Fort Donelson Museum - Dover, Tn. - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

The Fort Donelson Museum (open 8-9 daily), Main St., on the bank of the Cumberland River, was built in 1826 and, before the War between the States, was operated as the Dover Tavern. The surrender of Fort Donelson by Gen. Simon B. Buckner to General Grant took place on the long front porch. Arms were stackedon the hillside at the rear of the house. Later the place was a hotel, called the Old Hobing House, until purchased in 1926 by the Fort Donelson Historical Society. Among the relics in the museum are a land grant signed by John Sevier (1807), a Buffalo Bill rifle, a pardon signed by Abraham Lincoln (1865), a land grant signed by Martin Van Buren (1840), a deed of trust for ten Negro slaves (1841), and a flintlock muzzle-loader rifle, loaded since 1759.

The Dover Hotel was the site where Gen. Ulysses S. Grant demanded "unconditional and immediate surrender" from Gen. Simon B. Buckner after the Battle of Fort Donelson in February 1862. The hotel is the only original major battle surrender structure remaining from the Civil War.

Built between 1851 and 1853, the Dover Hotel accommodated riverboat travelers before and after the Civil War. General Buckner and his staff used the hotel as their headquarters during the battle. It also served as a Union hospital after the surrender. After Buckner accepted Grant's surrender terms, the two generals met here to work out the details. Lew Wallace, the first Union general to reach the hotel following the surrender, did not want his men to gloat over the Confederate situation and instructed Capt. Frederick Knefler, one of his officers, to tell the brigade commanders "to move the whole line forward, and take possession of persons and property . . . [but] not a word of taunt—no cheering." An estimated 13,000 Confederate soldiers loaded into transports began their journey to Northern prisoner-of-war camps. Neither the Union nor Confederate governments were prepared to care for the large influx of prisoners. The prisoners from Fort Donelson were incarcerated in hastily converted and ill-prepared sites in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and as far away as Boston, Massachusetts, "and they suffered greatly from the harsh weather." In September 1862 most of the prisoners were exchanged.