Buell, acting in full co-operation. Columbus will not get at Grant, but the force from Bowling Green will. They hold the railroad from Bowling Green to within a few miles of Fort Donelson, with the bridge at Clarksville undisturbed. It is unsafe to rely that they will not dare to expose Nashville to Buell. A small part of their force can retire slowly toward Nashville, breaking up the railroad as they go, and keep Buell out of that city twenty days. Meanwhile Nashville will be abundantly defended by forces from all South and perhaps from hers at Manassas. Could not a cavalry force from General Thomas on the upper Cumberland dash across, almost unresisted, and cut the railroad at or near Knoxville, Tennessee? In the midst of a bombardment at Fort Donelson, why could not a gunboat run up and destroy the bridge at Clarksville? Our success or failure at Fort Donelson is vastly important, and I beg you to put your soul in the effort. I send a copy of this to Buell.

A. LINCOLN.

February 16, 1862: Fort Donelson Surrenders!

After the failure of the Confederate breakout on February 15th, John B. Floyd, Gideon Pillow, and Simon B.Buckner came to grips with the hopelessness of their situation. On the night of February 15-16, 1862, the three Confederate brigadiers met in council of war.

General Simon B. Buckner, as the junior officer present, gave his opinion first; assault which would be made by daylight by a vastly superior force. but he further remarked, that as he understood the principal object of the defense of Donelson was to cover the movement of General Albert Sidney Johnston's army from Bowling Green to Nashville, if that movement was not completed he was of opinion that the defense should be continued at the risk of the destruction of the entire force. General Floyd replied that General Johnston's army had already reached Nashville, whereupon General Buckner said that "it would be wrong to subject the army to a virtual massacre, when no good could result from the sacrifice men, when further resistance was unavailing, to obtain the best terms of capitulation possible for them."

Both Generals Floyd and Pillow acquiesced in the opinion. Ordinarily the council would have ended at this point, and the commanding general would have addressed himself to the duty of obtaining terms. he would have called for pen, ink, and paper, and prepared a note for dispatch to the commanding general of the opposite force. But there were circumstances outside the mere military situation which at this juncture pressed themselves into consideration. As this was the first surrender of armed men banded together for war upon the general government, what would the Federal authorities do with the prisoners? This question was of application to all the gentlemen in the council. It was lost to view, however, when General Floyd announced his purpose to leave with two steamers which were to be down at daylight, and to take with him as many of his division as the steamers could carry away.

General Pillow then remarked that there were no two persons in the Confederacy whom the Yankees would rather capture than himself and General Floyd (who had been Buchanan's Secretary of War, and was under indictment at Washington). As to the propriety of his accompanying General Floyd, the latter said, coolly, that the question was one for every man to decide for himself. Buckner was of the same view, and added that as for himself he regarded it as his duty to stay with his men and share their fate, whatever it might be. Pillow persisted in leaving. Floyd then directed General buckner to consider himself in command. Immediately after the council was concluded, General Floyd prepared for his departure. His first move was to have his brigade drawn up. The peculiarity of the step was thati regiment, his regiments were all Virginians. A short time before daylight the two steamboats arrived. Without loss of time the general hastened to the river, embarked with his Virginians, and at an early hour cast loose from the shotime, and safely, he reached Nashville. He never satisfactorily explained upon what principle he appropriated all the transportation on hand to the use of his particular command.

Colonel Forrest was present at the council, and when the final resolution was taken, he promptly announced that he neither could nor would surrender his command. The bold trooper had no qualms upon the subject. He assembled his men, all as hardy as himself, and after reporting once more at headquarters, he moved out and plunged into a slough formed by backwater from the river. An icy crust covered its surface, the wind blew fiercely, and the darkness was unrelieved by a star. There was fearful floundering as the command followed him. At length he struck dry land, and was safe. He was next heard of at Nashville.

General Buckner, who throughout the affair bore himself with dignity, ordered the troops back to their positions and opened communications with General Grant, whose laconic demand of "unconditional surrender," in his reply to General Buckner's overtures, became at once a watchword of the war.

