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Battle of Fort Henry
Historian Page
The Battle of Fort Henry took place in Stewart county and Henry county, Tennessee,
and Calloway
County, Kentucky, on February 6, 1862.
Fort Henry, a Confederate earthen fort on the Tennessee River with outdated guns,
was partially
submerged and the river threatened to flood the rest of it. On February 4-5 Brig.
General Ulysses S.
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 insure the fort's fall. Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote's seven gunboats began
bombarding the
fort. Brig. General 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 took
the rest of his forces and sent them to Fort Donelson, 10 miles away. Tilghman then
returned to the
fort and, soon afterward, surrendered to the fleet that had engaged the fort and
closed within 400 yards.
After the fall of Fort Henry one of the major transportation routes in the Confederate
west became
Union highways for movement of troops and material.
North:
Ulysses S. Grant was one of the key figures in the battle of Fort Henry.
His name used to be Hyram Ulysses Grant until he dropped the name Hyram and picked
up his mothers maiden name, Simpson, which is the S. in Ulysses S. Grant. He went
to West Point Military school.
As a cadet in the military he was stationed in Missouri and Louisiana and he fought
in Mexico, earning
citations for bravery. Later he became a heavy drinker and resigned from service.
He was a failure in
civil life. he was unable to make farming pay and was reduced during one difficult
period in his life to
selling fire wood for a living. When the Civil War came along he was called back
into service in June
1961. He later became well known after winning the battle of Fort Henry and Donelson.
North:
Andrew H. Foote was another key figure in the battle of Fort
Henry. He was the son of a Connecticut Senator. He became
a midshipman in 1822. Andrew H. Foote was a deeply religious
man. From August 1861 to May 1862 he commanded the
Unions upper Mississippi naval operations, he fought in the
battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.
South:
Lloyd Tilghman was the key figure in the battle of Fort Henry for the South.
He graduated from west point and he was also a veteran of the Mexican
War. Lloyd Tilghman moved to Caducean in 1852 to supervise the
construction of the New Orleans and Ohio Railroads. A commander
of the western State Guard, Tilghman tried to keep Kentucky neutral,
but when that failed, he joined the Confederacy. He organized the 3rd
Kentucky Regiment and was soon promoted to brigadier general.
As commander of Fort Henry he stayed with his troops until they
were forced to surrender to U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant on February
6, 1862.
The battle of Fort Henry occurred because the Union wanted control of the major
shipping routs of the South, one of them was the Tennessee
River. The Union gunboats moved towards Fort Henry and bombarded it until they surrendered.
It was the first major battle that the Union won.
Other events of 1862:
Europe 1862:
German botanist Julious Von Sachs proved that starch is produced by photosynthesis.
Australia 1860-1879:
New Zealand: 2nd Maori War.
Asia 1862:
Cochin China (Southern Vietnam) becomes a French Colony.
South America 1862-1866:
Peru at war with Spain.
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