[CHAP.XII. OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE.
Lieutenant-Colonel MacGavock in command there at present, and requested me to send a detachment of artillery from Captain Taylor's company, which is impossible, for reasons stated above, and because of the report lately received here that the gunboats are now in the Tennessee River; and believing that no enemy ascending the Cumberland would leave Fort Donelson in its rear, and nothing as yet having been done for land defense at that point, I have no confidence in its efficiency. I was also informed by Captain Hayden, Corps of Engineers, that Captain Harrison, of Nashville, os at Fort Donelson with two steamers and six barges, loaded with wood and stone, to be sunk at Ingram's Shoals, 35 miles below Dover, for the purpose of obstructing the navigation of the river-by whose authority I know not; but, if I may express my opinion on the subject, I beg leave to state that this will be a fruitless operation in a river which rises from low-water mark at least 57 feet, and which I myself have often known to rise at least 10 feet in 24 hours. The general will perceive that these obstructions are no impediment to navigation in high water, and it may cost an immense sum to remove them.
Dover is 105 miles bellow Nashville, 90 miles above Smithland, and 40 miles below Clarksville, where the Memphis, louisville and Clarksville Railroad crosses the Cumberland; and, if the enemy passes Dover in gunboats, nothing prevents the destructions of the railroad bridge at Clarksville, and Clarksville, and even the capital of the State, is in immediate peril.
I have been informed that it is contemplated to build a fortification at Line Port, 15 miles below Dover, and above the moist important iron works on the Cumberland River, and of course will afford no protection to them. Fearing that I have already trespassed too much upon the valuable time of the general, I beg leave to call attention to only one other subject, which is the means of communication between Fort Henry and Danville. The steamer Florence, which now runs between these points, in inadequate to the transportation of either freight or troops, and will not, as I am informed by the captain, continue here longer than the first of next month. If the steamer Samuel Orr is still under your command, I would respectfully suggest that it would a proper boat to run between Ford Henry and the brigade, being very fleet, with sufficient capacity for the transportation of either freight or troops.
Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
A. HEIMAN, Colonel, Commanding.
CAVE CITY, October 18, 1861.
Colonel W. W. MACKALL:
Barren and Green Rivers both high. Unable to cross. Shall I remain here and send back for provisions or return?
W. J. HARDEE, Brigadier-General.
HEADQUARTERS, Cumberland Gap, October 19, 1861.
HonorableJ. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War, Richmond:
SIR: On the 16th General Zollicoffer, with 4,500 men, moved forward from Cumberland Ford to London. He left 1,100, mostly sick, at
