- (December 2006) DOVER, Tenn. - A years-long effort to preserve a little-known fort that once guarded the Tennessee River paid off on Oct. 30, when the 163-acre tract was added to Fort Donelson National Battlefield.

"It's fantastic," declared park superintendent Steven McCoy a few days after the park accepted the deed to the remains of Fort Heiman. The ceremony attracted more than 125 people, including Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

While Fort Donelson is in Tennessee, Fort Heiman is actually just over the line in Calloway County, Ky., 22 miles distant. McCoy said the park's new "unit" would eventually have an informational kiosk and possibly wayside ex-hibits, depending on public input. Such improvements were "a good year away," he predicted.

He said the first order of business would be to conduct cultural and archaeological assessments of the new prop-erty "to figure out what we've got."

Fort Heiman is linear in shape, following a ridgeline overlooking what was formerly the Tennessee River (and is now a reservoir, Lake Kentucky). It has two sets of earthworks totaling 648 yards in length and rising as high as 8 to 10 feet on the approach side.

Confederates started the fort in January 1862 atop the bluff on the west bank of the river, to control the waterway and help protect Fort Henry, on the opposite shore. Heiman, Henry and Donelson were three "sister" forts guarding the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and a key rail line.

Confederates abandoned Fort Heiman only a month after starting it, upon the arrival of federal forces under U.S. Grant. Union troops installed a garrison at the fort for nearly a year. They made improvements of their own before concluding the fort was no longer necessary, and they, too, moved out.

McCoy said among the intact assets at Fort Heiman is a redoubt that the Federals built to guard the river. Cover-ing three-quarters of an acre, "It's probably as good as anything out there anywhere in the country," he said.

He noted that Fort Heiman also boasts a slave history, since runaway slaves flocked to the fort when it was in Un-ion hands, as though to a "magnet." "It was the Underground Railroad times 10," he said.

Also, in 1864, Confederate commander Nathan Bedford Forrest brought his cavalry and artillery to Fort Heiman, from which they shelled and sank several Union gunboats. Forrest boarded his men on a vessel and raided John-sonville, Tenn., sinking ships and burning an important Union supply depot.

In short, Fort Heiman has "a fascinating story," McCoy said. "It helps illustrate the bigger picture of the war, the struggle of brother against brother. That to me is what's exciting."

McCoy hailed the grassroots effort that saved the fort. Local citizens, including the Fort Heiman Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), got involved. Eventually more than $1 million was secured from the Kentucky Heritage Conservation Fund, the Kentucky Department of Transportation (funneling federal transportation-enhancement money), and Kentucky state funding sources.

Calloway County Fiscal Court, the local governmental administration, purchased the subdivided property, which is largely wooded, from more than a dozen lot owners. In 2004 Congress approved a boundary expansion that al-lowed Fort Donelson to include Fort Heiman. No federal funding was appropriated to buy the land, however, and all sellers had to be "willing."

McCoy noted that the 163 acres comprises virtually all of the Confederate fort and the area occupied by the Union garrison. Inside the new park boundary there are an additional 12 acres not yet preserved, including one house al-ready built and another under construction.

Ideally, McCoy would like "a couple hundred more acres" to protect the viewshed of Fort Heiman. The fact that the Tennessee Valley Authority owns adjoining property helps to protect the site, he said.

McCoy noted that many were involved in the preservation of the fort, but he singled out a few for special recogni-tion. They included Sandy Forrest, commander of the SCV camp; Larry Elkins, judge executive for Calloway County; and Debby Spencer, who was "the driving force in obtaining grants."

Instrumental in getting the boundary expansion approved were Kentucky Congressman Ed Whitfield and Sen. Jim Bunning, and Tennessee Congressman John Tanner. The Kentucky state delegation was also "hugely supportive," McCoy said.

Fort Donelson, overlooking the Cumberland River, totals 552 acres, including the 15-acre earthen fort, a national cemetery, and three miles of outer earthworks.

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