Fort Donelson is two miles north, or down the river, from Dover. The
fort, as it stood in 1861, embraced about one hundred acres of land. On
the east it fronted the Cumberland; to the north it faced Hickman's
creek, a small stream which at that time was deep and wide because of
the back-water from the river; on the south was another small stream, or
rather a ravine, opening into the Cumberland. This also was filled with
back-water from the river. The fort stood on high ground, some of it as
much as a hundred feet above the Cumberland. Strong protection to the
heavy guns in the water batteries had been obtained by cutting away
places for them in the bluff. To the west there was a line of rifle
pits some two miles back from the river at the farthest point. This
line ran generally along the crest of high ground, but in one place
crossed a ravine which opens into the river between the village and the
fort. The ground inside and outside of this intrenched line was very
broken and generally wooded. The trees outside of the rifle-pits had
been cut down for a considerable way out, and had been felled so that
their tops lay outwards from the intrenchments.
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