150 years ago today the Confederacy suffered a major strategic blow when the stronghold at Fort Donelson surrendered to Ulysses Grant. The surrender not only opened up Tennessee and the Deep South to invasion, it also put a few Confederate officers at the fort in precarious positions. The commanding general at Fort Donelson, John B. Floyd, had barely more than year beforehand been Secretary of War under President James Buchanan. If a successful case for treason was to be made against any former US Government officials, Floyd would have been a good candidate. Knowing this very well, he made special arrangements and, 150 years ago today, slipped away as almost 15,000 of his men were captured.
Floyd was born the son of an influential Virginia family in Blacksburg in 1806. His father was a prominent politician and had been Governor of Virginia in the 1830’s. Floyd was well educated and grew up to be a lawyer before turning to politics beginning in the late 1840’s. While serving as Governor of Virginia in 1857, Floyd was selected to be the new Secretary of War under newly elected President James Buchanan. The man he replaced in that office was Jefferson Davis. Floyd had an unfortunate tenure in his post and resigned under some controversy surrounding possible wrong doing. After his resignation Congress then investigated actions he took in the wake of John Brown’s 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, which included sending thousands of weapons to southern armories- certainly a suspicious act as the country tumbled into Civil War.
Above: James Buchanan (standing, center) and his cabinet. Floyd is seen seated third from the left and another future Confederate general, Howell Cobb, can been seen standing to the right of Buchanan.
Despite is less than stellar track record as Secretary of War, Floyd was given a commission to brigadier general in the Confederate Army. His first command was in Western Virginia, where he commanded troops at the Battle of Carnifex Ferry, a defeat where Floyd was wounded. After recovering, Floyd was sent west and given an infantry division charged with protecting the canter of a long Confederate defensive line which straddled the border of Kentucky and Tennessee. It was there his men became part of the force pent up by Ulysses Grant at Fort Donelson.
Floyd, fearing retribution should be fall into Union hands, snuck out of Fort Donelson along with several of his Virginia regiments on boats in the hours before sunrise on February 16th, 1862.
Above: The surrender of Fort Donelson, as depicted on the cover of the March 1st, 1862 edition of Harper’s Weekly.
Floyd escaped back to Virginia, where he was relieved of his rank by Jefferson Davis in early March. Shortly afterwards, Floyd’s health began to fail and resulted in his death in August of 1863. Floyd is buried in Sinking Spring Cemetery in Abingdon, Virginia.