Battle of Fort Henry
|
|
The Battle of Fort Henry was fought February 6, 1862, in western Tennessee, during the American Civil War. It was the first important victory for the Union and Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater.
In February 1862, Grant advanced south along the Tennessee River with gunboats and more than 15,000 troops. His objective was to take Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, which protected the important Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.
The first objective, Fort Henry, a Confederate earthen fort on the Tennessee River with outdated guns, was partially inundated and the river threatened to flood the rest. On February 4–5, Grant landed his divisions in two different locations, one on the east bank of the Tennessee River to prevent the garrison’s escape and the other to occupy the high ground on the Kentucky side, which would ensure the fort’s fall; Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote’s seven gunboats began bombarding the fort.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman, commander of the fort’s garrison, realized that it was only a matter of time before Fort Henry fell. While leaving artillery in the fort to hold off the Union fleet, he escorted the rest of his force out of the area and sent them safely off on the overland route to Fort Donelson, 10 miles away. Tilghman then returned to the fort and, soon afterwards, surrendered to the fleet, which had engaged the fort and closed within 400 yards. Fort Henry’s fall opened the Tennessee River to Union gunboats and shipping as far as Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
After the fall of Fort Donelson, ten days later, the two major water transportation routes in the Confederate west, bounded by the Appalachians and the Mississippi River, became Union highways for movement of troops and material.
References
- National Park Service battle description (http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/tn001.htm)