had won the day alone. But it was the fear of Grant's
approaching army that hurried the escaping garrison. An hour after
the surrender Grant rode in and took command. That night victors
and vanquished were dining together when a fussy staff officer came
in to tell Grant that he could not find the Confederate reports.
On this Captain Jesse Taylor, the chief Confederate staff officer,
replied that he had destroyed them. The angry Federal then turned
on him with the question, "Don't you know you've laid yourself
open to punishment?" and was storming along, when Grant quietly
broke in: "I should be very much surprised and mortified if one
of my subordinate officers should allow information which he could
destroy to fall into the hands of the enemy."

The surrender of Fort Henry, coming so soon after Prestonburg and
Logan's Cross Roads, caused great rejoicing in the loyal North. The
victory, effective in itself, was completed by sending the ironclad
_Carondelet_ several miles upstream to destroy the Memphis-Ohio
railway bridge, thus cutting the shortest line from Bowling Green to
the Mississippi. But the action, in which the army took no part,
was only a preliminary skirmish compared with the joint attack of
the fleet and army on Fort Donelson. Fort Donelson was of great
strategic importance. If it held fast, and the Federals were defeated,
then Johnston's line would probably hold from Bowling Green to
Columbus, and the rails, roads, and rivers would remain Confederate
in western Tennessee. If, on the other hand, Fort Donelson fell,
and more especially if its garrison surrendered, then Johnston's
line would have to be withdrawn at once, lest the same fate should
overtake the outflanked remains of it. Both sides understood this
perfectly well; and all concerned looked anxiously to see how the
new Federal commander, General Grant, would face the crisis.

Ulysses Simpson Grant came of sturdy New England stock, being eighth
in descent from Matthew Grant, who landed in 1630 and was Surveyor
of Connecticut for over forty years. Grant's mother was one of
the Simpsons who had been Pennsylvanians for several generations.
His family was therefore as racy of the North as Lee's was of the
South. His great-grandfather and great-granduncle, Noah and Solomon
Grant, held British commissions during the final French-and-Indian
or Seven Years' War (1756-63) when both were killed in the same
campaign. His grandfather Noah served all through