The Navy Man Of The West

Union Rear Admiral Andrew Hull Foote died June 26^th 1863.

Andrew Hull Foote was born September 12^th 1806 at New Haven, Connecticut the son of Senator Samuel Augustus and Eudocia (Hull) Foote.  He was a good student and received an appointment to the United State Military Academy at West Point in June 1822.  Only six months later he left West Point on December 4^th 1822 and joined the United State Navy as a midshipman on the USS Grampus.  He became a Lieutenant in 1830.  In 1837 Foote serving on the USS John Adams circumnavigated the globe.  In 1849 he became the commander of the USS Perry sailing off the coast of Africa.  It was this duty that caused him write the book “Africa and the American Flag” about the evils of the slave trade.  In 1958 Foote became the commander of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, where he would be serving when the Civil War started.

On June 29^th 1861 Foote was promoted to Captain and took over the command of the Mississippi River Squadron.  In February 1862 the now Flag Officer Foote in conjunction with Union General Ulysses S Grant captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River.  This was followed in a few days by the fall of Fort Donelson.  Foote was wounded in this battle.  After this he joined with Union General John Pope in a campaign against the Confederate held Island Number Ten on the Mississippi River.

With a promotion to Union Rear Admiral he was on his way on June 26^th 1863 to take command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron when he died of Bright’s disease.  Foote is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.

Unconditional Surrender

Fort Donelson was surrendered unconditionally to Union General Ulysses S Grant on February 16th 1862.

Following the capture of Fort Henry on February 6th 1862 Union General Ulysses S Grant moved his men overland to Fort Donelson. On February 12th and 13th 1862 they made a few probing attacks. The Union Navy fired on the Fort on February 14th, but were drove away by batteries from the Fort. Confederate Brigadier General John B Floyd finding Fort Donelson surrounded made a surprise attack on Grant’s army trying to find an escape path on February 15th 1862. Grant rallied his men, and Floyd pulled his troops back into their entrenchments.

Floyd and his second in command, Confederate Brigadier General Gideon J Pillow turned over the Fort on the morning of February 16th 1862. Excepting the unconditional surrender terms from Grant. They left command of the Fort to Confederate General Simon B Buckner and made their own escape. Buckner surrendered about 14,000 troop along with 48 guns, equipment and provisions. About 800 men on both sides were killed during the battle, with another 1,500 wounded. Some of the wounded left on the field, froze to death in a snowstorm. The capture of Fort Donelson opened up the Cumberland River to the Union for the invasion into the South.

Opening The Tennessee River

In western Tennessee on February 6th 1862 the Battle of Fort Henry was fought.

Fort Henry was a Confederate earthen fort located on the Tennessee River. February of 1862 found the fort partly under water from the flooded river. General Ulysses S Grant began to land his troops north of the Fort, in two places, one on the east bank of the Tennessee River and the other on the higher ground on the Kentucky side of the river, on February 4th and 5th . On February 6th 1862 the Battle opened with Flag-Officer Andrew Hull Foote’s gunboats bombing the fort. Grant’s plan was to attack at the same time, however it turned out to be primarily a naval battle.

The commander of Fort Henry, General Lloyd Tilghman, knew it would be just a matter of time before the fort fell. There were only nine big guns above the water and usable. He left artillery at the fort to hold off the Union fleet, while the rest of the garrison went the ten miles to the safety of Fort Donelson. Tilgman returned to Fort Henry and surrendered to the fleet. The whole battle lasted only about 75 minutes. The fall of Fort Henry opened up the Tennessee River for shipping all the way to Muscle Shoals, AL.