The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-01-04
RECOLLECTIONs OF FORT DONELsON.
BY A. w. KEY. OF FORESTS cAvA LRY.

AS with the wand of memory lift the
veil of the past and survey the ruins of
forgottr things; | stand again, after a
lapse of nearly forty-one years, in line,
with knapsack and gun, on the depot at
Bowling Green, Ky, with my regiment,
the Eighteenth Tennessee, Col. ]. B. Pal
mer commanding. Soon our brigade, COM
manded by Gen. S. b. Buckner of Ken
lucky, Is aboard cars for Fort Donelson,
on the south bank of the Cumberland
river below GAINESVILLE, Tenn. As we dis
embarked into that Inflated fort about
February l or 8, 1862, all that was boyish
left me, and the man of war absorbed me.
Not till then had l grasped the idea of
war. Mid winter had her reign, and well
did she send down torrents of rain, sleet
and snow. No tent to shelter no cot to
soothe repose. Only a few thousand raw
soldiers detached from the army of Ken
lucky, to hold In check Grants invading
hosts, while General A. s. Johnston hur-
ried on with the main body to defeat at
Shiloh. On came the invaders, gathering
with fire and sword to lay waste the
A fort site. without adequate breast
works, and an army of different COM
mands poorly drilled and disciplined
stood within an area called a fort ready
to build or to fight it out, Just as We
found it, il only our commanders should
say the word
At this juncture, Gen. Gideon Pillow
came to the command and ordered every
man available to build Notifications and
mount the heavy guns of our river bat
terry. For" said he, 'it is better to la
Dor and sweat, than to fight and bleed"
War, Winds rain and storms of winter
awaited not against our courage and eff
forts, for by the 9Th or the Sth inst, we
were ready for all comers be they friends
or foes
We felled the forests in our immediate
front, cleared the fort of brush, made
roads and causeways and bridges. BY
February 10 could be seen the camp
smoke Of Grants hosts encamped on the
hills to our southwest, and an ominous
noise and smoke on the river below told
too plainly that Grants numerous trans
ports and gunboats. Well was it then
with that Johnnie who had taken peace
full farewell with loved ones, who had his
knapsack and grub-bag filled, from home.
Ill Jared 1t with the yankee who thought
he had picnic in winters SHOWS. 1t is
sad and fierce, the conflict, when Greek
meets Greek, but fiercer for the strife,
when brother does a brother meet In
shock of war. oh, Tennessee thou
mother of volunteers, bare now thy head,
for thy sons will baptize thee with their
hearts best blood ere a vandal host shall
cross thy border On the 18th. the In
vestment of our fort begun, and by the
18th Grant was hurting his serried ranks
on our works, and as the battle waxed
hot, our men became fiercer for the con-
fict. and many leaped over our defenses
and charged the enemy.
On the 18th, the augmented forces of
Grant made a simultaneous effort to cap
lure the fort. But wave against solid
rock must recoi and as wave on wave
came on, so wave on wave recoiled. leav-
ing but line of PROSTATE blue to lay
cold and still in death.
| All day long did the enemy. amid
| masses of snow and rain. endeavor to
overcome in appalling gloom our stub
born resistance Of five to one in numbers
of our hearth and home defenders. That
gloomy February day settled down In
night so black so cold, ,and spread its
glooms icy wings athwart the hearth
stones of twics ten thousand homes In
Middle Tennessee. For, il Fort Donelson
| fell. at one blow. Middle Tennessee. North
Alabama and North Mississippi would be
| devastated. All night long our boys IN
bitches, amid snow and ice, kept their
powder dry. and our officers kept their
/. nerve. and at daylight on the 18th. we