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>>>>Mr. Biggs, thank you for your reply. Since my first posting, I have concluded that on the dates Feb. 7th and Feb. 8th the 51st and 56th Virginia arrived at Dover with General Floyd having arrived later on Feb. 13, 1862. Floyd took command of the entire Confederate force, bringing with him the rest of his brigade, and bringing his army to a figure that nearly equaled Grant’s 15,000. Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 7, p267. Floyd’s Report. Any corrections to my conclusions would be appreciated.>>>>>

The unit history of the 51st VA says that they were there by the 9th. It does not have very good details on their time at Donelson sadly. Floyd's Brigade did spend some time at Russellville, KY (about 28 miles NE of me) and Clarksville, TN where I live before heading to Donelson.

Floyd indeed did not get there until the 13th as he went to Cumberland City first and met with Buckner where they created the "Cumberland City Concentration Plan." This was where they hoped to mass the troops leaving a smaller garrison at Donelson, and move out and strike Grant as he was coming over from Fort Henry. it was a good plan but Pillow fought against it.

On Feb. 12th, the Confederates did indeed outnumber Grant and continued to do so for another day or so before Lew Wallace's Third Division was created with his brigade and Thayer and Cruft's brigades loaned from Buell. Grant continued to get a lot more men as the campaign waged on until he did outnumber, substantially, the Confederates.

>>>>I am also interested in the evacuation. I have read that two steamers were used by Gen. Floyd to evacuate his brigade. Does your research inform us of how many soldiers were able to board these steamers. I assume that only one trip was made from Fort Donelson to Clarksville.>>>>

The two steamboats were the General Anderson and the John A. Fisher. Most of Floyd's Virginians got on board and were ferried across the Cumberland for the march to Clarksville. Some stayed on board for the trip to Clarksville. The Virginians moved to Nashville from there. The 20th Mississippi was left behind and they were very angry at the Virginians. These boats arrived at Dover early on the morning of the 16th bringing food, supplies and 400 more men. Floyd commandeered the boats and ordered his brigades on board. Some of Guy's VA Battery (Goochland Artillery) and possibly some others, were also left behind. Captain Guy left a diary (at VHS today) that talks about his time at Donelson and imprisonment. I have never seen how many of Floyd's men got away but I have seen POW lists that show men from pretty much all of his regiments taken prisoners.

These two steamboats were owned by a guy in Nashville who owned the five steamers that ran the troops and supplies to Donelson.

Kendall Gott's fine book on Donelson has the details of this as doe Ben Cooling's book. Hope this helps.

Greg Biggs