The Third Division was astir very early on the 16th of February. The regiments began to form and close up the intervals between them, the intention being to charge the breastworks south of Dover about breakfast-time. In the midst of the preparation a bugle was heard and a white flag was seen coming from the town toward the pickets. I sent my adjutant-general to meet the flag half-way and inquire its purpose. Answer was returned that General Buckner had capitulated during the night, and was now sending information of the fact to the commander of the troops in this quarter, that there might be no further bloodshed. The division was ordered to advance and take possession of the works and of all public property and prisoners. Leaving that agreeable duty to the brigade commanders, I joined the officer bearing the flag, and with my staff rode across the trench and into the town, till we came to the door of the old tavern already described, where I dismounted. The tavern was the headquarters of General Buckner, to whom I sent my name; and being an acquaintance, I was at once admitted.

I found General Buckner with his staff at breakfast. He met me with politeness and dignity. Turning to the officers at the table, he remarked: "General Wallace, it is not necessary to introduce you to these gentlemen; you are acquainted with them all." They arose, came forward one by one, and gave their hands in salutation. I was then invited to breakfast, which consisted of corn bread and coffee, the best the gallant host had in his kitchen. We sat at the table about an hour and a half, when General Grant arrived and took temporary possession of the tavern as his headquarters. Later in the morning the army marched in and completed the possession.

The one bright point in the disaster for the Confederates was the emergence of Nathan Bedford Forrest as a cavalry commander. Something about the failure of leadership at Fort Donelson triggered a key aspect in Forrest's character, an unwillingness to suffer fools or cowards, regardless of rank. From this point, Forrest will become an increasingly fierce and independent leader of cavalry.

February 15, 1862: The Confederates in Fort Donelson attempt a breakout

Brigadier General Lew Wallace commanded the division in the center of Grant's line at Fort Donelson

On the night of February 14-15, 1862, the trio of senior Confederate brigadier generals in Fort Donelson held a council of war to discuss their situation. Despite the successful repulse of the Union ironclads earlier on the afternoon of the 14th, the three brigadiers decided that they could not hold out in their current position. A decision was made the try and breakout to the east and join forces with Albert Sidney Johnston's forces. Across no-man's-land, the Union troops waited in the darkness while Grant went to consult with Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote aboard Foote's flagship, the ironclad gunboat St. Louis. In the center of Grant's line was the division of Brigadier General Lew Wallace. After the war, Wallace left the following memoir of what occurred when the Confederate troops surged forward before dawn on the morning of February 15, 1862. From "The Capture of Fort Donelson" by Lew Wallace:

In the night the council was recalled, with general and regimental officers in attendance. The situation was again debated, and the same conclusion reached. According to the plan resolved upon, Pillow was to move at dawn with his whole division, and attack the right of the besiegers. General Buckner was to be relieved by troops in the forts, and with his command to support Pillow by assailing the right of the enemy's center. If he succeeded, he was to take post outside the intrenchments on the Wynn's Ferry road to cover the retreat. He was then to act as rear-guard. Thus early, leaders in Donelson were aware of the mistake into which they were plunged. Their resolution was wise and heroic. Let us see how they executed it.

Preparations for the attack occupied the night. The troops for the most part were taken out of the rifle-pits and massed over on the left to the number of ten thousand or more. The ground was covered with ice and snow; yet the greatest silence was observed. It seems incomprehensible that columns mixed of all arms, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, could have engaged in simultaneous movement, and not have been heard by some listener outside. One would think the jolting and rumble of the heavy gun-carriages would have told the story. But the character of the night must be remembered. The pickets of the Federals were struggling for life against the blast, and probably did not keep good watch.

Oglesby's brigade held McClernand's extreme right. Here and there the musicians were beginning to make the woods ring with reveille, and the numbed soldiers of the line were rising from their icy beds and shaking the snow from their frozen garments. As yet, however, not a company had "fallen in." Suddenly the pickets fired, and with the alarm on their lips rushed back upon their comrades. The woods on the instant became alive.

