Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1862-02-24
Capture of Fort Donelson.

river, in Tennessee, after three DAYS hard S
fighting. During the first four days our a
forces repuised every assault made upon the c
Fort, and especially on the third day were our q
troops triumphant, when they met the enc
my outside of their entertainments, driving
him from every point, captured three of his
batteries, killed and wounded about 1900,
and took some 800 prisoners. After the tel
egraph had made US jubilant over this glori-
GUS news, we were lily prepared for the news
that came of the result of the fourth days
ighting-when we were told that the enemy
had been largely reinforced and after a Wig
erous assault, our forces, who had so bravely
and successfully resisted the enemy for three
days, were compelled to surrender, and be
taken prisoners, with all their arms, stores,
| &c. in the fort.
But few reliable particulars have reached
US of this sad disaster, up to this writing
the latest intelligence we may receive before
going to press will be found in enr news
columns.
The following from the Petersburg Ex-
press, expresses eur feelings on the subject,
exactly:
"The situation in which we are now placed
is unpleasant enough. The immediate pros
pect before US is not as fattering as we could
wish it to be. We have during the last week
had to chronicle some very unwelcomereverses
to our arms, and to day we have to add an
other. The fall of Fort Donelson is unex-
pected intelligence, Tor after having just be-
fore been informed of the brilliant r~epulses
by our men of the enemy in their successive
assaults upon it, We were certainly unprepar-
ed for the tidings of their success on the
fourth. Even now We can hardly realize so
strange a result in the face of the con-
idence which was expressed up to the last OF
the previous dispatches, in the ability of the
Fort to pass t~riumphantly through the tire
lmendous ordeal to which it was subjected
= There must have been gross exaggerations in
those dispatches, or a screw loose somewhere
if the Fort has been reduced. On Saturday
we were told the enemy were driven back al
all points with terrible Straightforward oul
: loss was comparatively moderate, and tina
everything was in a state of preparation 70
another fight, which was expected Sunday
! We were not told that the Fort was at al
q damaged, from which we inferred that it
: power of resistance was u~ndiminiShed, an
we accordingly felt ~sanguine of receiving b
, the next dispatches the announcement
10 another and a tiAal victory.
But the fates have decreed otherwise.
has pleased Heaven to chasten US with an
- other hard blow, and although it is great
~ to be deplered, yet it would be folly to allo
l. ourselves to be unnamed by it. 1t is, of a
ntss-anf~ serrposstssIUn and direct the
thoughts and attention to the means of re
N l%trieving the disasters which have befallen u
Q, AS difficulties and dangers thicken around u
our capacity to achieve the independent
!. which we have declared, will be the more tie
ted and manifested. The Administratio
10 have now an opportunity of signalizin
more than ever their fitness for the hig
: trust which has been committed to the
= hands, by promptly devising measures whic
= will lead to aspeedy change in our affairs Fl
d the better.
v P.S.-The Northern accounts of the cal
It ture of Fsrt Donelson, represent that Gen
d johnson, Pillow and Buckner were take
$ prisoners, along with fifteen thousand
their men ; but the gentlemen who left Mas
d vile on Tuesday after the surrender on Su
day, say that Gems. Pillow, Buckner al
y Floyd were all at Nashville, with their con
Is mands, having cut their way through Il
le enemy's lines. Gen. johnson was not
% Fort Donelson, but Bowling Green, viii
point he abandoned and took up his line
ID march for Nashville. On the 18th he W
IT at Gallatin, 25 miles north east of Nashvil
1t 1t is stated that the combined forces of Ger
johnson, Floyd, Pillow Buckner, numberir
some 10000 men, will make a stand at Nasl
:. vile, and resist the landing of the enen
there. The locality is extremely favorab
:. for defensive operations. The banks of Il
~ Cumberland are very high and precipitor
40 and for miles above and below the city a
= of the same character. The gunboats can
" Iof no other service than to transport al
land the enemy's troops, for the surface
q the river is so far below the site of the ci
g, that they could not bring a gun or a shell
n bear upon it, whilst, if they vsntured with
n- range, they would be exposed to the fire
I'd our guns from the edge Of the heights abo
them. We presume there is an abundan
81 of heavy artillery and ammunition on ha
70 which can be used for the protection of t
.h place. With these and other aGvantag
40 a few thousand r~esolute men could play b
- voc with a large assailing force.
". THE WESTERN ENTERPRIsE.-We have
he ceived the Prospectus of a new paper to