Nay, more, it was said by the officers
who knew him that he was a man of genius. Dick surmised that Johnston,
after the stunning blow of Donelson, would be compelled to fall back
from Tennessee, but he did not doubt that he would return again.
Dick soon saw that all his surmises were correct. The news of Donelson
produced for a little while a sort of paralysis at Richmond, and when it
reached Nashville, where the army of Johnston was gathering, it was at
first unbelievable. It produced so much excitement and confusion that
a small brigade sent to the relief of Donelson was not called back,
and marched blindly into the little town of Dover, where it found itself
surrounded by the whole triumphant Union army, and was compelled to
surrender without a fight.
Panic swept through Nashville. Everybody knew that Johnston would be
compelled to fall back from the Cumberland River, upon the banks of
which the capital of Tennessee stood. Foote and his gunboats would come
steaming up the stream into the very heart of the city. Rumor magnified
the number and size of his boats. Again the Southern leaders felt that
the rivers were always a hostile coil girdling them about, and lamented
their own lack of a naval arm.
Floyd had drawn off in the night from Donelson his own special command
of Virginians and when he arrived at Nashville with full news of the
defeat at the fortress, and the agreement to surrender, the panic
increased.
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