The regiments formed, officers mounted and took their places; words of command rose loud and eager. By the time Pillow's advance opened fire on Oglesby's right, the point first struck, the latter was fairly formed to receive it. A rapid exchange of volleys ensued. The distance intervening between the works on one side and the bivouac on the other was so short that the action began before Pillow could effect a deployment. His brigades came up in a kind of echelon, left in front, and passed "by regiments left into line," one by one, however; the regiments quickly took their places, and advanced without halting. Oglesby's Illinoisans were now fully awake. They held their ground, returning in full measure the fire that they received. The Confederate Forrest rode around as if to get in their rear, and it was then give and taken, infantry against infantry. The semi-echelon movement of the Confederates enabled them, after an interval, to strike W. H. L. Wallace's brigade, on Oglesby's left. Soon Wallace was engaged along his whole front, now prolonged by the addition to his command of Morrison's regiments. The first charge against him was repulsed; whereupon he advanced to the top of the rising ground behind which he had sheltered his troops in the night. A fresh assault followed, but, aided by a battery across the valley to his left, he repulsed the enemy a second time. His men were steadfast, and clung to the brow of the hill as if it were theirs by holy right. An hour passed, and yet another hour, without cessation of the fire. Meantime the woods rang with a monstrous clangor of musketry, as if a million men were beating empty barrels with iron hammers.

Buckner flung a portion of his division on McClernand's left, and supported the attack with his artillery. The enfilading fell chiefly on W. H. L. Wallace. McClernand, watchful and full of resources, sent batteries to meet Buckner's batteries. To that duty Taylor rushed with his Company B; and McAllister pushed his three 24-pounders into position and exhausted his ammunition in the duel. The roar never slackened. Men fell by the score, reddening the snow with their blood. The smoke, in pallid white clouds, clung to the underbrush and tree-tops as if to screen the combatants from each other. Close to the ground the flame of musketry and cannon tinted everything a lurid red. Limbs dropped from the trees on the heads below, and the thickets were shorn as by an army of cradlers. The division was under peremptory orders to hold its position to the last extremity, and Colonel Wallace was equal to the emergency.

It was now 10 o'clock, and over on the right Oglesby was beginning to fare badly. The pressure on his front grew stronger. The "rebel yell," afterward a familiar battle-cry on many fields, told of ground being gained against him. To add to his doubts, officers were riding to him with a sickening story that their commands were getting out of ammunition, and asking where they could go for a supply. All he could say was to take what was in the boxes of the dead and wounded. At last he realized that the end was come. His right companies began to give way, and as they retreated, holding up their empty cartridge-boxes, the enemy were emboldened, and swept more fiercely around his flank, until finally they appeared in his rear. He then gave the order to retire the division.

W. H. L. Wallace from his position looked off to his right and saw but one regiment of Oglesby's in place, maintaining the fight, and that was John A. Logan's 31st Illinois. Through the smoke he could see Logan riding in a gallop behind his line; through the roar in his front and the rising yell in his rear, he could hear Logan's voice in fierce entreaty to his "boys." Near the 31st stood W. H. L. Wallace's regiment, the 11th Illinois, under Lieutenant-Colonel Ransom. The gaps in the ranks of the two were closed up always toward the colors. The ground at their feet was strewn with their dead and wounded; at length the common misfortune overtook Logan. To keep men without cartridges under fire sweeping them front and flank would be cruel, if not impossible; and seeing it, he too gave the order to retire, and followed his decimated companies to the rear. The 11th then became the right of the brigade, and had to go in turn. Nevertheless, Ransom changed front to rear coolly, as if on parade, and joined in the general retirement. Forrest charged them and threw them into a brief confusion. The greater portion clung to their colors, and made good their retreat. By 11 o'clock Pillow held the road to Charlotte and the whole of the position occupied at dawn by the First Division, and with it the dead and all the wounded who could not get away.

Pillow's part of the programme, arranged in the council of the night before, was accomplished. The country was once more open to Floyd. Why did he not avail himself of the dearly bought opportunity, and march his army out?

Without pausing to consider whether the Confederate general could now have escaped with his troops, it must be evident that he should have made the effort. Pillow had discharged his duty well. With the disappearance of W. H. L. Wallace's brigade, it only remained for the victor to deploy his regiments into column and march into the country. The road was his. Buckner was in position to protect Colonel Head's withdrawal from the trenches opposite General Smith on the right; that done, he was also in position to cover the retreat. Buckner had also faithfully performed his task.

