Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/746

696 against Fort Henry, Buckner was assigned to the defense of Fort Donelson as third in command under Floyd and Pillow. In the battle of February i4th, before Fort Donelson, he bore a distinguished part in the attack, at first successful, against the Federal lines. In the council of war which followed the repulse of this sortie, he maintained that their duty was to hold out as long as possible to allow the concentration of the main army at Nashville, saying, For my part I will stay with the men and share their fate.&quot; After his release from Fort Warren, and exchange, he rejoined the army at Chattanooga, and being promoted major-general took command of a division of Hardee’s corps, which he led in the campaign in Kentucky, and fought skillfully at the battle of Perryville. Subsequently he was put in command at Knoxville, and at Chickamauga he sustained his reputation as an able commander, fighting in the left wing in command of a corps consisting of the divisions of A. P. Stewart, William Preston and Bushrod Johnson. Writing of his position within the Federal lines toward evening on the 20th, General D. H. Hill says: &quot;It was reported to me that a line was advancing at right angles to ours. I rode to the left to ascertain whether they were friends or foes, and soon recognized Buckner. The cheers that went up when the two wings met, were such as I have never heard before and shall never hear again.&quot; His gallant conduct in this battle and the glorious achievements of the men under his command richly merited the promotion to lieutenant-general which was made September 20, 1864. He was subsequently in command of the department of East Tennessee to April, 1864, and being transferred to the Trans-Mississippi department was assigned to the command of the district of West Louisiana and afterward of the district of Arkansas and West Louisiana. As chief of staff of General Kirby Smith he negotiated the surrender of his department, after which he made his residence in New Orleans, the terms of capitulation not