During the battle, General Pillow and Johnson cut their way through our lines and made their escape to Nashville with a brigade. Our final charge was made on the 17th, at which time the garrison surrendered with 5,000 prisoners and a number of heavy guns which were mounted on the fort. Our loss at this place was heavy, about 1,500 in killed, wounded and prisoners. The rebel loss was about 1,800.
We went into camp on a small island opposite Donellson. At 10 o’clock that night the river rose and overflowed our camp. There was some hustling around to get our tents and camp equipage moved. We then pitched tents on the other side of the river.
On the 23d a squad of twenty men was detailed to go up the river on a scouting expedition. We went as far as Bellwood Furnace, which was nine miles from Donellson. We saw a few rebels at a distance, fired a few shots at them and fell back. On our return to camp we killed several squirrels for our sick in the hospital. The squirrels were plentiful and gentle at this place.
We remained at this camp until March 6th, when we received marching orders. We struck tents, got on a boat, and crossed the river. While landing at this place Adjutant Barter lost his horse. It fell through the staging and broke its leg.
We marched in the direction of Fort Henry until 5 o’clock in the evening, when we went into camp for the night. The land was rolling and timbered with pine at this place.
On the 7th we marched to Fort Henry on the Tennessee river. We went into camp near the fort. This place had been taken by our forces about three weeks before. It was well fortified and was mounted with sixty heavy guns. It showed the marks of a hard-fought battle.
We lay here until the 9th. We then marched down to the landing, and got on board the steamboat, “Telegraph No. 3,” and ran up the river as far as High Piney Bluffs. Here we lashed on to another boat, which had on board the Eleventh Indiana and Eighth Missouri regiments. The two boats pulled on up the river one hundred miles and on the evening of the 12th of March, 1862, we landed at a little town called Savannah.
We marched off of the boats and formed our brigade in hollow square. Washington’s Farewell Address was read to us by A. J. Smith, who was to be the commander of our brigade. It was composed of the Eleventh, Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Indiana and the Eighth Missouri. General Lew Wallace commanded the Twelfth Division.
We moved back on to the boats and at 10 o’clock that night we ran on up the river seven miles to Crump’s Landing. Here a shot was fired by one of our gunboats as a signal for us to land. Our boat ran into the shore with such force that it knocked almost everyone down. But we were soon on our feet again. As soon as the staging reached the shore we got to land as fast as we could run off of the boat.
This was a night long to be remembered. The rain was pouring down, and it was so dark that we could not see where we were going, only by the frequent flashes of lightning.