Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner
(Mayfield KY, Feb. 10, 2012) - On this date in 1862, large numbers of Kentucky troops were about to clash for the first time in a major Civil War battle.
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Union army would win the battle of Fort Donelson, Tenn., fought on Feb. 12-16, 1862. Grant would capture the earthen bastion on the Cumberland River near Dover, Tenn. He would also bag about 12,000 prisoners, including Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, a Kentuckian, the Second and Eighth Kentucky Infantry regiments and Graves’ Kentucky Artillery Battery.