On the Union side the situation at this critical time was favorable to the proposed retirement. My division in the center was weakened by the dispatch of one of my brigades to the assistance of General McClernand; in addition to which my orders were to hold my position. As a point of still greater importance, General Grant had gone on board the St. Louis at the request of Flag-Officer Foote, and he was there in consultation with that officer, presumably uninformed of the disaster which had befallen his right. It would take a certain time for him to return to the field and dispose his forces for pursuit. It may be said with strong assurance, consequently, that Floyd could have put his men fairly en route for Charlotte before the Federal commander could have interposed an obstruction to the movement. The real difficulty was in the hero of the morning, who now made haste to blight his laurels. General Pillow's vanity whistled itself into ludicrous exaltation. Imagining General Grant's whole army defeated and fleeing in rout for Fort Henry and the transports on the river, he deported himself accordingly. He began by ignoring Floyd. He rode to Buckner and accused him of shameful conduct. He sent an aide to the nearest telegraph station with a dispatch to Albert Sidney Johnston, then in command of the Department, asseverating, "on the honor of a soldier," that the day was theirs. Nor did he stop at that. The victory, to be available, required that the enemy should be followed with energy. Such was a habit of Napoleon. Without deigning even to consult his chief, he ordered Buckner to move out and attack the Federals. There was a gorge, up which a road ran toward our central position, or rather what had been our central position. Pointing to the gorge and the road, he told Buckner that was his way and bade him attack in force. There was nothing to do but obey; and when Buckner had begun the movement, the wise programme decided upon the evening before was wiped from the slate.

When Buckner reluctantly took the gorge road marked out for him by Pillow, the whole Confederate army, save the detachments on the works, was virtually in pursuit of McClernand, retiring by the Wynn's Ferry road--falling back, in fact, upon my position. My division was now to feel the weight of Pillow's hand; if they should fail, the fortunes of the day would depend upon the veteran Smith.

When General McClernand perceived the peril threatening him in the morning, he sent an officer to me with a request for assistance. This request I referred to General Grant, who was at the time in consultation with Foote. Upon the returning of Oglesby's flank, McClernand repeated his request, with such a representation of the situation that, assuming the responsibility, I ordered Colonel Cruft to report with his brigade to McClernand. Cruft set out promptly. Unfortunately a guide misdirected him, so that he became involved in the retreat, and was prevented from accomplishing his object.

I was in the rear of my single remaining brigade, in conversation with Captain Rawlins, of Grant's staff, when a great shouting was heard behind me on the Wynn's Ferry road, whereupon I sent an orderly to ascertain the cause. The man reported the road and woods full of soldiers apparently in rout. An officer then rode by at full speed, shouting, "All's lost! Save yourselves!" A hurried consultation was had with Rawlins, at the end of which the brigade was put in motion toward the enemy's works, on the very road by which Buckner was pursuing under Pillow's mischievous order. It happened also that Colonel W. H. L. Wallace had dropped into the same road with such of his command as staid by their colors. He came up riding and at a walk, his leg over the horn of his saddle. He was perfectly cool, and looked like a farmer from a hard day's plowing. "Good-morning," I said. "Good-morning," was the reply. "Are they pursuing you?" "Yes." "How far are they behind?" That instant the head of my command appeared on the road. The colonel calculated, then answered: "You will have about time to form line of battle right here." "Thank you. Good-day." "Good-day."

At that point the road began to dip into the gorge; one the right and left there were woods, and in front a dense thicket. An order was dispatched to bring Battery A forward at full speed. Colonel John A. Thayer, commanding the brigade, formed it on the double-quick into line; the 1st Nebraska and the 58th Illinois on the right, and the 58th Ohio, with a detached company, on the left. The battery came up on the run and swung across the road, which had been left open for it. Hardly had it unlimbered, before the enemy appeared, and firing began. For ten minutes or thereabouts the scenes of the morning were reenacted. The Confederates struggled hard to perfect their deployments. The woods rang with musketry and artillery. The brush on the slope of the hill was mowed away with bullets. A great cloud arose and shut out the woods and the narrow valley below. Colonel Thayer and his regiments behaved with great gallantry, and the assailants fell back in confusion and returned to the intrenchments. W. H. L. Wallace and Oglesby re-formed their commands behind Thayer, supplied them with ammunition, and stood at rest waiting for orders. There was then a lull in the battle. Even the cannonading ceased, and everybody was asking, What next?

