XAXIX 
THE CIVIL WAR: FROM FORT DONELSON TO 
CHANCELLORSVILLE 
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union. If I could save the Union without 
freeing any slaves, I would doit; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, 
Abraham Lincoln. 
236. The Plan of Campaign of the 
Union Forces.—For several months 
after the outbreak of the war the 
Union forces followed no definite 
plan of campaign. By the close of 
1861, however, it was clear to the 
minds of Lincoln and his advisers 
that the Union forces must do three 
Bridge a Chicka- things: first, they must capture Rich- 
n mond; second, they must gain full 
possession of the Mississippi River and thus cut the Confederacy 
into two parts; third, they must make the blockade effective and 
not let the South get any supplies from abroad. This meant war 
in Virginia and the neighboring States, war in the West, and war 
along the coast and on the ocean. To carry forward its plans 
the national government by the beginning of 1862 had at its 
command an army of 500,000 men. "The Confederates had 
about 250,000 men. 
THE WAR IN THE WEST, 1862 
237. Fort Donelson and Fort Henry.— The first fighting in 
1862 was in the West, where the Confederates held a series of 
fortified posts at Columbus, in Kentucky—Fort Henry, Fort 
Donelson, Bowling Green, anı Zumberland Gap (map, p. 332). 
Of these strongholds Feri - on the Tennessee River,