Febuary 6, 1862 - Thursday - 160 years ago today

 

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment

 The 40th Indiana, with the 21st Brigade, remained at Lebanon, KY.

 Battle of Fort Henry

As mentioned in the last post, by February 5th, the forces under General Grant and Commander Foote were mostly in position for the attack on Fort Henry.  Due to the poor road conditions that were made worse by recent rains, the army was not able to get to the fort before the gunboats began the battle.

As it turned out, the gunboats were all that was needed as they were able to silence most of the fort's guns (in addition, some of the guns in the fort were disabled by a bursting of a large rifled cannon)  and thus received the surrender of the fort before the army came up.  In addition it seems that most of the Confederate troops had transited to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, about 10 miles to the east.  Fort Donelson was more easily defended, and had a large garrison already there.

Union troops occupied Fort Henry, and General Grant began to move toward Fort Donelson, confidently predicting that it would be taken on the 8th.  The gunboats would also be necessary for the next attack, and began to make their way back up river into the Ohio, and back down the Cumberland toward Fort Donelson.

Central Kentucky

General Buell had sent a brigade, and some new regiments from Indiana and Ohio, to aid in the attack on Fort Henry.  With the inability to move effectively toward East Tennessee, he had decided to push toward Bowling Green, KY.  He presumed that he faced a larger force than his, and so did not promise that he could move quickly.

With the capture of Fort Henry, and the potential capture of Fort Donelson, the Confederates could not hold Kentucky and began to fall back toward Nashville.  Buell would not face opposition as he moved toward Bowling Green. 

NEXT POST: FEBRUARY 10TH

Febuary 2, 1862 - Sunday - 160 years ago today

 

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment

 The 40th Indiana, with the 21st Brigade, remained at Lebanon.

USS Monitor

At Brooklyn, NY on January 30th, the USS Monitor was launched.  This was one of the first iron warships; and that, combined with its novel and unique rotating gun turret (the only noticeable feature on its deck), and other innovations made it the most complex new machine of the age.  It had been built in just 100 days, and would have little time for sea trials, as in just over a month it would do battle with a Confederate iron clad ship, the CSS Virginia (originally named the Merrimack).  

The rotating turret would be the prototype for most gun turrets on future naval ships, and in many ways resembled the 5-inch gun turret on USS O'Brien, which was (at times) the battle station for John Skinner, John Baer's great grandson, some 80 years later.

 In Kentucky and Tennessee

As General McClellan was discussing with President his plans to move the army by water to southwest Virginia, Halleck's army in the west was preparing to attack.  

An army under General Grant, coming from Cairo, IL, through Paducah, KY would move down the eastern bank of the Tennessee River (many by steamboat rather than marching) toward Fort Henry, about 45 miles SSE.  A fleet of gunboats under Commodore Foote would move down the river and meet the army there for the attack.  

Due to weather and road conditions, this coordinated movement would take from the 1st to the 5th of February, with the attack commencing the next day.

 More Information:

• Iron Dawn, the Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle that Changed History, Richard Snow, 2016, 367 pages.
•  Link: War Operation, see Volume VII, Chapter 17, pp. 572-580

 NEXT POST: FEBRUARY 6TH

January 29, 1862 - Wednesday - 160 years ago today

 Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment

On January 29th, 1862 the 40th Indiana had moved to Lebanon under command of General Thomas J. Wood.  The 20th and 21st Brigades had moved forward; the 20th Brigade was building a corduroy road starting at Danville, 20 mile east of Lebanon.  The 40th Indiana, with the 21st Brigade, remained at Lebanon.

General War Order #1

 A previous post discussed President Lincoln's frustration with the lack of movement of the Union armies.  On January 27th, an exasperated Lincoln issued General War Order #1, ordering an advance of all Union armies on February 22nd.  This order was mainly directed at General McClellan as General-in-Chief of all the armies.  Its intent was not just to get the armies moving, but to discover McClellan's plans for the eastern army.  McLellan ignored the order, but eventually presented his plan of attack; to move the army by water to southeast Virginia, and move toward Richmond from that direction.

Moving into Tennessee

In the West, General Halleck had reconsidered his objection to moving from Paducah into Tennessee.  He had ordered General Grant, in cooperation with Union gunboats, to move down the Tennessee River and capture Fort Henry, a hastily reinforced Confederate fort just south of the Kentucky/Tennessee border.  This location is now on the eastern shore of Kentucky Lake, in the Land Between the Lakes.  

Soon would begin the first major battles in the West.

More Information:

• The President’s General War Order Number 1 
• The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, Shelby Foote, pp.181-183 discusses Halleck's decision to move into Tennessee.

NEXT POST: FEBRUARY 2ND