Just then General Grant rode up to where General McClernand and I were in conversation. He was almost unattended. In his hand there were some papers, which looked like telegrams. Wholly unexcited, he saluted and received the salutations of his subordinates. Proceeding at once to business, he directed them to retire their commands to the heights out of cannon range, and throw up works. Reenforcements were en route, he said, and it was advisable to await their coming. He was then informed of the mishap to the First Division, and that the road to Charlotte was open to the enemy.

In every great man's career there is a crisis exactly similar to that which now overtook General Grant, and it cannot be better described than as a crucial test of his nature. A mediocre person would have accepted the news as an argument for persistence in his resolution to enter upon a siege. had General Grant done so, it is very probable his history would have been then and there concluded. His admirers and detractors are alike invited to study him at this precise juncture. It cannot be doubted that he saw with painful distinctness the effect of the disaster to his right wing. His face flushed slightly. With a sudden grip he crushed the papers in his hand. But in an instant these signs of disappointment or hesitation--as the reader pleases--cleared away. In his ordinary quiet voice he said, addressing himself to both officers, "Gentlemen, the position on the right must be retaken." With that he turned and galloped off.

Seeing in the road a provisional brigade, under Colonel Morgan L. Smith, consisting of the 11th Indiana and the 8th Missouri Infantry, going, by order of General C. F. Smith, to the aid of the First Division, I suggested that if General McClernand would order Colonel Smith to report to me, I would attempt to recover the lost ground; and the order having been given, I reconnoitered the hill, determined upon a place of assault, and arranged my order of attack. I chose Colonel Smith's regiments to lead, and for that purpose conducted them to the crest of a hill opposite a steep bluff covered by the enemy. The two regiments had been formerly of my brigade. I knew they had been admirably drilled in the Zouave tactics, and my confidence in Smith and in George F. McGinnis, colonel of the 11th, was implicit. I was sure they would take their men to the top of the bluff. Colonel Cruft was put in line to support them on the right. Colonel Ross, with his regiments, the 17th and 49th, and the 46th, 57th, and 58th Illinois, were put as support on the left. Thayer's brigade was held in reserve. These dispositions filled the time till about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when heavy cannonading, mixed with a long roll of musketry, broke out over on the left, whither it will be necessary to transfer the reader.

The veteran in command on the Union left had contented himself with allowing Buckner no rest, keeping up a continual sharp-shooting. Early in the morning of the 14th he made a demonstration of assault with three of his regiments, and though he purposely withdrew them, he kept the menace standing, to the great discomfort of his vis-a-vis. With the patience of an old soldier, he waited the pleasure of the general commanding, knowing that when the time came he would be called upon. During the battle of the gunboats he rode through his command and grimly joked with them. He who never permitted the slightest familiarity from a subordinate, could yet indulge in fatherly pleasantries with the ranks when he thought circumstances justified them. He never for a moment doubted the courage of volunteers; they were not regulars--that was all. If properly led, he believed they would storm the gates of his Satanic Majesty. Their hour of trial was now come.

From his brief and characteristic conference with McClernand and myself, General Grant rode to General C. F. Smith. What took place between them is not known, further than that he ordered an assault upon the outworks as a diversion in aid of the assault about to be delivered on the right. General Smith personally directed his chiefs of brigade to get their regiments ready. Colonel John Cook by his order increased the number of his skirmishers already engaged with the enemy.

Taking Lauman's brigade, General Smith began the advance. They were under fire instantly. The guns in the fort joined in with the infantry who were at the time in the rifle-pits, the great body of the Confederate right wing being with General Buckner. The defense was greatly favored by the ground, which subjected the assailants to a double fire from the beginning of the abatis. The men have said that "it looked too thick for a rabbit to get through." General Smith, on his horse, took position in the front and center of the line. Occasionally he turned in the saddle to see how the alignment was kept. For the most part, however, he held his face steadily toward the enemy. He was, of course, a conspicuous object for the sharp-shooters in the rifle-pits. The air around him twittered with minie-bullets. Erect as if on review, he rode on, timing the gait of his horse with the movement of his colors. A soldier said: "I was nearly scared to death, but I saw the old man's white mustache over his shoulder, and went on."

