After successfully repelling the Union gunboats on February 14^th, the Confederate garrison at Fort Donelson may have had some hope that their position could hold.  The Confederate commanders there, however, resolved that it would be better to escape their besieged position and planned an assault which was designed to open an escape route.  Initially successful, the assault did open the road to escape the grip of Grant’s army but the federals took back the initiative with a series of counterattacks which nullified the initial Confederate gains.  General Charles F. Smith’s Union division held the extreme left flank of the Union line which was untouched during the early Confederate assault.  Seizing the initiative Grant ordered Smith to attack on his front and set the stage for the resolution of the Battle of Fort Donelson.

Charles F. Smith was born April 24^th, 1807 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in the Class of 1825.  One of Smith’s classmates was Daniel S. Donelson, the man who Fort Donelson was named after.  Unlike Donelson who resigned a year after graduation to pursue a civilian career, Smith chose a lifetime in the Army.  He spent time station with the garrison at Fort Delaware and oversaw an Arsenal in Augusta, Georgia before returning to West Point as an instructor.  From 1829 to 1842 Smith worked at West Point in various roles but for most of his time was an instructor of infantry tactics.  Shortly after his tenure at West Point, Smith was sent to Texas where the Mexican War was brewing.

Smith entered the Mexican War in command of an artillery battalion and instantly showed a great ability to lead in combat at the early battle of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.  After fighting in some of the war’s most intense combat, Smith left Mexico in 1848 a brevet colonel and a reputation as a hard fighting officer.  In the years in between the Mexican and Civil Wars Smith was stationed a posts from coast to coast.  When states in the South began to secede in December of 1860, Smith was a lieutenant colonel in command of the Department of Utah. 

In August of 1861 Smith was given the rank of brigadier general of volunteers and sent to Kentucky.  He became a division commander in what would become the Army of the Tennessee and embarked as a part of the campaign which would capture Forts Henry and Donelson.  After the surrender of Fort Henry, Smith’s men marched overland to Fort Donelson and took up a position on the Union left flank.  On February 13^th units from Smith’s command took part in the small, unsuccessful Union assaults on the Confederate works, and they would have certainly heard the exchange of fire between Commodore Foote’s gunboats and the Confederate water batteries on February 14^th.

On February 15^th the Confederate garrison shifted most of its manpower to the Union right flank where Union General John McClernand’s Division was posted.  In the early morning hours the Confederates unleashed a furious assault which drove the federals back and opened the way for an escape to open ground.  The Confederate general in command of the breakout, Gideon Pillow, did not fully exploit his gains, however and left Grant with the opportunity to counterattack.  On the Union right the division of Lew Wallace pushed back the Confederates back to their original lines and on the left Charles F. Smith’s Division faced Confederate trenches filled with only a skeleton force.

Smith’s men rushed forward and overwhelmed the thin line of Confederates left to defend that end of the line.  Dark prevented Smith from moving forward any further, but having seized the outer works there was nothing in between Smith and Fort Donelson proper the following day.  Having failed to follow through their morning assaults and losing key ground on their right flank, the Confederate commanders had a gloomy decision to make concerning the fate of their command.

After Fort Donelson Smith was lauded as a hero and the charge which he led was credited with sealing Union victory.  Heading for a meteoric rise in command, Smith injured himself while moving from a steamer into a small boat.  He broke a bone in his lower leg and was unable to move for several weeks.  Combined with the cold weather, the weakened state which his injury rendered him resulted in a devastating illness.  During the Battle of Shiloh in early April Smith was bedridden and lamented not being able to participate.  Not long after, just after his 55^th birthday, Smith died of dysentery in Savannah, Tennessee on April 25^th, 1862.  His body was returned to Philadelphia where he was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery.  Smith was one notable commander who may well have had a much larger role in the Civil War had he not died tragically.