Samuel K. Cox (from Ohio County)
This is
Union soldier Samuel Cox's account of the capture of Fort Donelson.
April
1862
I awoke
this morning bright and early, half frozen, having slept on the cold ground
without any cover save that of the Heavens, and I was almost sorry that I was
not wounded on Saturday, for I felt confident that it was my last day, and I am
sure that it would have been had we stormed the Fort. At sun-up we received the
joyful information that the Fort had surrendered. I supposed we had about
50,000 troops, and one can imagine the noise we made, for cheer after cheer was
sent up for miles around. We then marched into the Fort and there was a general
stacking of arms. I talked with a great many Southerners and they seemed to
think that we had whipped them fairly and were willing to surrender. I met
several old acquaintances from Hartford, Ky who appeared to be glad to see me
and expressed a wish that I might get through safely. (I say ditto).
We
captured from thirteen to twenty thousand prisoners and a great many more made
their escape through the night. General Floyd Pillow and Johnston among the
rest. General Buckner said he would not go unless he could take his men with
him, for they had stood by him and he intended to remain a prisoner with them.
(Manly of him) There was an immense amount of army stores and may large guns,
the number I do not know. We remained in the Fort but traveled some two miles
and camped for the night (The spot we selected being six inches in the mud.)
I have
not given, and cannot give a satisfactory account of the battle, for my pen is
inadequate to the task. It would take a Clay or a Webster to picture it as it
occurred. Nor can anyone who has not seen the horrors of war imagine the scenes
presented in that great battle. The groans of the dying and wounded were
everywhere. Men were killed in every imaginable way, some with legs blown off,
and a number with their heads shot off by cannon balls. It was horrible to
behold.
The
number of killed and wounded I am as yet ignorant of, but will say at a rough
guess, 2,000 killed and as many wounded.
Civil War Diary of Samuel K. Cox
Edited by Dr. Richard J. Reid
Owensboro-Daviess County Public Library Special Collections
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