After the lopsided victory Union forces achieved at Fort Henry on February 6^th, 1862 the officers and men of Ulysses Grant’s army must have been brimming with confidence.  They would have been mistaken, however, if they thought Henry’s sister fort Donelson was to be just as easy to conquer.  150 years ago today Union forces had invested Fort Donelson along the banks of the Cumberland River and tightened their grip on the Confederates there.  One Union officer, William Ralls Morrison of the 49^th Illinois Infantry was on the front lines on February 13^th, 1862, and would find himself commanding troops in an attack which was not at all sanctioned by his commanding general.

Morrison was a native of Waterloo, Illinois born on September 14^th, 1824.  He showed promise growing up and went on to be college educated.  He started a law practice in Waterloo in 1855 and just before the Civil War entered state politics as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives.  When Illinois raised troops to fight the Civil War, Morrison took the lead in organizing the 49^th Illinois Infantry Regiment and secured the position of its colonel.  The 49^th was a part of what would become known as the Army of Tennessee, and was present under the overall command of Ulysses Grant in the winter of 1862.

Because of the surrender of Fort Henry after only the attack by the Union gunboats on the Tennessee River, Morrison and his men would not see combat until they reached Fort Donelson several miles to the east along the Cumberland River.  Little did they know that one of the reasons Fort Henry fell so easily was that it was held in such low regard by its Confederate commander that almost all of the Confederate soldiers stationed there were transferred to Donelson at the approach of the Union flotilla.  This move strengthened Donelson a great deal and ensured that fort would not fall as easily as Henry.

Union forces reached Fort Donelson on February 12^th, 1862 and began to position themselves to reduce the fort.  Grant and Commodore Foote did not possess the overwhelming force they did at Henry, so orders were not to bring on a major engagement until the time was right.  This did not stop some possibly overconfident Union generals from jumping the gun on an attack, and on February 13^th units from the divisions of John McClernand and C.F. Smith made uncoordinated efforts to snatch an early victory and the glory which would come from it.  Morrison was in the division of John McCLernand located on the southeastern side of the Union line.

Contrary to Grant’s orders, McClernand send Morrison’s brigade forward anticipating a meager Confederate response.  What happened was recorded by Morrison’s colleague Isham Haynie:

As Haynie reported, Morrison received a crippling wound which immediately took him out of action.  Morrison would remain in the Army until December, 1862 after a year of unsuccessfully trying to recover to take the field.  After the war he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois and served in the administration of President Grover Cleveland.  Morrison died in 1909 and is buried in Waterloo Cemetery in Waterloo, Illinois.