West Point, New York, United States
Daniel Smith Donelson graduated fifth in a class of thirty-seven from the United States Military Academy in 1825.
West Point, New York, United States
Daniel Smith Donelson graduated fifth in a class of thirty-seven from the United States Military Academy in 1825.
Daniel Donelson was born on June 23, 1801, in Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. He was the son of Samuel and Mary Ann Smith Donelson. His father was a law partner and brother-in-law of Andrew Jackson and his brother was the Tennessee political leader Andrew Jackson Donelson.
Donelson attended Dr. Priestley's boarding school in Nashville and graduated fifth in a class of thirty-seven from the United States Military Academy in 1825.
Daniel Smith Donelson was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery in 1825 but resigned the following year. He served in the Tennessee Militia as a major from 1827 to 1829 and as a general from 1829 to 1834.
From 1826 to 1834, he was a planter in Sumner County. From 1841 to 1843 and from 1855 to 1861, he was a member of the state House, where he was also a speaker during the latter period.
He built Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River while serving as a colonel in the provisional army of Tennessee. He joined the Confederacy in 1861 as a brigadier general of state forces and was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate Army on July 9, 1861. After fighting in the Cheat Mountain campaign in West Virginia in 1861, he accompanied Robert East. Lee to Charleston the following year, and he served with General Braxton Bragg in the Kentucky campaign at Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Shelbyville. In January 1863, illness forced his transfer to the command of the Department of East Tennessee.
Donelson showed what a 61-year-old volunteer could do during the war; after the repulse of Confederate Brigadier General James R. Chalmers' men in their attack on the "Round Forest," Donelson followed up with his brigade and, from a slightly different position, assaulted the same group of Federals. Though eventually driven back, he and his men captured 1,000 Union troops and 11 cannons.
The historic river-port of Fort Donelson was named in his honor.
Donelson, a power in the state Democratic party during the 1850s, was a secessionist and a vehement opponent of the Know-Nothings.
Daniel Smith Donelson married Margaret Branch, daughter of Governor John Branch of North Carolina, in 1830. They had eleven children: Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah, Emily, Rebecca, Samuel, Martha, James, Susan, John B., and Daniel.
1770-1804
1781-1857
1799-1871
1811-1871
1831-1918
1834-1916
1836-1869
1840-1911
1847-1893
1848-1871
1851-1918
