150 years ago today the Union flotilla on the Cumberland River commanded by Commodore Foote attempted to repeat its success at Fort Henry the previous week.  The Union sailors would be surprised, however, as Fort Donelson was not almost vacant and not under water as Henry had been.  When the gunboats came under the muzzles of the Confederate guns the officer commanding the defense, Jacob Culbertson, unleashed a deadly hail of iron which tore into the Union fleet.  Before the day was over Culbertson and his men sent the gunboats floating downstream completely crippled and unable to support the rest of Grant’s operations there.

We know Culbertson was a native of Kentucky, and that he began studies at West Point in July of 1846.  He graduated in 1850 seventh in his class and was commissioned into the artillery.  Culbertson’s service up until the Civil War included stations at Key West, Florida, Fort Hamilton, New York and Fort Mackinac, Michigan until he returned to West Point where he resigned from the Army in January of 1857.  Returning to Alexandria, Kentucky, Culbertson became a school teacher and also farmed.

When the Civil War broke out he put his allegiance with the Confederacy and was commissioned an officer in the Confederate artillery.  In mid-February of 1862 he was stationed at Fort Donelson as second in command of that post’s heavy guns facing the Cumberland River.  On February 13^th, 1862 the USS Carondelet, a lone Union gunboat, tested the fort’s defenses without doing much damage except for dismounting one Confederate gun which killed Culbertson’s superior Captain Jacob Dixon.  This meant that Culbertson ascended to command of Fort Donelson’s two water batteries which would come under serious attack the following day.

Culbertson detailed the events of February 14^th in his official report after the surrender of Fort Donelson:

Above: A depiction of the attack made by the Union gunboats from Harper’s Weekly.

On the other side of the Confederate guns, Commodore Foote was humbled by Culbertson’s fire which in no way resembled the meager resistance put up by Fort Henry.  The following is from Foote’s report:

The fire which Culbertson directed that day would deny Grant the advantage of firepower from the gunboats for the rest of his campaign, however it ended up mattering very little as the Battle of Fort Donelson played out.

After the Civil War Culbertson returned to Alexandria, Kentucky where he resumed work as a school teacher until his death in 1886 at the age of 56.