The Opening Attack

Confederate Brigadier General Daniel Donelson was assigned to open the Confederate attack by assaulting the northern end of the Union defensive line, after which other Southern troops would join the battle. Before his infantry deployed, Confederate cavalry rode through these fields, scouted the Federal position, and drove off a Union advance guard, but failed to detect Union troops forming on ridges to the northwest. That failure to identify the northern end of the Union line had disastrous consequences for Donelson’s men. Earlier detachments had removed two of his five regiments and his artillery support, leaving him to make this crucial attack with only three regiments and fewer than 1,000 men. Climbing up the cliffs from the Chaplin River behind you, the 16th Tennessee Regiment arrived first and was immediately ordered to attack. Advancing alone, it ran into heavy shot and shell. The 15th and 38th Tennessee regiments soon joined it, and together they pressed on. But because Federal troops were still deploying on the ridges to the front, Donelson’s soldiers struck not the northern end of the Union line but more toward the Union center, and this faulty deployment caused by inadequate reconnaissance nearly destroyed the opening Confederate attack.

Kentucky · United States