Chapter 1 Fort Donelson

#Juneteenthallyear, By the beginning of 1862, most of the war had been fought in the East, and the United States Army had yet to win a major battle. That changed in February of 1862 when General Halleck sent Gen Grant and Admiral Foote into West Tennessee to take the two forts protecting Nashville; Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland. The decision to go into West Tennessee was part of the Union strategy to cut the Confederacy in half. Their main goal in this effort was control of the Mississippi River. Fort Henry was the easy part. Fort Donelson was a different matter, but after three days and an impressive escape by then Lt Col N B Forrest his cavalry battalion, the Confederate forces surrendered unconditionally, and about 13,000 Confederate soldiers were paroled and sent home. After the dust had settled there was a small group of about 200 enslaved Americans left behind. These 200 men represent the first link in a chain of events that would change Memphis forever. Over the next few videos we will address some questions posed by the presence of these 200 enslaved Americans.