Fort Donelson National Battlefield preserves Fort Donelson and Fort Heiman, two sites of the American Civil War Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign, in which Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral Andrew Hull Foote captured three Confederate forts and opened two rivers to the Union navy. They received national recognition for their victories in February 1862, as it was the first major Union success of the war. The main portion of the park, in D...
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Fort Donelson National Battlefield preserves Fort Donelson and Fort Heiman, two sites of the American Civil War Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign, in which Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral Andrew Hull Foote captured three Confederate forts and opened two rivers to the Union navy. They received national recognition for their victories in February 1862, as it was the first major Union success of the war. The main portion of the park, in Dover, Tennessee, commemorates the Battle of Fort Donelson (36°29′41″N 87°51′22″W / 36.49472°N 87.85611°W / 36.49472; -87.85611), one of the most influential battles in American history. Fort Heiman, in nearby Calloway County, Kentucky, was a Confederate battery in the Battle of Fort Henry.
The most vulnerable area in the Confederate defensive line in the Western Theater was the state of Kentucky. The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers were potential avenues for a Union invasion of the South through Kentucky and into Tennessee and beyond. Since...
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