Fort Donelson

On February 16, 1862, Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner asked Ulysses S. Grant what terms he would offer for surrender. Grant replied that he would accept “no terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender.” The exchange made Grant famous, but the words came at the end of a campaign that had already changed the map of the western war.

After Union forces took Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, Grant moved overland toward Fort Donelson on the Cumberland. The two forts guarded routes into the South. For several days, armies fought around the earthworks while Union gunboats challenged the river batteries. A Confederate breakout briefly opened a path from the encircled fort, but the troops returned to their lines. The garrison was left surrounded, and most of its senior commanders escaped before Buckner negotiated the surrender.