How Did The Confederate Battle Affect The Union's Victory?

Leadership of the forces, and the morale of each army, played an important role in the Union’s victory over the Confederate forces at Fort Donelson. Unity of command was lacking on the Confederate side, and their overall morale was suffering. The Union forces had just completed an easy victory at Fort Henry, and expected to have similar success at Fort Donelson. General Grant also had better working relationships with his senior Officers, and his division commanders were willing to exercise initiative when faced with a situation not covered in his instructions. The morale and mindset of the Confederate leadership had been adversely affected. They had suffered a quick defeat at Fort Henry. The Confederate forces at Fort Donelson had received orders to delay the enemy while General Johnston withdrew from Bowling Green. Then they were to retreat, preserving as much of their army …show more content…
General Johnston did not explicitly define the command structure at Fort Donelson, and command devolved to General Floyd. After driving off Admiral Foote’s ironclads, the decision was made to force the Union’s right flank back to allow the Confederate forces to withdraw from Fort Donelson. The initial breakout was to take place on February 14, but was cancelled by General Pillow at the last minute when his aide was killed, leading him to suspect that the Confederate preparations had been detected. That night the Confederate Generals met again and decided to execute a breakout at 0500 the next morning. However, not all of the subordinate commanders were present at the meeting, and the Generals each left with a different concept of how the breakout was supposed to occur. Further disorganizing the plan, one of the Confederate brigade commanders went to the hospital without giving the orders to move or placing a subordinate in command with appropriate authority, causing the attack to begin