"This campaign drove the rebellion once and for all out of Kentucky; it broke the rebel line from Columbus to Bowling Green hopelessly in pieces; it opened the Mississippi from Cairo to Memphis; it contained the first great Union victories; and at Donelson and Island No.10, it received the first surrenders of rebel armies; it cheered and encouraged the the North, going far to compensate the delays and defeats in Virginia, and was correspondingly depressing in its effect upon the South. It ended the bloodiest battle ever fought up to that time on this continent, from which the substantial fruits were to the advantage of the Union arms..." -- The Century, vol. 23, issue 4 (Feb 1882).