Chris Makowski (3:27)

Don. I'm delighted to be here. Thanks for having me.

Don Wildman (3:30)

I found myself staring at a map with this one, studying the geography. We should explain what's at stake here, Chris. Kentucky, which has remained with the Union, has two major rivers that connect with the Ohio. Head due south on these rivers, you end up going into Confederate Tennessee. Control them, the Tennessee and the Cumberland, you got a straight shot into other states to the south, like Mississippi and Alabama. But it's ultimately Nashville that's in the crosshairs of the Union, isn't it?

Chris Makowski (3:59)

It is. Nashville is important because it's a huge manufacturing area for the Confederacy. It's very close to the Northern frontier of the Confederacy, too. So from a Northern perspective, that's easy pickings. If you can get into that, you can capture a Confederate state capitol and you can cripple their manufacturing capabilities. And so there are lots of different reason and of course, just the morale boost of being able to say that you've captured a state capital in the Confederacy.

Don Wildman (4:25)

When you look at this geography, it's all about the rivers, isn't it?

Chris Makowski (4:28)

So the rivers really act as waterway highways deep into the heart of the Confederacy. As you point out, if you get into the Tennessee river in particular, you can go south all the way through Tennessee, down toward Mississippi, into Alabama, circle back up into eastern Tennessee. So these waterways really go deep into the Confederacy in ways that you can't easily get to by road, but you can certainly sail right in steam. Right in, I should say.

Don Wildman (4:55)

When we think of the Civil War, of course, we think of these major armies. I mean, this was the big thing about this, these huge armies moving around our country. But the fact is there was actually advanced use of waterways in those days. And the rivers especially there was a navy essentially for the Union that the Confederacy couldn't match.

Chris Makowski (5:13)

And the north is trying to figure out how to use that Navy. Their Navy is a big blue water navy. And now we've got what called brown water operations in the rivers. And so the army, the Navy, like, who's in charge here? How do we do this? Who's responsible for outfitting these ships, supplying them? Where do the men come from? And the Union has to invent all of this stuff. The south does too, but they have far less infrastructure in order to pull something together. So they're constantly kind of stealing and snatching from Northern technology as the north leapfrogs ahead. That's going to become a huge component here because as the army and Navy get their act together, that's going to be a huge component for Ulysses S. Grant's success in this campaign and throughout the war.

Don Wildman (5:57)

Yeah, right. So let's remind ourselves where we're at right now. Early days in the war, as I say, the last major clash between the Union and the Confederacy was Bull Run back in July, which was a huge wake up call for the Union. A major loss that this was going to require a real army and a larger strategy that includes a western campaign. And that would eventually be led by Grant. February 6, 1862, the Union takes Fort Henry on the Tennessee river fairly easily. Take us from that moment onward?

Chris Makowski (6:27)

Sure. So Henry and Donaldson are actually placed where they're at because up to that point, Kentucky had started the war as a neutral state. So that's as far north in its frontier that the Confederacy can put some forts without violating that neutrality. Now, the Confederates will eventually violate that neutrality. Grant will then try to take Paducah, Kentucky. So there'll be some back and forth in 1861 that sort of gets overlooked out here in the West. But as Grant then looks at these waterways, we've talked about kind of stepping down into the Confederacy. What he wants to do is first come down the Tennessee river, take Fort Henry, and then after that, skip across to get Fort Donelson. They're only separated by about 12 miles of land, but to get there river wise, you have to go all the way back down river on the Tennessee, upriver on the Ohio, then upriver on the Cumberland. Grant's got good cooperation from his partner, Flag Officer Andrew Foote. And so Foote is instrumental in capturing Fort Henry. He's able to do it basically through a bombardment and the use of flood waters, which floods out the Confederates. So then Grant said, all right, well, what we're going to do now is go over to Donaldson, try the same thing again. And so Foote's going to have to then follow that waterway up and around and come down and attack Fort Donelson from the riverside. While Grant marches overland to surround the fort from the land side. And using the same sort of plan that was so successful at Henry, they're going to repeat that at Donaldson and try to take the.

Don Wildman (7:50)

But that's the geography question I have. Even though it's just 12 miles, that's a long way. And so do they have to take the boats back up to the top and then come down the other river? Is that the idea?

