For our final trip from our base at NBF state park, we headed north to Fort Donelson. This (along with Fort Henry — now under the water of Kentucky Lake) was the battle that started U.S. Grant on the path from relative obscurity to the becoming the Lieutenant General in command of all Union forces. It was his success here — and particularly his famous terms of surrender to the Confederate forces at Donelson — that earned him is nickname Unconditional Surrender (US) Grant.

As part of the war effort victories at both Fort Henry and Donelson opened up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers respectively. This gave the Union armies tremendous access (with obvious supply routes using the rivers) into Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Here is a map of the route we travelled and a couple of photos taken at Donelson: