Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

His Opinion concerning Fort Donelson.

231

Had I had time to do this before I made the attack on Fort Donelson, I should have taken it. On Friday we hope to try our hand on Clarksville with four boats and eight mortars. They can not stand it long. I consider that our danger is past, and you need not in the future be at all uneasy. Generals Grant and Smith have been to see me to-day. We are all friendly as brothers; and I have strong faith and hope, under God, that we now shall have victory upon victory.

"I will not describe the scene here—the taking off of twelve thousand prisoners--the dead and wounded on the shore-the bands playing all the while the good spirits and life of our people-the number of steamboats-the battered forts and riddled houses in Dover, etc., etc. I have for you a pair of double heavy rebel blankets. I have also for the boys a double-barreled gun. I am tired; still on crutches, but am getting better. Kisses and love to the children. Affectionately, A. H. F."

There can be no doubt, judging from these letters and other evidences, that Foote truly thought he had with his gun-boats nearly accomplished the subdual of the fort, even as he had done in the case of Fort Henry. He said more than once that within ten or fifteen minutes he would have done it. He probably may have erred in this, since the two cases were not entirely parallel, owing to the greatly superior strength of Fort Donelson, and the much larger army force within its walls. But we have his own opinion in the case distinctly averred, and he was certainly no incompetent judge. He went into the fight, as he says, " against his own judgment." He did not consider his boats ready for the conflict, and the event showed he was right; and, moreover, he had not time to get up his mortar-fleet, which he had confidently depended upon in this second more important and difficult service. On the 11th of February he wrote to Secretary Welles:

"I leave again to-night with the Louisville, Pittsburg, and St. Louis, to co-operate with the army in the attack on Fort Donelson. I go reluctantly, as we are very short of men; and transferring men from vessel to vessel, as we have to do, is having a very demoralizing effect upon them. Twenty-eight men ran off to-day, hearing that they were to be sent out of their vessels. I do hope that the six hundred men will be sent imme

diately. I shall do all in my power to render the gun-boats effective in the fight, although they are not properly manned; but I must go, as General Halleck wishes it. If we could wait ten days, and I had the men, I would go with eight mortar-boats and six armored boats."

If, instead of this thoroughly equipped fleet, with mortarboats to support at a distance and to shell the upper works, and gun-boats for the lower batteries, we remember that he had but four armored boats, and these not well-fitted and manned, we can not cease to wonder at the audacity of the attack. It was truly a sacrifice to a dire war necessity; and the valor and skill with which the fight was made were the only reasons why they were not wholly destroyed.

The orders of General Halleck, which precipitated the gunboat attack, were the two following telegrams:

"February 11, 1862.

"FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE,-You have gained great distinction by the capture of Fort Henry. Every body recognizes your services. Make your name famous in history by the immediate capture of Fort Donelson and Clarksville. The taking of these places is a military necessity. Delay adds strength to them more than to us. Act quickly, even though only half ready. Troops will soon be ready to support you.

66

(Signed) H. W. HALLECK, Major-General."

"February 12, 1862.

"FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE,-Push forward the Cumberland expedition with all possible dispatch. In addition to the land forces at Paducah and on their way from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, I shall send one regiment from here on Thursday, one on Friday, and one on Saturday. Push ahead boldly and quickly. I will give you plenty of support in a few days' time. Now every thing for use. Don't delay an instant. "(Signed) H. W. HALLECK, Major-General."

But other services remained to be done. With a spirit of cheerful alacrity, in spite of disappointments and sufferings, Foote girded himself anew to the work, and we hear of him shortly after farther up the Cumberland, busily issuing proclamations, and zealous to push on to Nashville and the heart of the Southern Confederacy.

CHAPTER XIX.

CAPTURE OF CLARKSVILLE.· -FOOTE'S PROCLAMATION.-NOT PER

MITTED TO TAKE NASHVILLE.-ARMED RECONNOISSANCE

DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI.-FLAG OF TRUCE.

EVACUATION OF COLUMBUS.

THE ablest of the rebel generals who commanded at the Southwest, Albert Sidney Johnston, declared that he "fought for Nashville at Fort Donelson." Commodore Foote was also among the first to perceive the truth of this; and he urged Halleck and Grant, at the moment when the panic occasioned by the fall of the forts was at its height, to send a detachment of troops to Nashville, or to let him go at once with his gunboats. For some reason this request was not complied with by Halleck, and Foote was not suffered to proceed farther than Clarksville, a fortified post some sixty miles north of Nashville. The river was open above this point, and his fleet, carrying with it so formidable a prestige, might easily have taken possession of the important city of Nashville, with its immense amount of military stores, which was not actually taken possession of until the 25th or 27th of February, when it was entered without opposition by an army force under General Buell, accompanied by two gun-boats.