Chris Makowski (8:00)

They do. And Foote also has to have some repairs done to some of his ships. So he's only able to bring five of his ironclads into action at Fort Donelson. But that's enough to spook the Confederates. The overall theater commander there is a guy named Albert Sidney Johnston. He's the top general in the west for the Confederacy. And he doesn't think that earthen forts can withstand the artillery fire from Union boats. Despite that, he reinforces Fort Donelson. So basically he's saying, oh, our troops aren't going to be able to hold this. Let's put more troops there. So it's a huge strategic mistake from a man who's really actually a pretty sharp general. So by the time Grant gets there and he starts to surround the forts, Confederates are trapped in there. And here come those gunboats steaming up the river, and they start this artillery duel with the 11 pieces that are in Fort Donelson. And lo and behold, the Confederate artillery drives off the five gunboats. It's about an hour and a half, two hour duel. And the Confederates are able to hold on and damage the gunboats so badly that they have to withdraw and basically aren't a factor.

Don Wildman (9:09)

It has to do with the elevation, doesn't it? Fort Henry was very low, and so those gunboats could sort of take direct aim at the. At the installation. But over here at Fort Donelson is a much higher elevation. So they're shooting down at those gunboats and vice versa. The gunboats have difficulty as they get closer to even getting up to them. So that's really the difference between that. Grant was expecting a pretty easy walk here, wasn't he? He said this would be taken in two days.

Chris Makowski (9:35)

He really did. In fact, after he captures Fort Henry, he says, I expect to have Fort Donaldson by the 8th two days later, supply issues, issues with the boats. So he's not able to do that. You know, weather works against him. So his men are eventually going to kind of surround that fort and they're going to have to. Looks like they're going to have to conduct a siege.

Don Wildman (9:53)

Yeah, this is cold weather to remember we're in February, even though it's Tennessee. I mean, Tennessee is cold in February. So this is really hard to manage. But it gets really dicey with the weather. It makes all those roads knee deep in mud. You know, all that kind of stuff that we deal with throughout the war really starts to manifest here.

Chris Makowski (10:12)

And that, that actually has a real tricky problem on the Union soldiers because it gets warm at first after they capture Fort Henry. So they leave their blankets stacked up next to the road, they march to Fort Donaldson. And the night of the 14th, temperatures get down into the single digits. There's three inches of snow and they've left all their coats and blankets behind.

Don Wildman (10:29)

There you go.

Chris Makowski (10:30)

They're not allowed to have fires because it gives away their location. So weather is really, really tricky.

Don Wildman (10:35)

Talk to me about Brigadier General John B. Floyd. He's appointed the commander of Fort Donelson. He does not believe any kind of retreat is necessary. He digs in here.

Chris Makowski (10:45)

So Floyd is a political appointee. He's a former Secretary of War under President Buchanan. He's the one who actually turns over a whole bunch of federal installations to the Confederacy before he resigns. So he's actually worried that if he's ever captured, he's going to be brought up on charges of treason to the United States government. So that's one reason why personally, he's really trying to hold out to save his own skin. But he doesn't have a whole lot of military experience. So he's going to lean heavily on his second in command, Gideon Pillow. Pillow had served in the Mexican War, long service in the pre war army, had distinguished himself during the Mexican War. But Grant, interestingly enough, knows that if he approaches Fort Donelson, he doesn't think very highly of Pillow at all. He says, I bet I can get within gunshot range of that fort without them ever shooting at me. Because Pillow is so meek. So that's the kind of a weird command dynamic that is overseeing the Confederates at this position.

Don Wildman (11:40)

I just want to give people the parameters here. We're talking about a big engagement. I mean, in total, there's 40,000 or so forces between these two sides. 25. Upwards of 25,000 for the Union, 17,000 for the Confederates. This is a major battle we're talking about. Action really happens between February 13th and the 16th of 1862. Of course, there's days on either side of that that go on. But it begins, as we say, with an engagement of the gunboats Coming upriver, approaching that first clash sort of kicks things off. Take us through these days as they happen, with Grant's thinking tactically as to how he's gonna adjust.

