Ironclads Blast Flooded Defenders in Battle of Fort Henry.

jessgettysburg1863

2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Jun 3, 2012
Location
Living in Kilmore in Victoria Australia
Submitted by tonyp on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 09:23.

Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman faced an impossible task in February 1862. In charge of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, he had the vital responsibility of preventing Union forces from coming up the river and penetrating Tennessee and Alabama. Inside the fort he had 17 pieces of artillery, some of large caliber, and about 3,400 soldiers camped outside. Coming against him was General Grant’s 15,000-man army and Flag Officer Foote’s flotilla of seven gunboats, four of them ironclads. General Tilghman had an even stronger foe opposing him, however, against which he had no defense: torrential rains swelled the Tennessee River, and the floodwaters were submerging his fort.

See link for the full article.

http://www.newsinhistory.com/blog/ironclads-blast-flooded-defenders-battle-fort-henry
 
The victory at Fort Henry, although important (particularly in gaining control of the Tennessee River for the Union), would come back to haunt the Union in a number of ways.

First, as was realized less than two weeks later at Fort Donelson, the riverine ironclads were not automatic battle-winners. The result of Fort Henry caused a measure of overconfidence at Donelson that resulted in significant damage and casualties, with no militarily-significant effect on the defenders.

Second, and more subtly, along with the Federal naval successes at Hatteras Inlet, Port Royal, and New Orleans, Fort Henry contributed to the mistaken idea that Union naval power could triumph alone. This was actually a setback for concepts of combined (joint) operations, and the mistakes thus sown would be reaped at Charleston.

And something I've done some thinking about: Foote was quite wrong to go ahead and attack alone, without waiting for Grant and McClernand's troops to invest the fort. Without a force around the fort to pin the defenders in place when the attack commenced, the Confederates were able to slip a significant portion of their troops out of Fort Henry and to concentrate them at Fort Donelson. If Fort Donelson in turn had not been bungled by the Confederates, this would have been a rather sizable stumbling block for Grant's forces in the campaign into Tennessee. Later wartime experience would show that the most effective way to fight along the rivers was with a mixture of land and naval forces cooperating.
 
Back
Top