Historic Sites - Fort Donelson National Battlefield
32 Fort Donelson National Battlefield
- "32 Pounder"
This 558-acre battlefield off U.S. Highway 79 in Stewart County was the site of the North’s first major victory of the Civil War, ultimately opening the gate for Union invasion into the Confederate heartland. On February 14, 1862, soldiers were embroiled in fierce fighting as Union gunboats arrived and began exchanging "iron valentines" with the Confederate heavy artillery ensconced along the Cumberland River’s west bank. It was a bloody 90-minute duel that left the gunboat decks slippery with blood and forced the Union to retreat, but only temporarily.
- Dover Hotel (Surrender House)
At daybreak the next day, Southern forces launched a vigorous attack, but failed to escape General Ulysses S. Grant’s union army. Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner was compelled to accept Grant’s ultimatum, "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted," on February 16. Congress established Fort Donelson as a national military park on March 26, 1928, and as a national battlefield on August 16, 1985. About 20 percent of the core battlefield is contained within the park, including the earthen Confederate fort, river batteries, the outer rifle pits, and the Dover Hotel (Surrender House) where Generals Buckner and Grant met to work out the details of surrender.
Fort Donelson National Battlefield Web Site
P.O. Box 434,
Dover, TN 37058-0434
(931) 232-5706
