Union’s First Major Victory in the Civil War
On Feb. 6, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln finally got the two things he most wanted: a significant Union victory and an aggressive general. Both were provided by Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant when he captured Fort Henry in Tennessee, gaining control of the Tennessee River and opening up an invasion path into the interior of the Confederacy. General Grant was not done yet. In fact, he was just getting started—as the South was soon to learn, much to its dismay.
For detailed newspaper coverage of the Battle of Fort Henry, click here.
I understand that when writing a blog, it’s necessary to show a picture and say a few words about yourself, so that people don’t think a nameless, faceless committee or advisory board is running the show. Here I am, a real person. My name is Tony Pettinato, and I live in Deerfield, Mass. I did my undergraduate studies in English at Oberlin College, my graduate work in Journalism at UC Berkeley, and have been a reporter for six newspapers. For the past twelve years I have worked at NewsBank, the last six as a managing editor for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set project – NewsBank’s acclaimed effort to digitize and index twelve million pages of primary source documents – that gratified my life-long interest in American history. And that has led me to this blog!