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Summary:
A thrilling battle account, complete with an integral hand-sketched map of Fort Donelson and environs, showing Ulysses Grant’s headquarters and the composition of Union lines at the Confederates’ attempted breakout point. “…the rebels were advancing in clouds – perfect clouds of them – Col. Marsh would not wait to receive their fire, but advanced and after a few volleys the rebels fell back; we pursued them till they broke and run…” [Civil War]. John Thompson, Autograph Letter [lacking signature page, unsigned, but accompanied by a photocopy of another letter in the same hand, signed by its author], with integral map, to “My Friend Mrs. McConike.” Fort Donelson, Tennessee, Feb. 19, 1862. 4 pp.
7 3/4” x 9 7/8” Inventory# 21324 $3,800 Complete Transcript: Fort Donelson,
Cumberland River,
Dover, Tenn. Feb. 19th, 1862 My Friend Mrs. McConike You will remember that a short time ago I predicted that the whole front of the rebel army would soon be broken; and if our other armies had done as well as the western army and that upon the coast, the prediction would now be verified.
We left Fort Henry 4 p.m. on the 11th inst. and came half way to For Donelson; that night was cool and pleasant; we lay on the dry leaves, under the moon, and had a good night’s rest. Early on the following morning we moved forward – Lt. Col. Erwin with four companies, forming the advanced guard. Our Brigade met with no enemy during the day, and at night we halted within 400 yards of the centre of the enemy’s works, and passed the night as we had passed the night previous – without tents and without fires. On the morning of the 13th we moved down on the right, carefully examining the enemy’s position and at night took positions (as shown [2] in the diagram) within rifle shot of the rebel entrenchments. The rebel sharp shooters commenced on us long before dark, and kept up a continual fire, wherever our heads were seen, until the 15th, but with no serious result.
Early in the evening it began to rain and soon turned to snow; our men raked together the leaves and laid down on them, covering themselves with their blankets – the snow settled down on them, and they – poor tired men – were soon comfortable in sleep and pleasant dreams; but they were not allowed to rest till morning – the irregular fire which had been kept up on our pickets ceased for awhile, then came volley after volley as though a general attack had commenced. Our regiment was in line of battle in a minute. The men came out of their warm nests into the rough cold night air, and the chattering of their teeth and the ‘zip’, ‘zip’, ‘zip’ of the rebel bullets over our heads was more amusing than pleasant. That call was made at eleven o’clock. The rebels were driven back, new pickets thrown out and at 2 a.m. all was quiet again, but sleeping that night was ‘played out’. The good warm nests were filled with snow, blankets were wet and frozen, ‘twas growing colder, and the men tramped round in circles to keep themselves from freezing. Fires were not allowed. The smoke of a camp fire in the daytime would call down on [3] us grape and shell from the enemy’s batteries, and the light of camp fires at night would make us targets for the rebel sharp shooters. Toward morning they attacked our pickets again, but did not succeed in driving them in, nor were any of our men hurt.
St. Valentine’s day commenced and ended the same, as far as we were concerned. Only that the Gun Boats caused the rebels to concentrate their forces upon our right; sharp shooters were at work on both sides but none of our men were hurt – several rebels were. We managed to get hot coffee to wash down the hard bread, and as the soldiers say, we went to bed that night feeling ‘bully’. We knew, or at least thought, that the question of Fort Donelson was to be settled the next day. The rebels tried our pickets several times during the night as they had the night before. I call them ‘pickets’ – they were skirmishers rather, they often went within a few paces of the rebel works and overheard the confidential conversation of the rebels inside: the burden of which conversation was that we should ‘catch hell tomorrow’. I slept that night in our Hospital tent – the only tent that was brought with the regiment. Every time our pickets were fired on the bullets would ‘zip’ past the tent, and while we were drinking our coffee in the morning one bullet hit the tent, but not a cup of coffee was in the least jostled by the intrusion. About sunrise, or perhaps a little before, heavy firing was heard on the extreme right of our line, and we soon got ready for the work of that awful day; we did not get ready any too soon although the men were in line in one minute after the call. My horse was eating some oats and I sat under him drinking [4] another cup of coffee which my orderly handed me when he went to take his place in Co. ‘I’ – 30 minutes after he was dead – one of the first that fell. Our skirmishers came back firing steadily and reported that the rebels were advancing in clouds – perfect clouds of them – Col. Marsh would not wait to receive their fire, but advanced and after a few volleys the rebels fell back; we pursued them till they broke and run – just then two fresh regiments emerged from the brush and came upon our right and centre – one regiment supported by the other and bearing a Union flag. But we saw where they had come from and were not at all deceived by the trick. Col. Marsh ordered the left wing of the 20th to advance till the regiment formed a half circle – then the rebels fell just fast enough to please me and make the rebels run again. Lt. Col. William Erwin fell just as we had gained the first advantage – he was sitting still on his horse in rear of the right wing telling the men to lay low to load and only to rise when firing, when a six pdr. shrapnel shot from a four pounder gun hit him fair in the breast. That gun had been aimed with great precision at the field officers of the 20th all the morning, and a twelve pound gun mounted in the same place had been throwing grape and shell with equal precision, but by a singular good fortune the Colonel, Major, and Adjutant escaped without a scratch either on themselves, horses, or clothes. Although grape, shell, round shot, bullets, and buck shot fell so fast that dodging was altogether out of the question.” [integral map:] The diagram on the reverse of this sheet / shows the position of the right wing of our / army on the morning of Feb. 15th. / The position, with the exception of Col. Mc / Arthur’s Brigade, had been the same for 60 hours / before the battle proper commenced. / This is not suppose to be topographically correct.
