It would require only four or five days, and it will take that long for the army to invade from the land side." Dick had his doubts about the ability of the army and the fleet to co-operate.

Accustomed to the energy of the Southern commanders in the east he did not believe that Grant would be allowed to arrange things as he chose.

But several days passed and they heard nothing from the Confederates, although Donelson was only about twenty miles away.
Johnston himself, brilliant and sagacious, was not there, nor was his lieutenant, Beauregard, who had won such a great reputation by his victory at the first Bull Run.
Dick was just beginning to suspect a truth that later on was to be confirmed fully in his mind.

Fortune had placed the great generals of the Confederacy, with the exception of Albert Sidney Johnston, in the east, but it had been the good luck of the North to open in the west with its best men.
Now he saw the energy of Grant, the short man of rather insignificant appearance.

Boats were sent down the Tennessee to meet any reinforcements that might be coming, take them back to the Ohio, and thence into the Cumberland.