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| Plan of Fort Henry.2 |
Dec. 20, 1861. |
Jan. 28, 1862. |
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creek defended by rifle-pits, and around it was swampy land with back-water in the rear.
It was strong in itself, and so admirably situated for defense, that the Confederates were confident that it could not be captured.
At the time we are considering, the garrison in the fort and the troops in camp within the outer works, consisting of less than three thousand men,1 were commanded by Brigadier-General Loyd Tilghman, a Marylander, and graduate of West Point Academy, and it was supplied with barracks and tents sufficient for an army fifteen thousand strong.
General Halleck, as we have seen, had divided his large Department into military districts, and he had given the command over that of Cairo to General Grant.
This was enlarged late in December,
so as to include all of Southern Illinois, Kentucky west of the Cumberland River, and the counties of Eastern Missouri south of Cape Girardeau.
Grant was therefore commander of all the land forces to be engaged in the expedition against Fort Henry.3 To that end he collected his troops at the close of the reconnaissance just mentioned, chiefly at Cairo and Paducah, and had directed General Smith to gain what information he could concerning the two Tennessee forts.
Accordingly, on his return, that officer struck the Tennessee River about twenty miles below Fort Henry, where he found the gun-boat Lexington patrolling its waters.
In that vessel he approached the fort so near as to draw its fire, and he reported to Grant that it might easily be taken, if attacked soon.
The latter sent the report to General Halleck.
Hearing nothing from their chief for several days afterward, Grant and Foote united, in a letter to Halleck,
in asking permission to storm Fort Henry, and hold it as a base for other operations.
On the following day Grant wrote an urgent letter to his commander setting forth the advantages to be expected from the proposed movement, and on the 30th an order came for its prosecution.4 The enterprise was
1 These were divided into two brigades — the first, under Colonel A. Hieman, was composed of the Tenth Tennessee (his own), consisting of about 800 Irish volunteers, under Lieutenant-Colonel McGavock; Twenty-seventh Alabama, Colonel Hughes; Forty-eighth Tennessee, Colonel Voorhies; Tennessee battalion of cavalry, Lieutenant-Colonel Gantt; and a light battery of four pieces, commanded by Captain Culbertson. The Second Brigade, under Colonel Joseph Drake, of the Fourth Mississippi Regiment, was composed of his own troops under Major Adair; Fifteenth Arkansas, Colonel Gee; Fifty-first Tennessee, Colonel Browder; Alabama battalion, Major Garvin; light battery of three pieces, Captain Clare; Alabama battalion of cavalry; an independent company of horse, under Captain Milner; Captain Padgett's Spy Company, and a detachment of Rangers, commanded by Captain Melton. The heavy artillery manned the guns of the fort, and were in charge of Captain Jesse Taylor.--Report of General Tilghman to Colonel Mackall, Johnston's Assistant Adjutant-General, Feb. 12, 1862.
2 References.--the a's denote the position of twelve 82-pounders; B, a 24-pounder barbette gun; C, a 12-inch Columbiad; D, 24-pounder siege-gun; E E, 12-pounder siege-guns; F, flag-staff; H, draw-bridge; K, well; M, magazine; 0, Ordnance stores; P, Adjutant's quarters; Q, Headquarters; R, officers' quarters.
3 The number of troops — officers and men — under General Grant's command, who were fit for duty at the middle of January, 1862, was 24,608.
4 Grant and his Campaigns, by Henry Coppee, pages 89 and 40.
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