On to the abatis the regiments moved without hesitation, leaving a trail of dead and wounded behind. There the fire seemed to get trebly hot, and there some of the men halted, whereupon, seeing the hesitation, General Smith put his cap on the point of his sword, held it aloft, and called out, "No flinching now, my lads? - Here -this the way! Come on!" He picked a path through the jagged limbs of the trees, holding his cap all the time in sight; and the effect was magical. The men swarmed in after him, and got through in the best order they could - not all of them, alas! On the other side of the obstruction they took the semblance of re-formation and charged in after their chief, who found himself then between the two fires. Up the ascent he rode; up they followed. At the last moment the keepers of the rifle-pits clambered out and fled. The four regiments engaged in the feat - the 25th Indiana, and the 2d, 7th, and 14th Iowa - planted their colors on the breastwork. Later in the day, Buckner came back with his division; but all his efforts to dislodge Smith were vain.

We left my division about to attempt the recapture of the hill, which had been the scene of the combat between Pillow and McClernand. If only on account of the results which followed that assault, in connection with the heroic performance of General C. F. Smith, it is necessary to return to it.

Riding to my old regiments, - the 8th Missouri and the 11th Indiana, - I asked them if they were ready. They demanded the word of me. Waiting a moment for Morgan L. Smith to light a cigar, I called out, "Forward it is, then!" They were directly in front of the ascent to be climbed. Without stopping for his supports, Colonel Smith led them down into a broad hollow, and catching sight of the advance, Cruft and Ross also moved forward. As the two regiments began the climb, the 8th Missouri slightly in the lead, a line of fire ran along the brow of the height. The flank companies cheered while deploying as skirmishers. Their Zouave practice proved of excellent service to them. Now on the ground, creeping when the fire was hottest, running when it slackened, they gained ground with astonishing rapidity, and at the same time maintained a fire that was like a sparkling of the earth. For the most part the bullets aimed at them passed over their heads and took effect in the ranks behind them. Colonel Smith's cigar was shot off close to his lips. He took another and called for a match. A soldier ran and gave him one. "Thank you. Take your place now. We are almost up," he said, and, smoking, spurred his horse forward. A few yards from the crest of the height the regiments began loading and firing as they advanced. The defenders gave way. On the top there was a brief struggle, which was ended by Cruft and Ross with their supports.

The whole line then moved forward simultaneously, and never stopped until the Confederates were within the works. There had been no occasion to call on the reserves. The road to Charlotte was again effectually shut, and the battle-field of the morning, with the dead and wounded lying where they had fallen, was in possession of the Third Division, which stood halted within easy musket-range of the rifle-pits. It was then about half-past 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I was reconnoitering the works of the enemy preliminary to charging them, when Colonel Webster, of General Grant's staff, came to me and repeated the order to fall back out of cannon range and throw up breastworks. "The general does not know that we have the hill," I said. Webster replied: "I give you the order as he gave it to me." "Very well," said I, "give him my compliments, and say that I have received the order." Webster smiled and rode away. The ground was not vacated, though the assault was deferred. In assuming the responsibility, I had no doubt of my ability to satisfy General Grant of the correctness of my course; and it was subsequently approved.

When night fell, the command bivouacked without fire or supper. Fatigue parties were told off to look after the wounded; and in the relief given there was no distinction made between friend and foe. The labor extended through the whole night, and the surgeons never rested. By sunset the conditions of the morning were all restored. The Union commander was free to order a general assault next day or resort to a formal siege.

A great discouragement fell upon the brave men inside the works that night. Besides suffering from wounds and bruises and the dreadful weather, they were aware that though they had done their best they were held in a close grip by a superior enemy. A council of general and field officers was held at headquarters, which resulted in a unanimous resolution that if the position in front of General Pillow had not been reoccupied by the Federals in strength, the army should effect its retreat. A reconnoissance was ordered to make the test. Colonel Forrest conducted it. He reported that the ground was not only reoccupied, but that the enemy were extended yet farther around the Confederate left.

As a result of their own confusion, by nightfall the Confederates were back in the trap that Fort Donelson had become, and along the portion of the front held by C.F. Smith's division, the Union had advanced deep into the Confederate position.

