Dear Diary,

Well, this has really been a busy month, and 
to top it off we have two important victories 
- the capture of both Reb forts in Western 
Tennessee - Forts Henry and Donelson.  To 
bring this little narrative up to date, 
here's what happened.

We'd been in Cairo since just before 
Christmas, doing more training marches in 
the local area, and some minor skirmishing 
with Confederate outposts on the other side 
of the river.  At the same time, our gunboat
flotilla had been cruisin' down the Tennessee 
River on a regular basis to trade shots with 
the Johnnies in Fort Henry.  Nothing really 
serious, just to keep them on their toes.

On Jan. 10, we started off on a march, and all 
of us were figuring that this was it - but it 
didn't turn out that way.  We marched south 
through the rain, which soon turned to sleet, 
then to snow.  Did a little skirmishing on the 
way, mostly against Confeds doing the same as 
us - patrolling and reconnoitering around to 
see what they could see.  We did pose a threat, 
I suppose, to the Confeds down around Columbus, 
KY, but by the 21st we were back in Cairo.  
Seems we had been doing this a lot - marching 
down South, only to turn around and head back.

Well, that all changed early in February.  
President Lincoln issued what he called his 
"General War Order Number 1", calling for an 
advance south all along the line.  I'll say 
one thing for Grant - he didn't waste any 
time!   By the 3d, our troop transports and 
gunboats were moving from Cairo, past Paducah 
and on up the Tennessee against Fort Henry.  
We started landing in the rain on the 4th, 
while the gunboats continued on up river to 
see what the Johnnies were up to.

We marched all through the 5th, and were 
almost in position to attack, when word came 
that the Rebs had surrendered Henry.  Seems 
they didn't want to face gunboats to the 
front of them, and our army coming up quickly, 
so they gave up.

Actually, they had done pretty well against 
our gunboats.  The Essex was put out of action 
with a 32 pounder through the boiler, and the
Cincinnati was pretty badly shot up.  In all, 
the Rebs counted over 50 hits on our 7 boats 
before they surrendered.  Admiral Foote wanted 
to take his fleet back up north for repairs, 
but Grant persuaded him to hang around a bit.  
Seems we had a bit of unfinished business to 
attend to over on the Cumberland River.

We missed this fight - but a bigger one was 
just ahead.  Seems most of the Reb garrison 
got out of Henry, and moved overland to Fort 
Donelson on the Cumberland.  It was a bigger 
fort anyway, so we took out after them - if 
you can call slogging through the mud for 15 
miles "taking off."  Actually, it was hard 
marching all the way, 'cuz if we didn't get
into position, the Rebs might get more troops 
into Donelson than our 15,000 could handle.

All day on the 13th and 14th, we were engaged 
in heavy fighting against Reb troops just 
outside Donelson, as they tried to keep us from 
drawing a noose around the place.  The gunboats 
did their share, lobbing those big shells into 
the fort on a regular basis.  Glad I was on the
outside!  Anyway, the 40th Ohio was with 
McClernand's Division in the center of the Union 
line - we drove them out of their rifle pits into
the fort after some heavy fighting.  Three boys 
in my company were killed, and I think about 10 
wounded, but we did what had to be done.

On the 15th, the Rebs tried to break our lines - 
but it didn't do them any good.  What a 
miserable day!  Their attack started around 
5:00 AM. It was cold, and before the day was 
over we were fighting in the snow.  I'd thrown 
away my overcoat, since it had been warm on the 
14th.  At any rate, when things died down a bit, 
I found me another one off a dead Reb that 
wouldn't be needing his anymore!

On the morning of the 16th, the Rebel commander 
asked for surrender terms - Grant's reply, 
according to what I hear, was something along 
the lines of "No terms except immediate and 
unconditional surrender!"  Now that's one Ohio 
boy with a real gift for gab!  After all the 
formalities were done, we were the proud owners 
of one half flooded, shot up Secesh fort, and 
some 12,000 prisoners.  Our own losses are 
somewhere over 2,000 men!  Unfortunately, some 
Rebs escaped - mostly cavalry commanded by a 
Colonel named Nathan Forrest - but everyone 
knows cavalry is no account in a standup fight!

These twin victories should really perk up the 
folks at home, especially after all the bad news 
they've been getting from the fighting back East.  
Kentucky is lost to the Rebs, and Tennessee is 
wide open - just waiting for us to march south 
and finish up the job.  From what I've seen of 
Grant, we'll soon be on our way.