Atlas of Battles

battle, major, nineteenth century

Battle of Fort Donelson

Battle of Fort Donelson was a battle fought on 11 February 1862 at Fort Donelson, in what is now Tennessee, United States; it lasted 5 days. It was part of the American Civil War, which ran from 1861 to 1865. The recorded result: Union victory. Recorded strength: 24,531; 4 ironclads, 3 timberclads against 16,171.

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Battle of Fort Donelson
Kurz & Allison., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought11 February 1862lasted 5 days
WhereFort Donelson, Tennessee, United States36.493N, 87.856W
OutcomeUnion victory
BelligerentsUnited States (Union)againstConfederate States
Battlefield todayFort Donelson battlefieldNPS site TN002, 11,943 acres studied, 4,603 core
Part ofAmerican Civil War1861 to 1865

Where it sits in the American Civil War

Battle of Fort Sumter, 1861Battle of Cheat Mountain, 1861Battle of Canada Alamosa, 1861Battle of Pensacola, 1861Battle of Gloucester Point, 1861Battle of Sewell's Point, 1861Battle of Aquia Creek, 1861Battle of Fairfax Court House, 1861Battle of Arlington Mills, 1861Battle of Philippi, 1861Battle of Pig Point, 1861Battle of Big Bethel, 1861Battle of Boonville, 1861Battle of Cole Camp, 1861Battle of Mathias Point, 1861Battle of Hoke's Run, 1861Battle of Rich Mountain, 1861Battle of Corrick's Ford, 1861Battle of Scary Creek, 1861Battle of Blackburn's Ford, 1861First Battle of Mesilla, 1861Siege of Tubac, 1861Battle of Cookes Canyon, 1861Battle of the Florida Mountains, 1861Battle of Athens, 1861Battle of Charleston, 1861Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries, 1861Battle of Dry Wood Creek, 1861Battle of Carnifex Ferry, 1861Battle of Lewinsville, 1861Battle of Pinos Altos, 1861Battle of Greenbrier River, 1861Battle of Cockle Creek, 1861Battle of Santa Rosa Island, 1861Battle of the Head of 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Henry, 1862Battle of Roanoke Island, 1862Battle of Elizabeth City, 1862Battle of Fort Donelson, 1862Battle of Island Number Ten, 1862Battle of Hampton Roads, 1862Battle of New Bern, 1862First Battle of Kernstown, 1862Siege of Fort Macon, 1862Battle of the Brick Church, 1862Battle of Stanwix Station, 1862New Mexico Campaign, 1862Siege of Yorktown, 1862Battle of Albuquerque, 1862Battle of Peralta, 1862Battle of Picacho Pass, 1862Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, 1862Battle of South Mills, 1862Siege of Bridgeport, 1862Capture of New Orleans, 1862Skirmish at Paint Rock Bridge, 1862Battle of Clark's House, 1862Battle of Williamsburg, 1862Battle of Lebanon, 1862Battle of Eltham's Landing, 1862Battle of McDowell, 1862Second Battle of Dragoon Springs, 1862Battle of Plum Point Bend, 1862Battle of Drewry's Bluff, 1862Battle of Princeton Court House, 1862Battle of Pigeon Roost, 1862Battle of Whitney's Lane, 1862Capture of Tucson, 1862Battle of Front Royal, 1862Battle of Lewisburg, 1862First Battle of Winchester, 1862Battle of Hanover Court House, 1862First Battle of Pocotaligo, 1862Battle of Seven Pines, 1862Battle of Tranter's Creek, 1862First Battle of Memphis, 1862Battle of Good's Farm, 1862First Battle of Chattanooga, 1862Battle of Cross Keys, 1862Battle of Port Republic, 1862Battle of James Island, 1862Battle of Saint Charles, 1862Battle of the Cumberland Gap, 1862Battle of Simmon's Bluff, 1862Seven Days Battles, 1862Battle of Oak Grove, 1862Battle of Beaver Dam Creek, 1862Battle of Gaines's Mill, 1862Battle of Garnett's & Golding's Farm, 1862Battle of Savage's Station, 1862Battle of Glendale, 1862Battle of White Oak Swamp, 1862Battle of Tampa, 1862Peninsula Campaign, 1862Battle of Malvern Hill, 1862Second Battle of Mesilla, 1862Battle of Booneville, 1862Battle of Cotton Plant, 1862First Battle of Murfreesboro, 1862Battle of Apache Pass, 1862Battle of Baton Rouge, 1862Battle of Kirksville, 1862Battle of Cedar Mountain, 1862First Battle of Donaldsonville, 1862First Battle of Independence, 1862Battle of Compton's Ferry, 1862Battle of Yellow Creek, 1862First Battle of Rappahannock Station, 1862Manassas Station Operations, 1862Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, 1862Battle of Chantilly, 1862Battle of Britton's Lane, 1862Battle of Mile Hill, 1862Battle of Riggins Hill, 1862Battle of Fayetteville, 1862Battle of Harpers Ferry, 1862Defense of Cincinnati, 1862Battle of Munfordville, 1862Battle of Crampton's Gap, 1862Battle of