Gallery: Actions in the fall of 1861 and early 1862
Fort Donelson Flag Fragment
This fragment of flag captured at Fort Donelson on February 8, 1862 has the following inscription:
“Portion of a Rebel Flag
Captured at
Fort Donelson
By The Jessie Scouts
Feby 8th 1862.”
The Jessie Scouts were Union soldiers who operated in the Southern states on intelligence gathering missions. The unit was created by John C. Fremont and named in honor of his wife; they were commanded by Major Henry Young.
On February 8, 1862 General Ulysses S. Grant ordered the Scouts to the rear of the Union lines because of their “exaggerated and untrue” reports.
A Captain Carpenter of the “Jessie Scouts” wrote this account, which appeared in Frank Moore’s Anecdotes, Poetry and Incidents of the War: North and South. 1860-1865 (1867):
“I went into Fort Henry two days before the attack on it, and brought General Grant an accurate account of the position and number of the rebel forces and defenses. I have General Grant’s letter certifying to that. Also I went into Fort Donelson, while our troops lay at Fort Henry. I went in there in Confederate uniform; and I have General McClernand’s letter to show that I brought him information which proved to be accurate. On my way out a cavalry force passed me, while I lay by the roadside; and its commander told one of his men to leave a fine flag, which he feared would be torn on the way. The flag was stuck into the road, that a returning rebel picket might carry it in. But I got it, wrapped it around my body, and rode into Fort Henry with it.”
The Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 11th to 16th, 1862; the capture of the fort by Union forces under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant opened the Cumberland River as an avenue for invasion into the South. Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner was forced into unconditional surrender, earning General Grant the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31300
