D is for Dover

 

 

Todays battle is the Battle of Dover, also known as The Second Battle of Donaldson.  This battle occurred on February 3, 1863, in Stewart County, Tennessee. 

In late January 1863, Confederate Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler(aka - Fighting Joe - born in August, GA), commanding two brigades of cavalry, took position on the Cumberland River at Palmyra to disrupt Union shipping. The Union Army somehow got wind of Wheeler's intent and refrained from sending any boats up or downriver. Unable to disrupt Union shipping and realizing that he and his men could not remain in the area indefinitely, Wheeler decided to attack the garrison at Dover, Tennessee, which informers reported was small and could easily be overwhelmed. The Rebels set out for Dover and between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m., on February 3, began an attack. The 800-man garrison, under the command of Colonel Abner C. Harding, was in and about the town of Dover where they had chosen camps that commanded the area and had dug rifle pits and battery emplacements. The Confederates mounted a determined attack using artillery fire with great skill, but were repulsed with heavy losses. By dusk, both sides were almost entirely out of ammunition. The Confederates surveyed the Union defenses and decided that the enemy was too well-placed to allow capture. Wheeler's force retired. The Union Army sent out a pursuit but to no avail. The Confederates had failed to disrupt shipping on the Cumberland River and capture the garrison at Dover.

This Confederate failure left the Union in control in Middle Tennessee and a bitter Nathan Bedford Forrest(Memphis millionaire) denounced Wheeler, a favorite of Gen. Braxton Bragg, saying he would not again serve under him.