But several days passed and they heard nothing from the
Confederates, although Donelson was only about twenty miles away.
Johnston himself, brilliant and sagacious, was not there, nor was his
lieutenant, Beauregard, who had won such a great reputation by his
victory at the first Bull Run.
Dick was just beginning to suspect a truth that later on was to be
confirmed fully in his mind. Fortune had placed the great generals of
the Confederacy, with the exception of Albert Sidney Johnston, in the
east, but it had been the good luck of the North to open in the west
with its best men.
Now he saw the energy of Grant, the short man of rather insignificant
appearance. Boats were sent down the Tennessee to meet any
reinforcements that might be coming, take them back to the Ohio, and
thence into the Cumberland. Fresh supplies of ammunition and food were
brought up, and it became obvious to Dick that the daring commander
meant to attack Donelson, even should its garrison outnumber his own
besieging force.
Along a long line from Western Tennessee to Eastern Kentucky there was
a mighty stir. Johnston had perceived the energy and courage of his
opponent. He had shared the deep disappointment of all the Southern
leaders when Kentucky failed to secede, but instead furnished so many
thousands of fine troops to the Union army.
Johnston, too, had noticed with alarm the tremendous outpouring of
rugged men from the states beyond the Ohio and from the far northwest.
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