ender. But Grant had made up his mind that compromise
was out of place in civil war and that absolute defeat or victory
were the only alternatives. So he instantly wrote back the famous
letter which quickly earned him the appropriate nickname--suggested
by his own initials--of Unconditional Surrender Grant.

Hd Qrs., Army in the Field
Camp near Donelson Feb'y 16th 1882

Gen. S. B. Buckner,
Confed. Army.

Sir: Yours of this date proposing armistice, and appointment of
Commissioners to settle terms of capitulation is just received.
No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be
accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works

I am, Sir, very respectfully,
Your obt. sert.,
U. S. GRANT
Brig. Gen.

Grant and Buckner were old army friends; so their personal talk
was very pleasant at the little tavern where Buckner and his staff
had just breakfasted off corn bread and coffee, which was all the
Confederate stores afforded.

Donelson at once became, like Grant, a name to conjure with. The
fact that the Union had at last won a fight in which the numbers
neared, and the losses much exceeded, those at Bull Run itself, the
further fact that this victory made a fatal breach in the defiant
Southern line beyond the Alleghanies, and the delight of discovering
another, and this time a genuine, hero in "Unconditional Surrender
Grant," all combined to set the loyal North aflame with satisfaction,
pride, and joyful expectation. Great things were expected in Virginia,
where the invasion had not yet begun. Great things were expected
in the Gulf, where Farragut had not yet tried the Mississippi.
And great things were expected to result from Donelson itself,
whence the Union forces were to press on south till they met other
Union forces pressing north. The river campaign was then to end
in a blaze of glory.

Donelson did have important results. Johnston, who had already
abandoned Bowling Green for Nashville, had now to abandon Nashville,
with most of its great and very sorely needed stores, as well as
the rest of Tennessee, and take up a new position along the rails
that ran from Memphis to Chattanooga, whence they forked northeast
to Richmond and Washington and southeast to Charleston and Savannah.
Columbus was also abandoned, and the only points left to the
Confederates anywhere near the old line were Isla