The news of Fort Donelson’s fall arrived in Richmond just in time to spoil Jefferson Davis’ second inauguration as president of the Confederacy. He had been, till now, the provisional president. The weather, too, failed to cooperate. It was a wintry day in Richmond when Davis rose to deliver his inaugural address. The mood was gloomy, to say the least.

In the North, all was jubilation. In Grant, the Union had a military hero, a man who would not take no for an answer. Lincoln, too, was in fine spirits over Donelson’s surrender, but, as so often, he had to handle a domestic tragedy.