On February 11-16, 1862 combined Union army and naval forces of Brig. Gen. U.S. Grant and Flag Officer Andrew Foote, respectively, defeated the Confederate garrison at Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River commanded by Brig. Generals John Floyd and Simon Bolivar Buckner. The defeat opened up an advance for Federal forces into Middle Tennessee and elevated Grant’s military notoriety.
Franklin-Stones River Campaign
On December 26, 1862 Colonel Lewis Zahm’s Union cavalry brigade attacked a small Confederate cavalry force led by Colonel Baxter Smith. Zahm’s