150 Years Ago -- Grant Occupies Paducah

Image of Ulysses S. Grant via Wikipedia

On Friday, September 6, 1861, Union troops under Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant occupied Paducah, Kentucky, at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers, without resistance.  This move was in response to the Confederate occupation of Columbus, Kentucky on September 3.

Kentucky's neutrality would have been violated in any case.  Major General John Frémont, the commander of the Union Department of the West, had ordered Grant to occupy Columbus as soon as possible.  While Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk didn't know about those orders, he had beaten Grant to the punch, but had unleashed a firestorm in Kentucky against the Confederacy by invading the state first.

Grant issued a proclamation to the people of Kentucky:

"I have come among you not as an enemy, but as your fellow-citizen. Not to maltreat or annoy you, but to respect and enforce the rights of all loyal citizens. An enemy, in rebellion against our common Government, has taken possession of, and planted its guns on the soil of Kentucky, and fired upon you. Columbus and Hickman are in his hands. He is moving upon your city. I am here to defend you against this enemy, to assist the authority and sovereignty of your Government. I have nothing to do with opinions, and shall deal only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abettors. You can pursue your usual avocations without fear. The strong arm of the Government is here to protect its friends and punish its enemies. Whenever it is manifest that you are able to defend yourselves and maintain the authority of the Government and protest the rights of loyal citizens I shall withdraw the forces under my command."

Polk's invasion of Kentucky was a major political blunder, but he also committed a strategic blunder.  He had planned to occupy Paducah as well, but had moved too slowly and let Grant take the town.  With Columbus, the Confederates could block the Mississippi with their big guns on the high bluffs, but Grant's occupation of Paducah gave the Federals another avenue for a Southern invasion:  the Tennessee River.  Grant would soon occupy Smithland, opening up the Cumberland River as well.

Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin would demand that both sides withdraw from Kentucky soil, but the state legislature would demand that only the Confederates withdraw, and would invite the Federals to give the state "that protection against invasion which is granted to each one of the states by the fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States."

Magoffin vetoed the resolution, but both houses overrode the veto.  The General Assembly declared its allegiance to the Union and ordered the United States flag to be raised over the state capitol.

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago -- The Confederate Army Invades Kentucky (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Grant Takes Command at Cairo (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago -- Grant Takes Command at Cairo

Image of Ulysses S. Grant via Wikipedia

On Wednesday, September 4, 1861, Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant arrived in Cairo, Illinois, to take command of the Union forces there.  Cairo was an important position near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.  It was Grant's first major command of the war.

Grant was appointed to the position by General John Frémont, the commander of the Department of the West.  Frémont was a career officer in the U.S. Army, but he had come up and achieved nationwide fame through the Topographical Corps.  If he had been a member of the West Point clique, he probably would not have chosen Grant for this important assignment.

Grant had been typed as a drunk and a drifter.  At West Point, he developed a reputation as a poor student with bad study habits.  He graduated in 1843, ranked 21st out of 39 cadets.  He fought in the Mexican War, winning brevets for gallantry at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec, but after the war was posted at several remote garrisons where he fought boredom and loneliness by drinking.  He resigned in 1854.

In civilian life, he moved from one failed venture to another.  At one point, he was reduced to peddling firewood on the streets of St. Louis.  When the war began, he was able to gain a position as colonel of the 21st Illinois Infantry only because Elihu Washburne, an influential congressman, took a liking to him.

Frémont also took a liking to him, describing him as as a man of "unassuming character not given to self elation, of dogged persistence, of iron will."  It would be one of the best decisions of Frémont's troubled time in St. Louis.  Grant arrived at Cairo and quickly began looking to counter the Confederate's position at nearby Columbus, Kentucky.

Also on this date, at Columbus, Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk issued a proclamation to the people of Kentucky, declaring that he had moved into Kentucky and occupied the town in order to protect it:

"The Federal government having, in defiance of the wishes of the people of Kentucky, disregarded their neutrality by establishing camp depots of armies, and by organizing military companies within her territory, and by constructing military works on the Missouri shore, immediately opposite and commanding Columbus, evidently intended to cover the landing of troops for the seizure of that town, it has become a military necessity, for the defence of the territory of the Confederate states, that the Confederates occupy Columbus in advance.  The major-general commanding has, therefore, not felt himself at liberty to risk the loss of so important a position, but has decided to occupy it in pursuance of this decision.  He has thrown sufficient force into the town, and ordered to fortify it.  It is gratifying to know that the presence of his troops is acceptable to the people of Columbus, and on this occasion he assures them that every precaution shall be taken to insure their quiet, protection to their property, with personal and corporate rights."

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago -- The Confederate Army Invades Kentucky (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Fremont's Proclamation (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago -- The Confederate Army Invades Kentucky

Image of Leonida Polk via Wikipedia

Kentucky's position of neutrality in the Civil War was doomed to fail.  It finally came to an end on Tuesday, September 3, 1861, when Confederate troops under Brigadier General Gideon Pillow crossed into the state from Tennessee to occupy Columbus.  The troops soon placed guns on the high bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.

The move was ordered by Pillow's superior, Major General Leonidas Polk.  He feared the Federals were planning to occupy the town and was trying to beat them to the punch.  He would soon announce that he had occupied the town to protect it.

Polk was correct in his assessment of the situation.  The Federals were massed across the river in Missouri, and Major General John Frémont had ordered Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant to occupy Columbus as soon as possible.

Polk had signaled his intentions in a letter to pro-secessionist Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin on September 1:  "I think it of the greatest consequence to the Southern cause in Kentucky or elsewhere that I should be ahead of the enemy in occupying Columbus and Paducah."  When the troops were in motion, Polk wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis to tell him what he had done and why.

Pro-Unionist Kentuckians protested, but the greatest protests came from Tennessee Governor Isham Harris.  As long as Kentucky could stay out of the war, it would act as a shield protecting Tennessee from invasion.  Harris wrote to Confederate Secretary of War LeRoy Walker, who ordered Polk to withdraw immediately, but Davis countermanded the order, telling Polk that "the necessity justifies the action."