The ground seemed to boil under my feet: Taking Fort Donelson with the 7th Illinois

Combat at Fort Donelson marked the first time Corporal Allen Walker of the 7th Illinois had been under fire. He remembered the experience as a kaleidoscope of emotions.

“I did not feel as though I would be hit even in the hottest of the battle,” he wrote his uncle after the fight. “After the first discharge, there was a feeling of hate or rage that drowned all fear. At every little advantage gained by us we all shouted and on a charge we all shouted as though our throats would burst. If it was not for this peculiar feeling, which I cannot better describe, there would be no battles fought.”

The battlefield he described as a “solemn place. On the battlefield where the two contending bodies of men met in deadly conflict, the leaves and ground are covered with blood. The black ambulances, men carrying away the wounded, the dead lying all around, some with a smile on their faces and others with features expressive of the greatest agony. The Rebels who attempted to escape fought long and well. We had to conquer brave men, mostly Tennesseans, who died gun in hand without uttering a word. They asked for no quarter, and we gave none.”

Corporal Walker’s account of Fort Donelson first saw publication in the February 25, 1862, edition of the Hillsdale Standard published in Hillsdale, Michigan.

 

In a typical full-sized infantry company, a total of eight corporals such as Allen Walker resided within the ranks. The lowest rank of non-commissioned officer within the regiment, the dirty work of the army often fell to the corporals. Usually placed in charge of small details that took care of obtaining wood, water, forage and less enjoyable tasks such as digging sinks or burying dead animals, corporals played a critical role in stabilizing the battle line, assisting the sergeant and line officers with keeping the men in line. For all this, the corporal received the same pay as a private (until May 1864 when pay bumped to $16 a month) and "that the glory of a soldier's first promotion was considered to be an ample equivalent for all official requirements," Wilbur Hinman noted. 

Fort Donelson, Tennessee

February 17, 1862

          Having time to write only a few lines, I had nearly made up my mind not to write at all now, but I thought you would be anxious to know whether I am alive or not and how I got through my first battle. We did not do any fighting at Fort Henry because the Rebels had all got out of the way before we arrived. Fort Henry is situated on the east side of the Tennessee about 55 miles from its mouth and is the strongest fort, except this, that I ever saw. Inside of it, I saw the bodies of men killed by shells. One had his head and both arms blown off; one had his throat cut and his chest burned to a crisp and around every gun commanding the river was scattered blood and brains. Everywhere was to be seen the work of death and destruction.

          We remained at Fort Henry for two days and then marched on this place which is near the town of Dover on the Cumberland River. I may as well say here that our Colonel John Cook of the 7th Illinois is in command of brigade of six regiments. After reaching this place, we camped all night within a mile of the fort on a high hill. The next day our two batteries of rifled cannons moved forward to take position and the 7th Illinois brought up the rear to support them.

In doing so, we came within 60 rods and directly in range of a masked battery which opened on us with a storm of grape and canister. The cannon balls went through and around us like hail, splitting trees and cutting down our men. The orderly of our company was struck down at my side by a grape shot and our flag was perfectly riddled. The ground seemed to boil under my feet. General Grant, who stood back on a hill where he could see it all, said to one of his aides, “That regiment is all cut to pieces.”

"The cannon balls went through and around us like hail, splitting trees and cutting down our men. The orderly of our company was struck down at my side by a grape shot and our flag was perfectly riddled," Corporal Allen Walker recalled. "The ground seemed to boil under my feet." 

          We were ordered to retire, which we did in good order to a ravine out of range of the Rebel guns but right between our artillery and theirs. There we lay for about two hours with balls and bombshells whistling over our heads. That night we bivouacked on the wet ground, the rain falling until we got thoroughly wet and then the snow fell, freezing our clothes stiff as a board. We had no fires and no way of keeping from chilling to death but to run back and forth. It was by far the worst night I had ever imagined a man could endure.

          The morning came at last and a morning never to be forgotten- the 15th of February 1862. At about 9 a.m. the Rebels attempted to leave the fort at a point about a mile to the right of where our brigade was located. All that forenoon nothing was to be heard but the booming of cannons and the rattle of musketry. The Rebels who attempted to escape fought long and well. We had to conquer brave men, mostly Tennesseans, who died gun in hand without uttering a word. They asked for no quarter, and we gave none.

I did not feel as though I would be hit even in the hottest of the battle. After the first discharge, there was a feeling of hate or rage that drowned all fear. At every little advantage gained by us we all shouted and on a charge we all shouted as though our throats would burst. If it was not for this peculiar feeling, which I cannot better describe, there would be no battles fought.

Lieutenant John S. Robinson
Co. F, 7th Illinois Infantry

          About 1 o’clock, Colonel Cook spied a weak place in the breastworks and ordered the 2nd Iowa to charge them. (see "Buckeyes Among Hawkeyes: Ohioans at Fort Donelson with the 2nd Iowa.") They did so, fighting their way over the works with the rest of the brigade supporting them. We were held back a little in reserve. In a few minutes, the contest began to grow hot and we were ordered forward. We formed in line of battle under the heaviest fire, the iron whistling around and through us, the dead and dying thickly strewed over the ground and the wounded crying for water. After taking three pieces of artillery, driving them back, and planting our batteries so as to rake them if they came again, we were drawn back to a ravine close by where we camped for the night.

          The next morning, which was Sabbath, whilst we were getting ready for a long and bloody fight (filling canteens and laying aside whatever might be an encumbrance to us on the field), the news came that the enemy had surrendered the fort to us. Such a shout as rent the air from our thousands was never heard before. We then marched in and took possession. The assertion that the Rebels were in a starving condition, which we so often see in the papers, is a great mistake. They are bountifully supplied with provisions of the very best quality. Dried fruit, which we never see, they have in abundance as well as the best sugar and molasses. We are now living on the fat of the land.

General Charles F. Smith

Yesterday, I went over the battleground. Our loss is very large but we have won the greatest victory of the war having taken a strong fort, 12,000-15,000 prisoners, with Generals Buckner, Johnson, and Tilghman and all their ammunition, artillery, tents, and camp equipment. This place has cost the lives of many brave men whose bodies lay around in hundreds. All day yesterday was occupied in burying the dead, and although 40-50 were covered at a time, they have not got half through yet. The dead are put in pits 20-30 feet wide by 10 wide with nothing but their blankets spread over them before being covered with earth. There they lay, brave, misguided men, soon forgotten. On the battlefield where the two contending bodies of men met in deadly conflict, the leaves and ground are covered with blood. The black ambulances, men carrying away the wounded, the dead lying all around, some with a smile on their faces and others with features expressive of the greatest agony. It is a solemn place.

          During the battle, General Charles F. Smith, commanding our division, rode back and forth encouraging us and our regiment received his warmest praise. He told us he never saw a regiment behave so bravely as we did. And a Rebel colonel said that we formed a better line of battle than his regiment could on dress parade and that there was no use fighting such men. The flag which I fought under looked like a sieve after the fight. I will soon send home a Rebel flag and perhaps a sword and rifle I took from the field. So ends my first battle which has truly been a hard one. Our watchword is “Onward to Nashville.”

 Corporal Walker was discharged in the summer of 1862 and later served as a private in the Co. I of the 9th Michigan Cavalry. He died November 23, 1882, in Glen Ellen, Illinois and is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery under a government stone which notes his service with the 7th Illinois.

Source:

Letter from Corporal Allen R. Walker, Co. A, 7th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Hillsdale Standard (Michigan), February 25, 1862, pg. 2

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