| Fort Donelson National Battlefield | |
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| Location | Calloway County, Kentucky &Stewart County, Tennessee,USA |
| Nearest city | Dover, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 36°29′14″N87°51′39″W / 36.48722°N 87.86083°W /36.48722; -87.86083[1] |
| Area | 1,319 acres (5.34 km2)[2] |
| Established | March 26, 1928 (War Dept.) August 10, 1933 (NPS)[3] |
| Visitors | 208,687 (in 2005) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Fort Donelson National Battlefield |
Fort Donelson National Battlefield preservesFort Donelson andFort Heiman, two sites of theAmerican Civil War Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign, in whichUnion ArmyBrigadier GeneralUlysses S. Grant andFlag OfficerAndrew Hull Foote captured threeConfederate forts and opened two rivers, theTennessee River and theCumberland River, to control by theUnion Navy. The commanders received national recognition for their victories in February 1862, as they were the first major Union successes of the war. The capture of Fort Donelson and its garrison by theUnion led to the capture of Tennessee's capital and industrial center,Nashville, which remained in Union hands from February 25, 1862, until the end of the war, and gave the Union effective control over much of Tennessee. This struck a major blow to the Confederacy early in the war.
The main portion of the park, inDover, Tennessee, commemorates theBattle of Fort Donelson (36°29′41″N87°51′22″W / 36.49472°N 87.85611°W /36.49472; -87.85611). Fort Heiman, in nearbyCalloway County, Kentucky, was a Confederate battery in theBattle of Fort Henry.
The most vulnerable area in theConfederate defensive line in the Western Theater was the state ofKentucky. TheTennessee andCumberland rivers were potential avenues for a Union invasion of the South through Kentucky and into Tennessee and beyond. Since Kentucky had declared neutrality, the Confederacy could not build defensive works within the state without risking alienating the local population. The local population in western and central Kentucky was pro-Confederate. Kentucky's westernmost (First) congressional district elected a secessionist and Lincoln proclaimed it to be in rebellion.
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Adna Anderson and William F. Foster, two engineers detached from the Confederate1st Tennessee Infantry, set to work on May 10, 1861, to find suitable ground just inside the Tennessee border to cover the two strategic rivers. They surveyed possible sites along the Cumberland River, noting the high ridges and deep hollows near the Kentucky border.[4] In mid-May, on the west bank of the river not far below Dover, Anderson laid out the water battery of Fort Donelson, twelve miles (19 km) from the Kentucky line. The new fort was named in honor of the Confederate GeneralDaniel S. Donelson[5] who, along with ColonelBushrod Johnson of theCorps of Engineers, approved of the site. Construction was begun by a large force of men brought from the nearby Cumberland Iron Works.[6]
The site was established asFort Donelson National Military Park on March 26, 1928. Thenational military park andnational cemetery were transferred from theWar Department to theNational Park Service on August 10, 1933. The park was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. It was redesignated a national battlefield on August 16, 1985. Public Law 108-367 (October 25, 2004) increased the authorized boundary of the national battlefield from 551.69 to 2,000 acres (2.2326 to 8.0937 km2). On October 30, 2006, Calloway County transferred the Fort Heiman site, which was purchased through theOffice of Kentucky Nature Preserves' Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund, to the Park Service. Fort Heiman had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1976.
The park preserves much of the original battle site, including the river batteries and the eroded remains of the fort, but the area in which theConfederate States Army attacked on February 15, 1862, is largely in private hands and occupied by residential development. The Cumberland River was dammed in the 1960s; this area is currently referred to as Lake Barkley. It covers an area roughly similar to the original river while at flood stage, as it was during the battle. TheCivil War Trust (a division of theAmerican Battlefield Trust) and its partners have acquired and preserved 368 acres (1.49 km2) of the battlefield, most of which has been conveyed to the NPS and incorporated into the battlefield park.[7]
TheFort Donelson National Cemetery, at 15.34 acres (62,080 m2) in Stewart County,[8] contains 670 Union dead, reinterred in 1867. There are numerous veterans from later wars. The cemetery is presently unavailable for additional burials.
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