Today in History:

634 Series I Volume VII- Serial 7 - Ft. Henry-Ft. Donelson

Page 634 OPERATIONS IN KY.,TENN.,N. ALA.,AND S. W. VA. Chapter XVII.

Divisions and Colonel McArthur's brigade, which for the present will be attached for orders to the Second Division.

The First Division will guard all roads and passes into the entrenchments from the river above Dover to the road leading west to Fort Henry.

The Second Division, with the brigades attached, will guard from the Fort Henry road to the river below the fort, and furnish the guard for the fort.

The Fourth Division, now organizing, will furnish all other guards, such as for the commissary and quartermaster stores at steamboat landing, hospitals,&c.

Brigadier General S. A. Hurlbut will have special charge of the interior police regulations of the camps inside of the grounds occupied by the other division.

By order of Brigadier-General Grant:

JNO. A. RAWLINS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

LOUISVILLE, February 18, 1862

Major-General HALLECK:

General O. M. Mitchel reports from Bowling Green yesterday as follows:

We have reliable information that the enemy has fallen back from Clarksville, and was concentrating heavy force at Nashville, and justifying the railroad engineers' reports that four days since a fleet of fifteen boats passed Memphis, ascending the river.

D. C. BUELL,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

CAMP JOHN Q. ADAMS,

February 18, 1862

General D. C. BUELL:

With incredible labor, in rain and mud, our ferries, two in number, have been established, our roads are completed, our trains and artillery are in motion. I hope to accomplish the crossing of the entire baggage trains, with the artillery, to-day. Forty wagon loads of supplies, giving us two days' rations, will be up this morning. One hundred and twenty additional teams will arrive during to-day, and to-morrow I shall advance the head of the column some 20 miles, leaving this position to be occupied by McCook.

My ammunition requiring 30 wagons for its transportation, is stored at Green River, under a guard, and I hope may be brought forward by rail. Our cartridge boxes and limber-chests are full.

I learn from reliable source that no enemy can be found short of Clarksville, and very few are there.

I shall await your orders with anxiety as to the final direction you will give my column. Our troops have been worked up to their highest endurance by rapid marches, outpost and fatigue duty, and the rest of a day or two awaiting orders will be of great service.

The turnpike bridge should be rebuilt at the earliest possible moment. I find that our ferry-boats are not to be relied upon for the passage of an army. I have neither time nor material for constructing a better an army. I have neither time nor material for constructing a better mode of crossing. I trust the railroad and telegraph line will soon be


Page 634 OPERATIONS IN KY.,TENN.,N. ALA.,AND S. W. VA. Chapter XVII.