Existing comment:
1862: February 6 - June 11:
Tennessee River Maneuvers:
Confederate Forts Henry and Donelson, on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, protected vital avenues into Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. By February 16, Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, with the help of a fleet of gunboats, had captured both forts, forcing the Confederates under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston to regroup at Corinth, Mississippi. On April 6, Johnston launched an assault on Grant's army, and the Battle of Shiloh ensued. At first, the Confederates were successful, but by the next day, Johnston's death and Union reinforcements had turned the tide, forcing the Confederates to retreat back to Corinth. Over the next two months, Union Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck slowly moved on Corinth and forced the Confederates farther south into Mississippi, thereby cementing the Union's hold on much of middle and west Tennessee. |