Chris Makowski (12:19)

Yeah, at first, as I said, the gunboats are supposed to be the stars of the show. That engagement that takes place on the 14th, the federal gunboats are lobbing what become known as iron valentines into the fort, and the fort's able to resist. Interesting fact here is that one possibility is for the boats to run past the fort and then land troops on the far side where they don't have protection from their guns. Now, we're going to find out in a few minutes that Grant's going to have this. This grand surrender. He's going to become famous across the country for unconditional surrender. But if the gunboats had captured the Fort on the 14th, there isn't the opportunity for that. So the fact that the gunboats fail actually allows Grant to kind of break out as a star in the military world.

Don Wildman (13:07)

In what way? What do you mean?

Chris Makowski (13:09)

He will demand unconditional surrender at the end of this engagement. And that captures newspaper headlines. As you'd mentioned, the Union loss at Bull Run is still weighing heavily on people. There have not been a lot of Union successes. And so when he captures this fort, captures an entire Confederate army, does so with bold terms like unconditional surrender. It makes him a national hero. If that surrender had happened two days sooner, there wouldn't have been that opportunity because it would have been the navy that had achieved the success.

Don Wildman (13:37)

And this was the decision that he makes to not make this a siege, but rather to attack.

Chris Makowski (13:43)

So really, events get taken out of his hand because after the failure of the gunboats, he's going to kind of hunker down, take a look, and decide what to do next. And the Confederates are going to break through, and that's really going to force his hand. And then he's going to do a counter attack that's going to drive the Confederates back into the position, allow him to capture the garrison, and then, of course, demand their unconditional surrender.

Don Wildman (14:07)

Because later on. I mean, much later on next year, we're talking about Vicksburg, and that becomes an extended siege. Very famously. It's just a cruel bombardment of this place that Grant oversees. So that could very well have happened here in some form, but rather, it takes a different turn, because, as you say, The Confederates on February 15th drive the Union back from their positions, a place called Dudley Hill.

Chris Makowski (14:33)

And Confederates do that because they know if they do get encircled and they are besieged. They'll get starved out. And so their only chance is to break free, try to make a dash at Nashville while they can. Grant's not able to fully encircle the outer defenses of Fort Donelson. There's the fort itself, and then, you know, a few hundred yards out in advance, there's a set of outer works. Grant can't fully wrap around them to put his left flank on the river on one side and his right flank on the river on the other side, because he doesn't have enough men and because there are streams and marshy areas on either flank. So that's why the Confederates think like, well, gosh, if we can just push him back a little bit, we can get through one of these kind of openings and make our escape. And that's why they're kind of looking for that opportunity.

Don Wildman (15:17)

And the Confederates gain a lot of ground, but. But oddly, their commanders. And tell me, who makes this decision. Send them back to their earthenworks after this day of battle, giving up the ground or at least ceding it back to the Union should they decide to take it.

Chris Makowski (15:33)

So just at daylight on the 15th, the Confederates under Gideon Pillow, he's going to lead that breakout, try to push through on the Union right flank to get one of the roads away from the fort. He's looking at Charlotte Road that's going to provide an opportunity to connect with another road, Winds Ferry Road. And these are the roads that are going to lead out to. To Nashville. And Pillow's able to actually drive the Federals back. But there's such poor communication among the commanders between Pillow and Floyd and also between their top subordinate, a guy named Simon Bolivar Buckner. They all have a council of war on the night of the 14th where they come up with this plan, and they all leave that council of war with different expectations about what's going to happen. So Pillow, when he breaks through on the 15th, then calls his men back. Now we got to get ready to get away. Buckner told most of his men, pack up. We're like making a sprint out of here as soon as the doors open. Floyd is generally not invested enough to be hands on with what's going on, and so he's not providing any sort of leadership. And so after Pillow has this success, there's this great opening, and that's when Grant's able to close that door and launch that counterattack of his own.

Don Wildman (16:47)

I'll be back with more American history after this short break.

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Chris Makowski (18:05)

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Don Wildman (18:50)

This is the tactical advantage of a grant, isn't it? He is able to keep his head cool under these circumstances. Sort of check himself as to what, you know, might another commander might react in retreat or something like that. He can see down the road. He can see the next day. Don't worry, we're going to take it back. That being said, that was a big surprise that the Confederates didn't continue on, didn't push forward, isn't it?

