Existing comment:
(Stop 3) Donelson's Attack:
Confederate Brigadier General Daniel Donelson had been given great responsibility. His brigade was to open the Confederate attack by assaulting the northern end of the Union defensive line. Once Donelson's brigade moved forward, other Southern troops would enter the battle. It was imperative for Donelson's men to strike quickly and forcefully.
Before Donelson's infantry deployed, Confederate cavalry rode through these fields, scouting out the Federal position and driving off a Union advance guard. The cavalry failed to see Union troops forming on the ridges to the northwest. Their inability to establish the northern end of the Union line would have disastrous results for Donelson's men.
Forming into two lines on the flat ground behind you. Donelson's brigade moved forward. Because the Federal troops were still deploying on the ridges to your front, Donelson's soldiers, instead of striking the northern end of the Union line, moved more toward the Union center. This faulty deployment from a lack of reconnaissance nearly destroying the opening Confederate attack.
Confederate General Braxton Bragg, commander of the Army of the Mississippi, tried to hit the Union army quickly and simultaneously in multiple locations. Donelson's attack launched the day's hostilities.
"... the whole line moved forward in beautiful order. All my conceptions of the hurrah and din and dust of battle were confounded by the cool, business-like operations going on before me. Those badly clothed, some shirtless, dirty and ragged-looking men walked into the harvest of death before them with all the composure and much less of the bustle that a merchant would exhibit in walking to his counting room after breakfast."
-- Reporter, Atlanta Southern Confederacy |