Floyd had been the United States Secretary of War before secession,
and the Union men hated him. It was said that the great partisan leader,
Forrest, with his cavalry, was also at the fort.
Much of this news was brought in by farmers, Union sympathizers, and
Dick and his comrades, as they sat before the fires at the close of
the short winter day, understood the situation almost as well as the
generals.
"Donelson is ninety per cent and Henry only ten per cent," said Warner.
"So long as the Johnnies hold Donelson on the Cumberland, they can build
another fort anywhere they please along the Tennessee, and stop our
fleet. This general of ours has a good notion of the value of time
and a swift blow, and, although I'm neither a prophet nor the son of a
prophet, I predict that he will attack Donelson at once by both land and
water."
"How can he attack it by water?" asked Pennington. "The distance
between them is not great, but our ships can't steam overland from the
Tennessee to the Cumberland."
"No, but they can steam back up the Tennessee into the Ohio, thence
to the mouth of the Cumberland, and down the Cumberland to Donelson.
It would require only four or five days, and it will take that long for
the army to invade from the land side."
Dick had his doubts about the ability of the army and the fleet to
co-operate. Accustomed to the energy of the Southern commanders in the
east he did not believe that Grant would be allowed to arrange things
as he chose.
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