The two generals who ranked him, Gideon J.Pillow and John B.Floyd, seeing the inevitable, had escaped from the fort the preceding night with five thousand men, leaving to Buckner the mortification of surrender.

In view of this fact the use of the term "unchivalrous" by the Confederate commander can be justly appreciated.
VICTORY AT FORT DONELSON.
The effect of the victory upon the country was electric.

The public joy was unbounded.

General Grant had become in a day the hero of the war.

His fame was on every tongue.