Chris Makowski (19:13)

There are all sorts of reasons why this is and isn't surprising, which sounds so ambivalent in a lot of different ways. Federals aren't entirely surprised because they do have pickets out there on Dudley Hill and because it was so cold the night before. These guys aren't sleeping, they're just kind of trying to move around, stay awake, stay alert so they see the Confederates coming So they're not caught off guard that way. Grant is kind of caught off guard, though, because he actually leaves the battlefield on the night of the 14th to go consult with Foote. And he doesn't designate someone to be in charge in his absence. It never occurs to him that the Confederates might launch an attack. So he tells his three division commanders, his three top subordinates, don't do anything that will bring on a general engagement. I'll be back. So these guys are really left without someone to be in charge. Grant's gone. Confederates launch this attack on the 15th. He comes back to the battlefield, told, hurry up, hurry up. He gets there. One of his top subordinates is a guy named John McClernand, a political appointee from Illinois. And McClernand is beside himself. And he says, this army needs a head, and his men are the ones who've been really kind of attacked in this flank attack. And as you point out, Grant is very calm, cool, and he starts giving orders to make sure the men have the supplies they need, make sure that they are armed with enough ammunition. And then he turns to, Once he gets that under control, he then turns to one of his other subordinates, Charles Francis Smith, and says, I want you to launch an attack against the Confederate position. If they're distracted over here on our right, they're going to be vulnerable on their left or on our left. Launch that attack and go. And so Grant very coolly comes into this. But he's learning, you know, this is a mistake on his part. He won't repeat it again. And so he's going to take these lessons and improve.

Don Wildman (21:05)

Yeah, this is the quartermaster. Grant beginning to become the attacking general.

Chris Makowski (21:11)

Yeah, exactly.

Don Wildman (21:12)

He understands supply lines and all the logistics of war like no other American Union general did. And so that really makes him emerge in the heat of battle, for sure.

Chris Makowski (21:23)

He's got a really good sense of psychological insight, too, because even though McClernand is frazzled and his men have been driven off of their position, he realizes that the Confederates have likewise been confused by their victory. It had happened to Grant at Belmont in the fall of 81, and he realized it's happening to the Confederates now. And he says, whoever attacks first is going to win now, and the enemy's gotta be in an awful big hurry if they're gonna beat me. And that's why he launches that counterattack, knowing that he has the psychological advantage at this point.

Don Wildman (21:58)

So that's how the day ends on the 15th. As the day opens on the 16th, what are the Confederates planning? To do so.

Chris Makowski (22:04)

The Confederates at this point realize their opportunities to break out have been closed off. The Federals are now on guard. They have taken away any opportunity for escape. And so now the commanders are really looking out for themselves as well as for their garrison. So, of course, Floyd is like, I can't stay here. I'm going to get arrested. He hops on a steamship and flees, turning command over to Pillow. Pillow doesn't want the indignity of surrender, so he's going to actually take a few hundred of his guys, make an escape that's going to then have command devolve onto Simon Bolivar Buckner. And Buckner's like, you know, I've been, why do I get this awful job? And it's going to fall to Buckner to surrender. The other key component in the Confederate command structure here is Nathan Bedford Forrest, their cavalry commander. And I'm sure you'll talk about him a lot over your podcast.

Don Wildman (22:55)

Very famous guy.

Chris Makowski (22:56)

Yeah, very famous guy. And he basically says, I didn't come to Fort Donelson to lose my entire command. So he's going to take seven or 800 of his horsemen, they're going to escape through a swampy area, water up, you know, to the. To the boots as they're riding their horses, and through freezing cold water, and they're going to escape. And that leaves Buckner basically behind to surrender with about 13,000 guys.

Don Wildman (23:21)

13,000. This always amazes me with the Civil War. Like, these are massive amounts of people. And what do you do with 13,000 people who give up? You know, you got to march them somewhere. This is an untold part of Civil War that I would love to do an episode on. What do you do with the prisoners of war?