Map Credits: Hal Jespersen via Wikipedia.

February 14, 1862: "Executive Order No. 1, Relating To Political Prisoners."

On February 14, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln attempted to explain the extraordinary measures he had undertaken to preserve the Union.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 1, RELATING TO POLITICAL PRISONERS.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, February 14,1862.

The breaking out of a formidable insurrection based on a conflict of political ideas, being an event without precedent in the United States, was necessarily attended by great confusion and perplexity of the public mind. Disloyalty before unsuspected suddenly became bold, and treason astonished the world by bringing at once into the field military forces superior in number to the standing army of the United States.

Every department of the government was paralyzed by treason. Defection appeared in the Senate, in the House of Representatives, in the Cabinet, in the Federal courts; ministers and consuls returned from foreign countries to enter the insurrectionary councils of land or naval forces; commanding and other officers of the army and in the navy betrayed our councils or deserted their posts for commands in the insurgent forces. Treason was flagrant in the revenue and in the post-office service, as well as in the Territorial governments and in the Indian reserves.

Not only governors, judges, legislators, and ministerial officers in the States, but even whole States rushed one after another with apparent unanimity into rebellion. The capital was besieged and its connection with all the States cut off. Even in the portions of the country which were most loyal, political combinations and secret societies were formed furthering the work of disunion, while, from motives of disloyalty or cupidity or from excited passions or perverted sympathies, individuals were found furnishing men, money, and materials of war and supplies to the insurgents' military and naval forces. Armies, ships, fortifications, navy yards, arsenals, military posts, and garrisons one after another were betrayed or abandoned to the insurgents.

Congress had not anticipated, and so had not provided for, the emergency. The municipal authorities were powerless and inactive. The judicial machinery seemed as if it had been designed, not to sustain the government, but to embarrass and betray it.

Foreign intervention, openly invited and industriously instigated by the abettors of the insurrection, became imminent, and has only been prevented by the practice of strict and impartial justice, with the most perfect moderation, in our intercourse with nations.

The public mind was alarmed and apprehensive, though fortunately not distracted or disheartened. It seemed to be doubtful whether the Federal Government, which one year before had been thought a model worthy of universal acceptance, had indeed the ability to defend and maintain itself.

Some reverses, which, perhaps, were unavoidable, suffered by newly levied and inefficient forces, discouraged the loyal and gave new hopes to the insurgents. Voluntary enlistments seemed about to cease and desertions commenced. Parties speculated upon the question whether conscription had not become necessary to fill up the armies of the United States.

In this emergency the President felt it his duty to employ with energy the extraordinary powers which the Constitution confides to him in cases of insurrection. He called into the field such military and naval forces, unauthorized by the existing laws, as seemed necessary. He directed measures to prevent the use of the post-office for treasonable correspondence. He subjected passengers to and from foreign countries to new passport regulations, and he instituted a blockade, suspended the writ of habeas corpus in various places, and caused persons who were represented to him as being or about to engage in disloyal and treasonable practices to be arrested by special civil as well as military agencies and detained in military custody when necessary to prevent them and deter others from such practices. Examinations of such cases were instituted, and some of the persons so arrested have been discharged from time to time under circumstances or upon conditions compatible, as was thought, with the public safety.

Meantime a favorable change of public opinion has occurred. The line between loyalty and disloyalty is plainly defined. The whole structure of the government is firm and stable. Apprehension of public danger and facilities for treasonable practices have diminished with the passions which prompted heedless persons to adopt them. The insurrection is believed to have culminated and to be declining.

The President, in view of these facts, and anxious to favor a return to the normal course of the administration as far as regard for the public welfare will allow, directs that all political prisoners or state prisoners now held in military custody be released on their subscribing to a parole engaging them to render no aid or comfort to the enemies in hostility to the United States.

The Secretary of War will, however, in his discretion, except from the effect of this order any persons detained as spies in the service of the insurgents, or others whose release at the present moment may be deemed incompatible with the public safety.

To all persons who shall be so released, and who shall keep their parole, the President grants an amnesty for any past offences of treason or disloyalty which they may have comminuted.

Extraordinary arrests will hereafter be made under the direction of the military authorities alone.

By order of the President EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.