News Release

Fort Donelson NB Offering Programs for the 162nd Anniversary Battles of Forts Henry and Donelson

Date: January 11, 2024
Contact: Bill Fields, 931-232-0832

Fort Donelson National Battlefield is offering programs and events between February 3 and February 18 in observance of the 162^nd anniversary of the February 1862 battles for Forts Henry and Donelson.

Events begin on February 3rd at 2:00 PM at the national park’s Fort Heiman Unit, 654 Fort Heiman Road, located near New Concord, Kentucky. Presenter Dr. William Mulligan will lead a hike to the Confederate works overlooking Fort Henry and discuss the February 6 battle and the Union taking of both Forts Henry and Heiman.

The following Saturday, February 10, The Fort Henry & Donelson Campaign Group and the national park are co-hosting the second annual symposium featuring noted speakers on a variety of related topics. The symposium, located at the Stewart County Visitor Center, 116 Visitors Center Lane, Dover, Tennessee, will begin at 9:00 AM.

Park programs specific to the Battle of Fort Donelson will be offered from Wednesday, February 14 thru Sunday, February 18, with weekend programming including living history programs, including live-fire infantry and artillery demonstrations.While each day offers interesting programs, February 14 will prove a wonderful time to spend Valentines’ Day, learning about the “iron Valentines’” – referring to the hundreds of artillery shells exchanged between the Confederate fort and the “state of the art” Union flotilla of ironclad gunboats on that date, 162 years before.

A complete schedule of programs, and more details of each, are accessible online via the national park Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pg/fortdonelsonnps or web page at: https://www.nps.gov/fodo/planyourvisit/events.htm , or by calling 931-232-5706 x 0.