Chris Makowski (23:39)

The logistics are incredible, you know, because you don't have enough gunboats to transport them out. You don't have enough transport ships to train them out. There's no railroad nearby that we can just hop them all on and conveniently get them into Union territory. So what the Federals will actually do is institute a parole system where you pledge, if you're a prisoner, you pledge on your word of honor that you will not take up arms until you have been exchanged, and you will get formally notified that you have been exchanged. So basically, you will be traded for someone of equal rank from the other side. And so they'll start issuing parole slips for these guys.

Don Wildman (24:13)

Over what period of time?

Chris Makowski (24:14)

It could take weeks. Usually it took months. The commander of Fort Henry, for instance, Lloyd Tillman, he gets captured at Fort Henry. He's going to be a prisoner of war held at Fort Warren in Boston until about August. And he'll be traded for a Union general, John Reynolds, who was captured outside of Richmond during the seven days. Reynolds had only been a prisoner there about a month and a half. So it just depends on finding someone of equal rank that you can betray them for.

Don Wildman (24:40)

White flags go up. The Union troops are surprised to see them. Glad, I'm sure. But they're being flown by Buckner's people, you know, his troops. Which opens up a very interesting encounter, very telling in the war between two men who know each other. Buckner and Grant from previous days talk about that encounter.

Chris Makowski (25:00)

Yeah, it's, I think, just a really great example of how these men knew each other. They were friends waging war as professionals, but their friendship still underlies a lot of these relationships. So when Buckner surrenders eventually, you know, and he's hoping for good terms from Grant because he and Grant were friends in the pre war army. And Grant sends word that says, I will accept no terms other than unconditional surrender. I propose to move on your works at once. That's enough for Buckner to be like, all right, and I got to give up the whole game. After all of the negotiations and the meetings and the signings of the surrender, paroles and all that stuff, Grant actually pulls Buckner aside and he says, do you have enough money? Do you need anything? Can I help you out? And this is in repayment of a kindness that Buckner had shown to Grant. Grant had been in the pre war army, had been stationed out in California. He is asked to leave under circumstances that today we're still not clear about, but we think it has something to do with drinking too much. And as he goes all the way around the southern tip of South America to get to New York City where he can then take the train finally home to Illinois. He runs out of money. And Buckner happens to be stationed there at the time. And he pulls Grant aside and he says, listen, you need some money to get home. I'm going to lend you this money, you know. And so old friends help each other out. So then Grant sees the shoe on the other foot and returns that favorite.

Don Wildman (26:29)

They had served together in the Mexican war, hadn't they?

Chris Makowski (26:32)

They had both been stationed up along the Great Lakes in the pre war army. And so they knew each other really well.

Don Wildman (26:39)

Yeah. Buckner is the first Confederate general to surrender during the Civil War. I mean, these are early days, but interestingly the last to give up command at the end of it he serves all the way through.

Chris Makowski (26:49)

And his son will actually be one of the highest ranking generals ever killed military service during World War II.

Don Wildman (26:56)

Wow. Interesting. Amazing. The final. You know, I was gonna say nail in the coffin, which is appropriate in this case. One of Grant's requests was that there be a symbolic gesture through his funeral that the pallbearers carrying his casket be both Confederate and Union. And Buckner was one of them.

Chris Makowski (27:15)

They had this wonderful sort of last meeting during Grant's dying days. He's a little cottage north of Saratoga Springs, New York, dying of throat cancer, trying to get his memoirs finished. And Buckner is on his honeymoon with his second wife, who is considerably younger. And they go to Niagara Falls. And on their way back home, they stop and see grant at Mount McGregor in New York. And what's really kind of remarkable about that stretch is because Grant's voice was so shot, much of what he had to say was written down with pencil on slips of paper that have all been preserved. And so we see this exchange between these old friends and they're busting each other's chops and, you know, it's like, oh, Buckner, you're looking pretty old and worse for the wear, but your wife is lovely, you know, you know, out kicked your field coverage on that one. You know, I mean, it's just, just this warm, beautiful reunion that made the COVID of Puck magazine.

Don Wildman (28:04)

Actually, the impact of this battle is more important than perhaps the battle itself. I mean, it really does create this new importance and urgency to the Western campaign, which I'm sure even then most Americans didn't, weren't really aware of. The American battle will now be a two front one both in the east and the West. Right.

