Stories of the war told by soldiers Author:Edward Everett Hale Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON. "7-OU can see well enough how eager the whole -- country was for action, — and how everybody chafed under the dela... more »y, which people hardly understood, of preparing for war. In truth, armies had to be clothed, shod, trained to duty. Powder had to be made, — and for this saltpetre had to be bought, even on the other side of the world,— cannon were to be cast, bored, and rifled, — all the other munitions of war were to be made, and this on a scale without precedent. Winter also came on, and winter, in countries where the roads are bad, always arrests the course of war. This tedious waiting was broken in upon every day by some report or other from the long line of the scene of war. It was not in Virginia only, it was in the State then new made, and now called West Virginia, — a State which was loyal when " Old Virginia " east of the mountains left the Union, — it was in Kentucky, in Missouri, in South Ca1olina, and in Louisiana, that fighting was going on; so that every day's newspaper had its story of a skirmishsomewhere, and the preparation for battle. And there were letters — oh, so many letters! — from the armies, from brothers and sons and husbands and fathers. Yet, all through the autumn and after the winter began, there had been no movement of first- rate importance until the Rebel armies were driven nut of Kentucky and of the greater part of Tennessee by the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Don- elson. The joy of the loyal States was out of all proportion to the numbers engaged, or to the immediate importance of the battles. In truth, those battles showed a great many things which were not known before, — though they had been hoped for. They showed how much might be expected from the " push " and spirit of the Western troops, thoug...« less