ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 349 Cairo after an absence of less than a day, he found Fremont's order, already exe- cuted, awaiting him. He also took possession of Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland River. With a force of 3,100 men General Grant made an incursion into Missouri to break up a rebel camp at Belmont, where he fought his first battle in the Rebellion. He had accomplished his purpose, when the enemy was reinforced from Columbus, on the other side of the river, and though he brought off his command in safety he narrowly escaped capture himself. Fremont was super- seded by Halleck, and for the next two months Grant was employed in organiz- ing and drilling troops. Columbus, with 140 cannon and full of men and mate- rial, closed the Mississippi. The Confederate line of defence against the invasion of the South extended from this point across the country, including Fort Henry on the Tennessee and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, the latter mounting forty guns, with quarters for 20,000 soldiers. Grant was studying this line of defence, devising a plan to break through it. By order of General Halleck he had sent out a reconnoissance in force, under General Smith, who reported to him that the capture of Fort Henry was practi- cable. Grant forwarded this report to the commander of the department, and asked for permission to attack it. This was refused in sharp and curt terms. A written application, earnestly seconded by Commodore Foote, who had brought the gunboat service up to a state of efficiency in the West, secured the desired order. With 1 7,000 men, in connection with 7 gunboats undjer the command of the commodore. Grant started upon his mission the day after he received the order. Fort Henry was captured, though the army was not engaged. The main body of the Confederate force escaped to Fort Donelson. The capture of Fort Henry cheered the army and the people. Grant tele- graphed the result of the attack to Halleck, and announced his intention to pro- ceed against Fort Donelson. Leaving 2,500 men to garrison the fort, Grant marched with 15,000 from Fort Henry, while a considerable addition to his force came up the river. The fortification was invested, and after three days of per- sistent fighting in cold, snow, and hunger, the fort surrendered. The gunboats were severely handled by the water batteries of the enemy, and the commodore was badly wounded, so that most of the work fell upon the army. It was a brilliant victory, and the loyal nation resounded with the praises of Grant. This was the pointer to the fame he afterward achieved. His reply to the rebel general, " I propose to move immediately on your works," was repeated all over the country, and the initials of his name came to mean " Unconditional Surrender," the terms he had demanded of the commander of the fort. The strategetic line of the Confederates was broken, and new dispositions of their forces became necessary on account of this important victory ; Columbus was abandoned, and its men and material sent to Island No. 10. The battle of Pittsburg landing, or Shiloh, as it is called in the South, followed under Grant's command. It was a bloody and hotly contested action, and not as decisive as that of Donelson. The ground was held, and the arrival of Buel with reinforce-
