Rumor magnified the number and size of his boats.

Again the Southern leaders felt that the rivers were always a hostile coil girdling them about, and lamented their own lack of a naval arm.
Floyd had drawn off in the night from Donelson his own special command of Virginians and when he arrived at Nashville with full news of the defeat at the fortress, and the agreement to surrender, the panic increased.

Many had striven to believe that the reports were untrue, but now there could be no doubt.
And the panic gained a second impetus when the generals set fire to the suspension bridge over the river and the docks along its banks.

The inhabitants saw the signal of doom in the sheets of flame that rolled up, and all those who had taken a leading part in the Southern cause prepared in haste to leave with Johnston's army.

The roads were choked with vehicles and fleeing people.