Fort Organization of Forces, Forts Henry, Heiman & Donelson--Confederate

This information taken from: Forts Henry & Donelson: The Key to the Confederate Heartland by Benjamin Franklin Cooling. University of Tennessee Press, 1987.

TILGHMAN (approximately 2,700-3,300, Feb. 6, Fort Henry)

• 6 infantry regiments + 1 battalion
• 3 batteries of light and heavy artillery
• 2 battalions + 1 company + miscellaneous cavalry

1st Brigade (Heiman)

• 10th, 48th Tennessee Infantry
• 27th Alabama Infantry
• Culbertson’s Light Artillery Battery
• Gantt’s Battalion, Tennessee Cavalry

2nd Brigade (Drake)

• 4th Mississippi Infantry
• 15th Arkansas Infantry
• 51st Tennessee Infantry
• 26th Alabama (Garvin) Infantry (2 companies)
• Crain’s Light Artillery Battery
• Alabama Cavalry Battalion (Hubbard, Houston)
• Milner’s Cavalry Company
• Padgett’s Spy Company
• Milton’s Ranger Detachment

Taylor’s Company, Tennessee Artillery Corps

FLOYD (approximately 15,000-21,000, Feb 13-16, Fort Donelson)

• 27 infantry regiments + 1 battalion + 2 companies
• 9 artillery batteries (field guns, siege, seacoast)
• 2 cavalry regiments + 1 battalion

Pillow’s Division (B. Johnson)
Heiman’s Brigade

• 10th, 30th, 42nd, 48th, 53rd Tennessee Infantry
• 27th Alabama Infantry
• Maney’s Tennessee Battery Light Artillery

Drake’s Brigade

• 4th Mississippi Infantry
• 15th Arkansas Infantry
• 26th Alabama (Garvin) Infantry (2 companies)
• 1st Tennessee Battalion (Browder, Colms) Infantry

Simonton’s (Davidson’s) Brigade

• 1st, 3rd Mississippi Infantry
• 7th Texas Infantry
• 8th Kentucky Infantry

Baldwin’s Brigade (-) (Buckner)

• 26th Tennessee Infantry
• 20th, 26th Mississippi Infantry

Wharton’s Brigade (Floyd)

• 51st, 56th Virginia Infantry

McCausland’s Brigade (Floyd)

• 36th, 50th Virginia Infantry

Artillery

• Guy’s Battery, Goochland (Va.) Light Artillery (Floyd)
• Green’s Tennessee Battery Light Artillery
• French’s Virginia Battery Light Artillery (Floyd)

Buckner’s Division
Brown’s Brigade

• 3rd, 18th, 32nd Tennessee Infantry
• Porter’s Tennessee Battery Light Artillery
• Graves’ Cumberland Kentucky Battery Light Artillery

Baldwin’s Brigade

• 2nd Kentucky Infantry
• 14th Mississippi Infantry
• 41st Tennessee Infantry
• Jackson’s (Va.) Battery Light Artillery (Floyd)

Forrest’s Cavalry Brigade

• 3rd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment
• Gantt’s Tennessee Cavalry Regiment
• 1st Kentucky Cavalry Regiment

Fort Donelson Garrison (Head)

• 30th, 49th, 50th Tennessee Infantry
• Maury Tennessee Battery Light Artillery (Ross)
• Detachment Taylor’s Company Tennessee Artillery Corps (Stankiewicz)
• Water Battery Heavy Artillery (Culbertson)

Fort Organization of Forces, Forts Henry, Heiman & Donelson--Federal

This information taken from: Forts Henry & Donelson: The Key to the Confederate Heartland by Benjamin Franklin Cooling. University of Tennessee Press, 1987.

Federal Forces:

Army:
GRANT: (approximately 12,000, Feb. 6; approximately 25,000, Feb. 16.)

• 37 infantry regiments + 1 company
• 8 artillery batteries (field guns)
• 2 cavalry regiments + 4 independent companies

First Division (McClernand)
1st Brigade (Oglesby)

• 8th, 18th, 29th, 30th, 31st Illinois Infantry
• Battery D, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery (Dresser)
• Battery E, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery (Schwartz ) (Gumbart)
• Companies A, B, 2nd Illinois Cavalry (Noble)
• Company C, 2nd US Cavalry (Powell)
• Company I, 4th US Cavalry (Powell)
• Carmichael’s Illinois Cavalry
• Dollins’ Illinois Cavalry
• O’Harnette’s Illinois Cavalry
• Stewart’s Illinois Cavalry (King)

2nd Brigade (W.H.L. Wallace)