[manuscript map printed on reverse] Historical Background:
This thrilling, picturesque battle description, complete with a rare and accurate hand-drawn map, depicts the Battle of Fort Donelson, the first major victory for U.S. forces in the Civil War. Union strategy in the West in the winter of 1862, as conceived by General Henry Halleck, involved an invasion of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, tributaries of the Mississippi River and pathways from the industrial and agricultural heartlands of the Confederacy. Halleck ordered 15,000 men under General Ulysses Grant, accompanied by ironclad gunboats under the direction of Naval Flag Officer Andrew Foote, to ascend the Tennessee in early February. Grant and Foote forced the surrender of flooded Fort Henry on February 6, allowing for Union naval traffic to control the Tennessee past the Alabama border. They then set their sights on Fort Donelson, a stronger fort twelve miles away on the Cumberland River. Grant and Foote tried to pound Fort Donelson with artillery as they had done at Fort Henry, but were unsuccessful. As Thompson writes, “St. Valentine’s day commenced and ended the same, as far as we were concerned. Only that the Gun Boats caused the rebels to concentrate their forces upon our right.” Still, Grant had effectively surrounded the fort on all sides, depicted well on Thompson’s manuscript map. On February 15, after a bitter, icy night, fort commandant John Floyd attempted a massive break-out on the Union left, upstream from the fort. Thompson’s letter describes the heavy fighting in his front, which saw the death of a Lieutenant Colonel, William Erwin, from his regiment. The 20th Illinois did well in its sector, but regiments further to the right towards the river were temporarily driven back nearly a mile before Grant launched a counterattack. The demoralized Confederates retreated to their works, contemplating surrender. Generals John Floyd and Gideon Pillow, as well as the entire cavalry battalion of Nathan Bedford Forest, escaped in the overnight hours. On February 16, the ranking Confederate General, Simon Bolivar Buckner, was forced to plea for terms. His old friend, Grant, famously declared that he would accept no terms but “unconditional surrender.” Grant captured 15,000 Confederate forces as well as the attention of the nation. This event launched Grant’s rise to fame – he was afterwards named a Major General and, little more than two years later, would be in command of all U.S. armies.
Thompson’s map depicts Fort Donelson and its environs, heavy stockade breastworks enclosing a broad perimeter outside the fort. Also shown are McArthur’s Brigade, Oglesby’s Brigade, and W.H.L. Wallace’s Brigade, all federal units. Thompson’s 20th Illinois was part of Wallace’s Brigade, in McClernand’s Division. His account is also notable for its description of the bitter cold weather and the sleepless suffering of soldiers due in part to Grant’s orders not to allow campfires for reasons of safety. “Sleeping that night was ‘played out’, Thompson wrote. “The good warm nests were filled with snow, blankets were wet and frozen, ‘twas growing colder, and the men tramped round in circles to keep themselves from freezing. Fires were not allowed.” There were very few major Civil War battles fought in the wintertime, and the weather during the Fort Donelson campaign added a frigid dimension to the experience of the common soldier. John Thompson (d. April 6, 1862) was the Adjutant of the 20th Illinois Regiment, commanded at the time by Colonel C. Carroll Marsh. He was killed less than two months after writing this letter at the bloody Battle of Shiloh. References: James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 392-405.
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