Ft. Heiman, Calloway County

When Confederate Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman was sent to command Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River and hastily constructed Fort Henry on the east side of the Tennessee River during the winter of 1861-62, he realized immediately that the fort was indefensible, being built on low ground that was susceptible to flooding directly across the river from higher ground. In January 1862 Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston ordered Tilghman to construct a new fort - known as Fort Heiman after Col. Aldolphus Heiman of the 10th Tennessee who commanded the 1,100 troops at the fort - on the bluffs on the west bank (Kentucky side of the river. The new fort remained under construction when Union Brig. Ulysses S. Grant launched his offensive against Forts Henry and Donelson in early February 1862.

On February 4-5, 1862, Grant landed his divisions in two different locations, one on the east bank of the Tennessee River to prevent the garrison at Fort Henry from escaping or receiving reinforcements from Fort Donelson and the other to occupy the high ground on the Kentucky side to ensure the fall of both Forts Heiman and Henry. After gunboats under the command of Union naval Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote began bombarding the forts, Tilghman, realizing that Fort Heiman could not be held, recalled the 1,100 troops building the fort to cross the river and assist the nearly 2,000 soldiers defending Fort Henry. The Confederates hoped that the muddy roads would make it impossible for the Union army to set up artillery on the partially completed Fort Heiman. On February 6, Tilghman surrendered Fort Henry after 70 minutes of bombardment, because it was surrounded by rising water and could not be supported by infantry. Tilghman decided to withdraw all troops from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson with the exception of one battery which he left behind to delay the Union assault and secure his retreat. After the capture of both Fort Henry and the uncompleted Fort Heiman, the latter was occupied by troops under Brig. Gen. Lew Wallace on February 6. Thus, the surrender of Forts Heiman and Henry enabled the Federals' wooden gunboats to ascend the Tennessee River south to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and set the stage for Grant's successful assault against Fort Donelson 11 miles to the east on the Cumberland River on February 16.

Western Kentucky and Tennessee continued to play a vital role in military operations during the remainder of the Civil War. For the Union, the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers were a vital supply line that had to be maintained. For the Confederates, the area between the rivers was a sparsely defended region which cavalry raids and guerilla operations could penetrate easily to disrupt Union communication and supply lines. Thus, Federal troops occupied unfinished Fort Heiman until March 6, 1863, to afford Union protection to the people in the area and, perhaps more importantly to the Union army, protect the vital supply lines that the Tennessee and Cumberalnd rivers had become.

During 1862-63, Fort Heiman was garrisioned by troops from the 5th Iowa Cavalry under the command of Col. W. W. Lowe. Forts Heiman, Henry, and Donelson offered a haven for a growing number of refugees, most of whom were slaves seeking safety within the Union lines. The Federals housed the freedmen, who were officially termed "contraband of war," employing them as laborers at the forts and in the area's industries. At least two African-Americans are known to have been employed at Fort Heiman.

Before evacuating the fort on March 6, 1863, as part of a general buildup of Union forces in the region, Lt. Col. M. T. Patrick, in command of the post at Fort Heiman, was ordered to level the river face of the fort's earthworks. Patrick reported that the earthworks fronting the river were "very slight - the fort never having been completed by the rebels." Although the earthwork fortifications along the river were destroyed, largely intact outer earthworks of the fort along the crest of the bluffs, an upper battery or redoubt, and remnants of what may have been a powder magazine remain on site.

Despite its strategic location, neither side made a sustained effort to occupy Fort Heiman once the war moved south into Tennessee. Perhaps, the greatest Confederate military success in the Fort Heiman vicinity occurred in late October 1864 when Confederate Brig. Gen. Nathan Forrest occupied the fort with 3,500 men. On October 28, using the fort as their base, Forrest's cavalrymen fired upon and sank the Union steamboat Mazeppa. Two days later, the Confederates continued their assault on Union vessels passing along the Tennessee River from Fort Heiman, firing on the Anna, disabling the Undine, forcing the Venus to surrender, and causing the J. W. Cheeseman to be abandoned. Thereafter, the Confederates took a Union vessel and headed up river where they engaged the Union navy. Eventually Forrest burned all the seized ships once they had been stripped of their cargoes of food and supplies. During these encouters only one Confederate was wounded, while 8 Union troops were killed, 11 wounded, and 43 captured, including one officer.

On November 4, Forrest launched his most successful raid during the Civil War from his base at Fort Heiman, attacking the Union supply base at Johnsonville, Tennessee, some 30 miles to the south at the western terminus of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. During the raid, Forrest's cavalrymen destroyed 4 Union gunboats, 14 transports, 20 barges, and 26 pieces of artillery, captured 150 Union soldiers, and burned millions of dollars' worth of stockpiled supplies bound for Nashville and Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas' army. During this encounter, Confederate losses were two killed and nine wounded.

Fort Heiman is closely associated with the Battle of Fort Henry, which was designated as one of the Civil War's 384 principal battlefields by the Civil War Sites Advisiory Commission in 1993. As a result of its association with Forts Henry and Donelson, Fort Heiman is nationally significant because of its relationship to the first great Union victory of the Civil War. After the Confederate surrender of these three forts, the South was forced to give up southern Kentucky and much of Middle and West Tennessee, and the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers became avenues for Union penetration into the heartland of the Deep South. Thus, Fort Heiman, along with its sister forts, was a significant element of a major battle that had a direct, observable impact on the Federal quest to obtain control of the principal rivers in the western Confederacy and hence the outcome of the Vicksburg campaign, as well as a decisive battle that had a direct, observable impact on the direction, duration, and final outcome of the Civil War.

The authority to adjust the boundary at Fort Donelson to include Fort Heiman would be sought from Congress. The preservation of the historic resources of Fort Heiman would then be the responsibility of the National Park Service. The visitor experience at Fort Donelson would be expanded and enhanced to relate to comprehensive story of Forts Heiman and Henry in the context of the larger impact on the Civil War.