Fort Donelson Restoration

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FORT DONELSON RESTORATION
August 6th, 2004

Fort Donelson National Battlefield is pleased to announce after many years of arduous work, the bulk of the restoration of the lower water battery is now complete. Seven cannons, (six were 32-pounders), had been lying on the ground since the early 1960’s, including the largest tube, the 10-inch Columbiad, which weights 16,000 pounds. Completing the cannon carriages on which to mount the tubes has also been a slow process; the maintenance employees formed and poured concrete carriage parts, had to allow the concrete to “cure”, then moved the finished pieces to each gun position to be assembled and painted. The tubes were placed on the cannon carriages on July 26, a momentous event that was witnessed by most of the Fort Donelson staff.

The placement of the guns is part of a long-term restoration project the park began in the early 1980s with the removal of underbrush and overgrowth so that the breastworks could be seen. By the mid-1980s, one of the 32-pounders had been placed on a wooden carriage in the battery, and the project began moving a little faster. Humidity in that area caused the first, and then a second wooden carriage to deteriorate. The cannon was removed from the wooden carriage and placed on a concrete carriage in the recent restoration event.

Over the years YCC summer workers, along with the maintenance staff, would stack sandbags filled with a concrete mixture on the gun emplacements. As the burlap bag material deteriorated, it looked like the stacked sandbags used during the Civil War. Other work that enhances the project was erecting a handicap accessible board walk and observation deck that overlooks all of the gun positions. Materials used for the walk and deck project were from recyclable materials.

Signs have recently been ordered to place in front of the batteries where river boats traveling on the Cumberland River can identify the historic area.

Fort Donelson was the site of a pivotal Civil War battle on February 14, 1862, in which Union gunboats exchanged “iron Valentines” with the Confederate forces in the river batteries in an attempt to split the Confederacy. The restoration of the river batteries gives visitors a glimpse of this important event in Civil War history.

Fort Donelson is located just off Highway 79 in Dover, Tennessee. For more information...visit their website.

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