The flotilla of gunboats, which had been so long in course of preparation on the Ohio and Mississippi, was now ready to take part in the impending battles of the nation, and to assume that prominence in the momentous events which were to follow to which they have proved themselves justly entitled.
Flag-officer Andrew H. Foote was appointed by the Government to command the naval forces on the Upper Mississippi and the Western waters, and now led forth his gallant fleet to attack the enemy, in conjunction with the land forces under General Ulysses S. Grant. The fleet consisted of
Fleet Officers.—Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote; Fleet Captain, Commodore A. M. Pennock; Ordnance Officer, Lieutenant J. F. Sanford; Ordnance Lieutenant, Byron Wilson; Flag Lieutenant, James M. Prickett. Essex, 9 guns, Commander William D. Porter. St. Louis, 13 guns, Lieutenant-Commanding Leonard Paulding. Cincinnati, 13 guns, Commander R. N. Stembel. Carondelet, 13 guns, Commander Henry Walke. Conestoga, 9 guns, Lieutenant-Commanding —— Phelps. Tyler, 9 guns, Lieutenant-Commanding W. Gwin.
For several days, at Paducah, the utmost vigilance was exercised at the headquarters of the Provost Marshal, in issuing passes, and on Sunday and Monday, the 3d February, no persons were allowed in or out of the lines. Half a dozen gunboats steamed leisurely into port and brought their black forms to anchor opposite the levee, in the centre of the river.
Monday afternoon, steamers commenced coming up from Cairo, laden with troops and stores, and by night the whole landing in front of the town was crowded with the arrivals. The fleet which came up brought General Grant and Staff, and the first division, under command of Brigadier-General McClernand. The steamers were under command of Commodore G. W. Graham, and consisted of the following boats: City of Memphis, Iatan, D. A. January, Chancellor, Alp, “W. H. B.,” New Uncle Sam, Rob Roy, Alex. Scott, Minnehaha, Illinois, Emerald, and Fanny Bullett.
The first division, on these boats, was made up of two brigades, composed as follows, and commanded by General John A. McClernand:—First Brigade, Colonel Oglesby, Commanding.—Seventh Illinois, Colonel Cook; Eighth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Rhoades; Eighteenth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Lawler; Twenty-ninth Illinois, Colonel Reardon; Thirtieth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Dennis; Thirty-first Illinois, Colonel John A. Logan; Swartz’s and Dresser’s Batteries; Stewart’s, Dollins’, O. Harnett’s and Carmichael’s Cavalry.
Second Brigade, W. H. L. Wallace, Commanding.—Eleventh Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Hart; Twentieth Illinois, Colonel Marsh; Forty-fifth Illinois, Colonel Smith; Forty-eighth Illinois, Colonel Harney; Taylor’s and McAllister’s Batteries—in the latter four siege guns; Fourth Illinois Cavalry, Colonel Kellogg; Seventh Illinois Cavalry, Colonel Dickey.
Soon after arriving, General Grant and staff paid a visit to General Smith, and had a conference, in which it was determined to forward the division of General McClernand that night, and after landing them at some point below Fort Henry, out of range of its guns, send the boats back after General Smith’s division at Paducah. It was nearly midnight before the boats took their departure.
The point at which the troops were landed is about four or five miles below Fort Henry, opposite a small town in Kentucky, called Buffalo. Immediately at the place is a clearing of about one hundred acres, surrounded on three sides by high bluffs densely timbered, and reaching down to the river. The troops, on landing, immediately took possession of these eminences, and planted batteries which commanded the country in every direction, and then awaited the arrival of the remaining forces, under General Smith.
Tuesday afternoon, while the troops were disembarking, the Osband Cavalry, with Carson’s and Carpenter’s scouts thoroughly examined the country in every direction, even up to within two miles of Fort Henry. Tuesday night was beautiful; a thousand camp-fires flashed through the shadows that lay upon the amphitheatre of wooded hills. The sky was warm and serenely purple, as if brooding over the first sweet blossoms of May. The silver crescent of a new moon glittered in the western sky, shedding a faint radiance over the tree-tops and sloping hill sides. All at once the music of half a dozen bands broke through the stillness of this lovely scene, and the “Star-Spangled Banner,” “Red, White and Blue,” and “Columbia the Gem of the Ocean,” filled the night with bursts of patriotic music. Then some dreamy strain followed, hushing the soldier’s heart with thoughts of “Home, Sweet Home.”