Battle of Fort Donelson

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Almost a year into the American Civil War, Union forces laid siege to Fort Donelson. In this episode, we're going to find out why this fort was strategically important, and how Ulysses S Grant got his nickname - Unconditional Surrender.

Don is joined by Chris Mackowski, Copie Hill Fellow at the American Battlefield Trust and professor at the Jandoli School of Communication at St Bonaventure University.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:33.7	It's February 1862. At Fort Donaldson in western Tennessee, thousands of Confederate soldiers hunkered down, huddling for safety, hungry and shivering in their thin coats. For several dreadful days, they have been observing Union forces and circling their fortifications. Meanwhile, the Cumberland River, their last chance of escape,
0:55.8	is choked with ice. As the sun breaches the horizon, Union gunboats positioned on the river
1:01.8	opened fire on the fort, pounding it relentlessly through the morning mist. But Union infantry
1:07.7	stay put, allowing the artillery to weaken enemy defenses.
1:11.6	The Confederate troops, surrounded by their dead inside the fort,
1:15.6	wonder how long they can possibly hold on as Union Brigadier General Ulysses S. Graham contemplates an extended siege.
1:23.6	But as it happens, there will be no need.
1:26.6	Confederate officers are hatching a plan for counterattack.
1:41.5	Greetings. Welcome to another episode of American History Hit. We're glad you're listening. I'm
1:45.9	Don Wildman. We are in a new year, resuming a mission begun in our last, an epic chronological
1:52.3	odyssey through the major engagements of the American Civil War. Why did it happen? Who was there?
1:57.6	What occurred? Who won, who lost? and would they gain or lose in the effort?
2:02.3	In today's telling, we're still in early days in the winter of 1862, and we find ourselves
2:08.1	in northwestern Tennessee between the mighty Tennessee River and its parallel waterway to the
	...

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