FEBRUARY 14TH
Gunboats USS St. Louis, Carondolet, Louisville, Pittsburg, Tyler, Conestoga, under Flag Officer Foote join Army forces under U.S. Grant in attacking Fort Donelson which was much better situated than Fort Henry, on high ground and could deliver plunging fire on the ships and also difficult to hit from the river.
Foote did not consider his force properly prepared, coming so soon after Fort Henry. The St. Louis hit 59 times and lost steering control, as did the Louisville. Both vessels drifted back down the Cumberland River. Foote suffered injuries to himself.
Fort Donelson surrendered February 16th. New Orleans greatly alarmed by the quick fall of both forts. Papers blame Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory for losses. Confederate positions in Kentucky no longer defensible and all forces withdraw.
On Mississippi River, Confederates fall back to Island No. 10. Nashville could not be held and Union forces poised to take it.
Also, Feb. 14th, Confederate ships sank obstructions in the Cape Fear River near Fort Caswell, in an effort to block the channel.
The experimental ironclad, USS Galena, launched at Mystic, Connecticut. Of the first three Union ironclads, this proved to be the least successful.
Huge Setbacks for the Confederacy. --Old B-Runner
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