Fort Donelson's legacy
Subtitle: war and society in Kentucky and Tennessee, 1862-1863
By: Benjamin Franklin Cooling.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: University of Tennessee Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Knoxville
Language: eng
Number of pages: 408
Subjects: Fort Donelson, Battle of, Tenn., 1862.; Fort Henry, Battle of, Tenn., 1862.; Civil-military relations -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century.; Tennessee -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.; Kentucky -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspects.
Description: Fort Donelson's Legacy portrays the tapestry of war and society in the upper southern heartland of Tennessee and Kentucky after the key Union victories at Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862. Those victories, notes Benjamin Franklin Cooling, could have delivered the decisive blow to the Confederacy in the West and ended the war in that theater. Instead, what followed was terrible devastation and bloodshed that embroiled soldier and civilian alike.

Cooling compellingly describes a struggle that was marked not only by the movement of armies and the strategies of generals but also by the rise of guerrilla bands and civil resistance. It was, in part, a war fought for geography - for rivers and railroads and for strategic cities such as Nashville, Louisville, and Chattanooga. But it was also a war for the hearts and minds of the populace.

In exploring the complex terrain of "total war" that steadily engulfed Tennessee and Kentucky, Cooling draws on a huge array of sources, including official military records and countless diaries and memoirs. He makes considerable use of the words of participants to capture the attitudes and concerns of those on both sides.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [377]-390) and index.
Table of contents: title: Aftermath of disaster : February 1862; title: Asserting national authority : spring 1862; title: Confederate resurgence : summer 1862; title: Heartland havoc : late summer 1862; title: North to Kentucky : autumn 1862; title: Decision in middle Tennessee : late fall 1862; title: Rebels return to Fort Donelson : February 1863; title: Heartland impasse : late winter 1863; title: Heartland dynamics : spring 1863; title: To Tullahoma and beyond : summer 1863; title: Victories Blue and Gray : autumn 1863; title: Last hurrah at Chattanooga : November 1863.