Fort Henry: 2018 LBL Geocache Challenge
The battle at Fort Henry on Sunday, February 6, 1862. The first important victory for the Union and Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
Fort Henry was a five-sided, open-bastioned earthen structure covering 10 acres on the eastern bank of the Tennessee River, near Kirkman's Old Landing about one mile above Panther Creek. Situated on low, swampy ground and dominated by hills across the river, it still had an unobstructed field of fire 2 miles downriver.
Seventeen guns were mounted in Fort Henry by the time of the battle, eleven covering the river and the other six positioned to defend against a land attack. When the river was at normal levels, the fort's walls rose 20 feet above it and were 20 feet thick at the base, sloping upward to a width of nearly 10 feet at the parapet. However, in February 1862, heavy rains caused the river to rise and most of the fort was underwater, including the powder magazine.
Only nine guns remained above the water to mount a defense. And, on the morning of February 6, Flag Officer Andrew Foote's seven Union gunboats arrived at Fort Henry and established their position. They soon opened fire at 1,700 yards, beginning an exchange of gunfire with Fort Henry that continued for over an hour. After Tilghman rejected an initial call to surrender, the fleet continued to bombard the fort. This was its first engagement using newly designed and hastily constructed ironclads. Foote deployed the four ironclad gunboats in a line abreast, followed by the three timberclads, which were held back for long-range, but less effective fire against the fort. The high water level of the river and the low elevation of Fort Henry's guns allowed Foote's fleet to escape serious destruction. The Confederate fire was able to hit the ironclads only where their armor was strongest.
This cache is located amongst the cultural materials that remain from when the soldiers constructed fortifications in this area. Please keep your impacts to cultural remains to a minimum. You are looking for a blue colored watertight dry box (7” x 8” x 4”). Sign the logbook and collect one of the numbered aluminum tree tags. After you collect a tree tag from each of the 6 geocache sites, redeem them for a unique and distinctive challenge coin award at the LBL Golden Pond Visitor Center.