. Campaigns of the civil war . narrow. Eight additional guns werein the fort. Colonel Gilmer, going from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson,immediately began the tracing and constmction of works forinfantry defence. The river protected the east face of theposition, and the valley of Hickman Creek, tilled with back-water from the river, sufficiently guarded the north. Theline traced was two miles and a half long, following the re-cessions and salients. The right of the line, occupying aridge extending from creek to creek, was nearly parallelwith the river, and distant from it fourteen hundred yardsin
. Campaigns of the civil war . narrow. Eight additional guns werein the fort. Colonel Gilmer, going from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson,immediately began the tracing and constmction of works forinfantry defence. The river protected the east face of theposition, and the valley of Hickman Creek, tilled with back-water from the river, sufficiently guarded the north. Theline traced was two miles and a half long, following the re-cessions and salients. The right of the line, occupying aridge extending from creek to creek, was nearly parallelwith the river, and distant from it fourteen hundred yardsin an air-line. It was somewhat convex, i^rojecting to thefront about its centre, at the point where Porters battery wasafterward posted. The left, facing to the south and south-west, beginning just above Dover, on the point of a ridge FORT DONELSON. 35 extending nearly to the river between the two small brooks,continued out from the river along this ridge to its westernextremity, and thence across the valley of the small curved. Fort Donelson. stream described as encircling Dover and emptying into In-dian Creek, to a V-shaped eminence in the fork between thissmall stream and Indian Creek. This salient termination 3(5 FROM FORT HENRY TO CORINTH. was on the continuation of the line of the right or the westface of the infantry works. This i3oin,t was assigned toManeys battery and Heimans brigade. The line of infan-try defence was what came to be called, during the war,rifle-pit—a trench with the earth thrown up on the outerside. Batteries were constructed at nine points in the line,and armed with the guns of eight field batteries. The valley of Indian Creek made a break in the line ; therewas an interval at the creek between the portion occu2:)iedby Heimans line and the work on the ojiposite slope, after-ward the extreme left of General Buckners command. Theentire line on both faces, except the portion crossing thesmall valley or ravine to Heimans left, followed the face ofridges
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectuniteds, bookyear1881
