Conservative commanding officers criticised this Presidential order as an assumption on Mr. Lincoln's part of the direction of the war in the field, and the naming of a day for the army and navy to move was denounced an unwise and a notice to the enemy. Under other circumstances, the President would have been open to criticism from a strategist's standpoint, but the particular circumstances and the state of the country and the public mind warranted his action. Foreign interference or recognition of the Confederacy was threatened. No decided Union victory had been won. McClellan had held the Army of the Potomac idle for six months in sight of the White House. Halleck at St. Louis, in command of a large and important department, had long talked of large plans and so far had executed none. Matters were at a standstill in Western Virginia. Buell was, so far, giving little promise of an early forward movement. The Confederate forces held advanced positions in Missouri and high up on the Mississippi. They were fortified at Forts Henry and Donelson, on the Tennessee and the Cumberland respectively, and at Bowling Green and other important places in Kentucky. They still held the Upper Kanawha, the Greenbrier country, Winchester, and other points in the Shenandoah Valley. The Confederate Army was holding McClellan almost within the fortifications south of the Potomac at Washington. The President was held responsible for the inactivity of the army. Under other circumstances, with other army commanders, the order would not have been issued. It served to notify these commanders that the army must attack the enemy, and it advised the country of the earnestness of the President to vigorously prosecute the war, and thus aided enlistments, inspired confidence, and warned meddling nations to keep hands off.(15) On January 28, 1862, both General Grant and Commodore A. H. Foote, Flag Officer United States Naval Forces in the Western waters, wired Halleck at St. Louis that, with his permission, Fort Henry on the Tennessee could be taken by them. Authority being obtained, they invested and attacked it by gunboats on the river side and with the army by land. The fire of the gunboats silenced the batteries, and all the garrison abandoned the fort, save General Lloyd Tilghman (its commander), his staff, and one company of about 70 men, who surrendered February 6th. A hospital boat containing 60 sick and about 20 heavy guns, barracks, tents, ammunition, etc., also fell into Union hands. The only serious casualty was on the _Essex_, caused by a shot in her boilers, which resulted in wounding and scalding 29 officers and men, including Commodore David D. Porter. General Grant reported on the same day that he would take Fort Donelson, and on February 12, 1862, he sent six regiments around by water and moved the body of his command from Fort Henry across the country, distant about twelve miles.