• 11th, 20th, 45th, 48th Illinois Infantry
• Battery B, 1st Illinois Light Artillery (Taylor)
• Battery D, 1st Illinois Light Artillery (McAllister)
• 4th Illinois Cavalry (Dickey)
• 3rd Brigade (Morrison—wounded, Feb. 13, command passed to W.H.L. Wallace on
• Feb. 15, Ross senior officer present)
• 17th, 49th Illinois Infantry

Second Division (C.F. Smith)
1st Brigade (McArthur)

• 9th, 12th, 41st Illinois Infantry

3rd Brigade (Cook)

• Battery D, 1st Missouri Light Artillery (Richardson)
• Battery H, 1st Missouri Light Artillery (Welker)
• Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery (Stone)
• 7th, 50th Illinois Infantry
• 12th Iowa Infantry
• 13th Missouri Infantry

4th Brigade (Lauman)

• 25th Indiana Infantry
• 2nd, 7th, 14th Iowa Infantry
• Birge’s Western Sharpshooters

5th Brigade (M.L. Smith)

• 8th Missouri Infantry
• nth Indiana Infantry

Third Division (L. Wallace)
1st Brigade (Cruft)

• 31st, 44th Indiana Infantry
• 17th, 25th Kentucky Infantry

2nd Brigade (attached to 3rd Brigade)

• 46th, 57th, 58th Illinois Infantry

3rd Brigade (Thayer)

• 1st Nebraska Infantry
• 58th, 68th, 76th Ohio Infantry

Not Brigaded

• Company A, 32nd Illinois Infantry
• Battery A, 1st Illinois (Chicago) Light Artillery (Wood)

Navy:
FOOTE: (6-8 iron- and timber-clad gunboats)

At Fort Henry
Cincinnati (Stembel); Essex (Porter); Carondelet (Walke); St. Louis (Paulding); Conestoga (Phelps); Tyler (Gwinn); Lexington (Shirk)

At Fort Donelson
St. Louis (Paulding); Carondelet (Walke); Louisville (Dove); Pittsburg (Thompson); Tyler (Gwinn); Conestoga (Phelps)

Fort Heiman, Kentucky: An *Almost* Forgotten U.S. Civil War Fort

Fort Heiman is a somewhat unknown part of the Fort Henry/Fort Donelson battle of 1862. There is very little information available on Fort Heiman at the moment. While there is a little more information available today about Fort Heiman than when I first started researching the U.S. Civil War 15+ years ago, unfortunately, when you are lucky enough to come across anything about it it's usually just a passing mention in the accounts of the Fort Henry/Fort Donelson battle.

Fort Heiman was a Confederate battery during the early stages of the United States Civil War (1861-1865). It was named after Colonel Adolphus Heiman and in December of 1861 was "constructed" across the river from Fort Henry. Both forts were situated in an area where they could easily spot and stop river traffic. While Fort Heiman was located on a hill Fort Henry was located on low, swampy land. On February 4, 1862 Fort Heiman was abandoned when General Lloyd Tilghman (Confederate commander in charge of Forts Henry and Donelson) realized Fort Henry was doomed to fall. Fort Henry was taken on February 6, 1862 and by February 8, 1862 it was completely underwater. Fort Donelson fell to the Union Army on Febuary 16, 1862.

Unfortunately, the gentleman who owned the property Fort Heiman is located on could not keep it. The land was divided up into lots and sold to the highest bidder. Historians and local politicians have worked hard to bring a bit of attention to the plight of Fort Heiman and thanks to their efforts the fort was saved!

A $60,000 federal land grant was awarded to Calloway County, Kentucky to go towards the preservation of the lands comprising Fort Heiman. The Fort has been on the National Register since December 12, 1976. I have scans of newspaper articles related to this grant that I will post later.

On October 30, 2006 Calloway County, Kentucky transferred 150 acres belonging to Fort Heiman to the National Park Service. The NPS now manages the land of Fort Heiman and it has become part of the Fort Donelson National Battlefield.

I have been lucky enough to visit the Fort Heiman location several times and on two occasions snapped some photographs that I will be posting over the next few days. The first set of photographs were taken in the late 1980's so quite a bit has changed since. The second set of photographs were taken on June 8, 2002. They are new photos of what remains of Fort Heiman--which isn't much. Each set of photographs are contained in their own post and there is a description of each photo.

I truly hope you enjoy the photos of a little-mentioned and mostly forgotten part of the United States Civil War. Hopefully, Fort Heiman, now that it is under the preservation and control of the National Parks Service it will be able to take its rightful place in the history books along with Forts Henry and Donelson.