Rice House

At 1:30 a.m. on February 16, 1862, during a final council of war in the Rice house at the corner of Pillow and Petty streets, Confederate Generals Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner concluded that their failed breakout attempt made surrender inevitable. Floyd, fearing capture and prosecution in the North, turned over command to Pillow, who passed it to Buckner. Buckner agreed to remain and surrender the fort and what was left of the army. Pillow escaped by small boat across the Cumberland in the night, Floyd left the next morning on a steamer with two regiments of Virginia infantry, Forrest and 700 troopers escaped through the icy waters of Lick Creek, and Bushrod Johnson, Pillow's second in command, walked away. Buckner then wrote Grant requesting an armistice and terms of surrender.

Dover, Tennessee · United States