Fort Donelson National Battlefield - Dover Hotel (Surrender House) (U.S. National Park Service)

The National Park Service has been fortunate in that many of our historic reports were done by legendary historian Edwin Bearss. His reports about this battle are priceless. Click here to read his Historic Structure Report about the Dover Hotel.

Park Staff

Dover Hotel (Surrender House)

Built between 1851 and 1853, the Dover Hotel accommodated riverboat travelers before and after the Civil War. General Buckner and his staff used the hotel as their headquarters during the battle. It also served as a Union hospital after the surrender. After Buckner accepted Grant's surrender terms, the two generals met here to work out the details. Lew Wallace, the first Union general to reach the hotel following the surrender, did not want his men to gloat over the Confederate situation and instructed Capt. Frederick Knefler, one of his officers, to tell the brigade commanders "to move the whole line forward, and take possession of persons and property . . . [but] not a word of taunt—no cheering." An estimated 13,000 Confederate soldiers loaded into transports began their journey to Northern prisoner-of-war camps. Neither the Union nor Confederate governments were prepared to care for the large influx of prisoners. The prisoners from Fort Donelson were incarcerated in hastily converted and ill-prepared sites in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and as far away as Boston, Massachusetts, "and they suffered greatly from the harsh weather." In September 1862 most of the prisoners were exchanged.

On two occasions, once in mid-1862 and again in February 1863, Confederate forces tried to drive the Federal troops from the area. Both attempts failed; but the second, led by soldiers under the command of Generals Joseph Wheeler and Nathan Bedford Forrest, cost the town its future. That skirmish, known as the Battle of Dover, resulted in the destruction of all but four of the town's buildings. One of those to survive was the Dover Hotel, which remained in business until the 1930s. It has been reconstructed through the efforts of the Fort Donelson House Historical Association and the National Park Service. The exterior looks much the same as it did when the surrender took place.

Ulysses Grant Papers

The communication that made Ulysses Grant a star.

At some point in the early hours of February 16, 1862, Confederate Brig. General Simon B. Buckner sent a communication to his old friend, and now adversary, Ulysses S. Grant, asking terms for surrender. In short order, he received this response. It was not what Buckner had expected. This message would remove Grant from near-obscurity and make him a media star.

The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 4, which covers the period of the Fort Henry and Fort Donelson campaign, can be viewed here:

http://digital.library.msstate.edu/collections/document.php?CISOROOT=/USG_volume&CISOPTR=17403&REC=7

NPS

The Dover Hotel, taken on the 149th anniversary of the surrender.

By the time of the Fort Henry/ Fort Donelson campaign, the Dover Hotel was probably close to a decade old. Although little of the building is thought to be original, visitors to the Hotel can still sense the importance of what happened here. You can learn more with this brochure.

In January of 2011, new interpretive exhibits were added to the Dover Hotel, highlighting first person accounts of the battle, the surrender, and life in Dover afterward.

We hope that while visiting the Dover Hotel you experience the new exhibits. The Hotel is open when either staff or volunteers are available.

You are exiting the National Park Service website

Thank you for visiting our site.