Chris Makowski (28:25)

Historian Stephen Wordworth has said everything the Confederates do in the west from this point on is basically an attempt to undo the fall of Fort Donelson. It is such huge ramifications because first of all, it opens up that Cumberland river to Nashville. The Tennessee's now open all the way down toward Corinth, Mississippi. And so the Federals are going to use these two avenues of advance to get further and further into the Confederacy. And so that's going to just be hugely problematic for those Confederate armies as they're outnumbered, out resourced and now trying to hold the Federals at bay.

Don Wildman (29:00)

I always try to include the American battlefields trust in these episodes because the language on their website is so clear. You can see these pie graphs and so forth, and they very clearly explain that 40 troops were involved in this battle on both sides an estimated 16,537 casualties, but only 2,691 on the Union, whereas 13,846 on the Confederate, including all those prisoners of war, I suppose. Right.

Chris Makowski (29:29)

Correct.

Don Wildman (29:30)

The union has won this battle outright. And as we said earlier, it's the beginning of the story of unconditional surrender. Grant, which is no coincidence, us being his first two initials, buckner, has an interesting quote at the end of all of this, which he has written about the distribution of the forces under my command incident to an unexpected change of commanders and the overwhelming force under your command. He's speaking to Grant here. Compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success of the confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose. Nonetheless, the men remain friends. Yeah.

Chris Makowski (30:09)

You know, and you can see there the seeds of what becomes known as the lost cause. It's like, you guys beat us up, but we were still pretty awesome, and you're meanies and we're not. You know.

Don Wildman (30:18)

Yeah.

Chris Makowski (30:19)

When buckner's talking about unchivalrous terms, you know, he wanted, you know, officers keep their swords and firearms and their property, which meant slaves. And Grant's like, I've got logistic issues that I have to deal with. I'm going to make this as simple as possible. We beat you. And this is because I'm going to dictate these terms.

Don Wildman (30:36)

Yeah, Right. It points up an interesting unfolding drama which is between Grant and his supervising officer, who was Henry halleck. There was a lot of resistance there between them, wasn't there?

Chris Makowski (30:47)

So Halleck is going to be really jealous of Grant's battlefield victories here. And next year, Halleck, in fact, will tell grant, don't go into Nashville, because that would be one more feather in Grant's cap. Like Grant's, like Nashville is a key strategic objective. We have to capture it. Grant manages to communicate with some other forces under don carlos buell to get some of buell's guys into Nashville. They're not able to do that before confederates are able to slip through, but they are able to get there in time to secure the city, the stores that are there, the infrastructure. And then Nashville is going to play a huge role for the union army from there on out, because that's going to serve as their big supply base for everything they do in Tennessee.

Don Wildman (31:30)

And finally, down on the mississippi river in vicksburg, Grant was a brigadier general at the time of this battle. He is then promoted to major general, and he will continue, of course, to be promoted from there. This is really where you begin to understand Grant as the source of a sort of modern thinking in the American military, a different kind of fighting battles. It was no longer going to be this chivalrous European idea that so many of the certainly Union McClellan type officers were stuck in. This was not a polite war and Grant was getting on with it.

Chris Makowski (32:02)

Yeah, I mean, that goes to Buckner's comment about the unchivalrous terms like this isn't about chivalry. This is an industrial machine. That's what war is at this point. And Grant understands that.

Don Wildman (32:15)

Dr. Chris Mikowski is a writing professor at the Giandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegheny, New York, also associate Dean for the undergraduate programs. He is also the Copie Hill Fellow at the American Battlefield Trust. Nice to meet with you, Chris. I hope we meet again. There are many battles unfolding.

Chris Makowski (32:34)

Don, it is a pleasure. Thanks so much for chatting with me this morning.

Don Wildman (32:37)

Likewise. Hey, thanks for listening to American History hit. You know, every week we release new episodes, two new episodes dropping Mondays and Thursdays. All kinds of content from mysterious missing colonies to powerful political movements to some of the biggest battles across the centuries. Don't miss an episode by hitting like and follow. You help us out, which is great, but you'll also be reminded when our shows are on. And while you're at it, share it with a friend. American History hit with me, Don Wildman. So grateful for your support.

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