Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/191

 duty. Curtis had been promoted to Brigadier-General, and, on the 6th of September, Tuttle was promoted to colonel, and James Baker to lieutenant-colonel. Crocker was appointed Colonel of the Thirteenth Regiment, on the 30th of October. While guarding a museum in St. Louis, the Second Regiment was held responsible for the disappearance of some of the property, and upon order of General Halleck, was publicly disgraced.

The year 1861 closed with a general feeling of disappointment and gloom on the part of the loyal people of the country. The defeats at Bull Run and Ball’s Bluff had seemed to paralyze the commanders of the great army gathered about the National Capital. McClellan, from whom much was expected, having an army of nearly 200,000, was cooped up in Washington, with Rebel batteries commanding the Potomac, and not a movement made against them. The army had gone into winter quarters, with Washington virtually besieged by the Army of Virginia. BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON

General Grant, who was in command at Cairo, could however, fight battles in the winter. Early in February he moved his army of 15,000 to the Tennessee River, and in conjunction with Commander Foote with a fleet of gunboats ascended the river and captured Fort Henry, thus opening the way for the Union army into the heart of Tennessee. Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, was garrisoned with a Rebel army of 15,000, and was defended by water batteries and heavy guns. Grant marched against it promptly and Commodore Foote coöperated with the fleet of gunboats. The river attack by Commodore Foote on the 14th, failed. The next day General Pillow made a desperate attack upon General Grant’s lines, force McClernand back some distance and captured a battery. Grant reinforced the weakened points, and, at 3 p.m., ordered a general advance, Wallace leading the attack on