Shepherdstown, 1862Battle of Iuka, 1862Battle of Augusta, 1862Second Battle of Corinth, 1862Joint Expedition Against Franklin, 1862Battle of Galveston Harbor, 1862Battle of Hatchie Bridge, 1862Battle of Perryville, 1862Battle of Old Fort Wayne, 1862Battle of Pocotaligo, 1862Battle of Georgia Landing, 1862Battle of Unison, 1862Battle of Clark's Mill, 1862Battle of Coffeeville, 1862Battle of Prairie Grove, 1862Battle of Hartsville, 1862Battle of White Hall, 1862Battle of Goldsboro Bridge, 1862Battle of Lexington, Tennessee, 1862Battle of Jackson, Tennessee, 1862Van Buren raid, 1862Capture of Van Buren, 1862Battle of Stones River, 1862Battle of Parker's Cross Roads, 1862Battle of Arkansas Post, 1863Battle of Galveston, 1863Second Battle of Winchester, 1863Battle of Williamsport, 1863Battle of Fort McAllister, 1863Fight at Monterey Pass, 1863Stoneman's 1863 Raid, 1863Battle of Chalk Bluff, 1863Battle of the Cumberland Gap, 1863Battle of Franklin's Crossing, 1863Battle of Fort Esperanza, 1863Battle of Ponchatoula, 1863Raid at Combahee Ferry, 1863Second Battle of Springfield, 1863Battle of Hartville, 1863Action off Galveston Light, 1863Battle of Deserted House, 1863Battle of Dover, 1863Fight at Aldie, 1863Battle of Thompson's Station, 1863Battle of Fort Anderson, 1863Battle of Kelly's Ford, 1863Battle of Vaught's Hill, 1863Battle of Brentwood, 1863Battle of Washington, 1863Battle of Somerset, 1863First Battle of Charleston Harbor, 1863Battle of Franklin, 1863Siege of Suffolk, 1863Battle of Suffolk (Hill's Point), 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527 placed engagements of the American Civil War in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date11 February 1862
to 16 February 1862
PlaceFort Donelson, Tennessee, United States
36.493N, 87.856W
KindBattle, nineteenth century
Territorial changeUnion forces capture all of Kentucky and much of Tennessee
Strength24,531; 4 ironclads, 3 timberclads16,171
Casualties and losses2,691 total; (507 killed,; 1,976 wounded,; 208 captured/missing); 4 ironclads damaged, 2 heavily13,846 total; (327 killed,; 1,127 wounded,; 12,392 captured/missing)
Commanders
  • John B. Floyd
  • Gideon Johnson Pillow
  • Simon Bolivar Buckner
Battle of Fort DonelsonBattle of Fort DonelsonBattle of DoverBattle of Fort HenryBattle of Riggins HillBattle of DoverBattle of Fort HenryBattle of Riggins Hill20 km36.493N, 87.856W
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. The dashed outline is the battlefield study area mapped by the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of Fort Donelson
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of Fort Donelson today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2024-08-27. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024.

The recorded site stands at about 137 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 106 to 225 m, 119 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 70% tree cover, 13% grassland, 10% water.

tree cover: 70%grassland: 13%water: 10%cropland: 4%built-up: 2%tree cover 70%grassland 13%water 10%cropland 4%built-up 2%
west to east, 10.0 km107 to 195 mnorth to south, 10.0 km107 to 193 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1862

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: CS ARMYDefender: US ARMY
Strength21,00027,000
Casualties2,000 (9.5%)2,609 (9.7%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 1047
Outcomedefender won
Duration1 day
Front width1.1 km1.1 km
Attacker advanced0 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 175), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

The National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program maps this as the Fort Donelson battlefield (site TN002): a study area of 11,943 acres, with a core area of 4,603 acres where the fighting was concentrated; 5,205 acres retain enough integrity to be potentially eligible for the National Register.

Battle of Fort Donelson is one of 3,507 engagements of the 19th century in the atlas and one of 1,148 in present-day United States (56 in Tennessee).

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q601359, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Fort Donelson, revision 1380654508, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Battlefield boundary and area from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (public domain). Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.