After burning the "Tennessee Iron Works," six miles from Dover, on the 19th of February the commodore, with two gun-boats, ascended the Cumberland to Clarksville, to attack the rebel fort at that place, situated at the mouth of a small stream called Red River; but the report of the commander will best tell the story:

"U. S. FLAG-STEAMER CONESTOGA,' CLARKSVILLE,

TENNESSEE, February 20, 1862.

}

"We have possession of Clarksville. The citizens being alarmed, two thirds of them have fled; and having expressed my views and intentions to the mayor and the Hon. Cave Johnson, at their request I have issued a proclamation, assuring all peaceably disposed persons that they may with safety resume their business avocations, requiring only the military stores and equipments to be given up, and holding the authorities responsible that this shall be done without reservation.

"I left Fort Donelson yesterday, with the Conestoga, Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, and the Cairo, Lieutenant-Commanding Bryant, on an armed reconnoissance, bringing with me Colonel Webster, of the engineer corps, and chief of General Grant's staff, who, with Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, took possession of the principal fort, and hoisted the Union flag. A Union sentiment manifested itself as we came up the river. The rebels have retreated to Nashville, having set fire, against the remonstrances of the citizens, to the splendid railroad bridge across the Cumberland River.

"I return to Fort Donelson to-day for another gun-boat and six or eight mortar-boats, with which I propose to proceed up the Cumberland. The rebels all have a terror of the gun-boats. One of them, a short distance above Fort Donelson, had previously fired an iron rolling-mill belonging to the Hon. John Bell, which had been used by the rebels. "A. H. FOOTE,

"Flag-Officer, commanding Naval Forces, Western Waters.

"The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy."

The proclamation to the citizens of Clarksville was as follows:

"To the Inhabitants of Clarksville, Tennessee.

"At the suggestion of the Hon. Cave Johnson, Judge Wisdom, and the mayor of the city, who called upon me yesterday, after our hoisting of the Union flag and taking possession of the forts, to ascertain my views and intentions toward the citizens and private property, I hereby announce to all peaceably disposed persons that neither in their persons nor in their property shall they suffer molestation by me or the naval force under my command, and that they may in safety resume their business avocations, with the assurance of my protection.

"At the same time, I require that all military stores and army equip

The Proclamation at Clarksville.

235

ments shall be surrendered, no part of them being withheld or destroyed; and further, that no Secession flag, or manifestation of Secession feeling, shall be exhibited; and for the faithful observance of these conditions I shall hold the authorities of the city responsible.

"ANDREW H. FOOTE,

"Flag-Officer, commanding Naval Forces, Western Waters.

"U. S. FLAG-SHIP 'CONESTOGA,' February 20, 1862."

This document is, we think, a model of its kind, exhibiting kindness and firmness, brief, modest, positive, and reminding us of the sharp-cut though courteous letters written by our hero in his diplomatic correspondence on the African coast. He refers with considerable self-satisfaction to his Clarksville visit in a letter of the same date to his wife:

"I have just returned from Clarksville-a beautiful city-where I issued the inclosed proclamation. Old Cave Johnson, who knew my father so well, came to me. The Clarksville affair will do me credit. Give one of the proclamations to Dr. Bacon. I am off to Cairo to-night to procure more gun-boats for Nashville. They are held in terror, and we will easily take it."

He assuredly had reason to feel chagrined at not being permitted to carry into execution his feasible plan in regard to East Tennessee and Nashville. He was, in fact, deeply injured in his feelings at what seemed to be a robbery of that opportunity for fair fame that justly belonged to him; and, more than all, for the injury done to the cause.

leck's peremptory telegram was as follows:

"TO GENERAL GRANT:

General Hal

"Don't let the gun-boats go higher than Clarksville; even then they must limit their operations to the destruction of the bridge, and return immediately to Cairo, leaving one at Fort Donelson. Mortar-boats to be sent back to Cairo as soon as possible.

"H. W. HALLECK, Major-General.

"Official.-S. A. Hurlbut, Brigadier-General U. S. A."

The exact truth of the matter is, when Commodore Foote

« AnteriorContinuar »