McClernand commanded Grant's advance, and had selected a point for the landing, about eight miles below the fort; he even had his troops ashore at this place, but Grant made a reconnoissance in person on one of the gunboats, steaming up under the guns of the fort, in order to draw their fire. In this he succeeded, for a shot passed through the steamer; and having thus ascertained the range of the rebel batteries, he reembarked his troops, and brought them up to Bailey's ferry, just out of reach of fire.
The rebels had erected works on both sides of the river, and had a garrison in and around the two forts, of nearly twenty-eight hundred men,1 under command of Brigadier-General Tilghman. The main fortification was on the eastern bank; it was a strong field-work, with bastioned front, defended by seventeen heavy guns, twelve of which bore on the river;2 embrasures also had been formed, by placing sandbags on the parapets, between the guns; on the land front there was an intrenched camp, and still outside of this, an extended line of rifle-pits, located on commanding ground. The outworks covered the Dover road, by which alone communication could be had with Fort Donelson and the rest of the so-called Confederacy. The heights on the west side completely command Fort Henry, but the works on that bank
