The Battle of Fort Donelson
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Brigadier General Gideon Johnson Pillow of the Confederate States Army (CSA) was a major general in the U. S. Army during the Mexican-American War, appointed by his long-time political friend, U.S. President James Knox Polk. He acquitted himself fairly well in that war, but committed a major faux pas: after the battles of Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec in 1847, he wrote letters to the American newspapers claiming that it was he, and not his commanding officer, Major General Winfield Scott, who had led the American troops to victory. This self-aggrandizement did not sit well with his superiors, and he was court-martialed, but ultimately exonerated due to the influence of his friend in the White House.
In 1861 Pillow was commissioned as an officer in the CSA, and had limited success in his first engagement, the November, 1861, Battle of Belmont, against soon-to-be-great Brigadier General (and later U.S. President) Ulysses S. Grant. But he followed this up with a disaster.
In February of 1862, the Union Army had taken Tennessee's Fort Henry from the Confederates, handing Grant his own first major victory. Less than a week later, Grant had marched his troops the 19 kilometers to Fort Donelson, which was in the hands of Brigadier General John B. Floyd, a corrupt politician and inept military leader; Gideon Pillow was his second in command.
By February 15, the fort was surrounded. Despite his ineptitude, Pillow, at Floyd's direction, successfully punched through Grant's right flank in a surprise attack (Grant was away from the battlefield at the time), creating a line of escape for the occupants of the fort.
But Grant returned and rallied his troops. Floyd, losing his nerve, ordered Pillow to retreat, and Grant's line closed. The next day, Floyd and Pillow escaped with a small number of men, leaving another brigadier general to accept Grant's demand of unconditional surrender.
All of Kentucky and most of Tennessee were now under Union control. Grant's star rose, partly because of his new nickname: U. S. Grant became known as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.