User:Hog Farm/Confederate occupation of Columbus, Kentucky

Background
As the United States matured during the early 19th century, a large cultural divide developed between the northern states and the southern states over the issue of slavery. By the time of the 1860 United States Presidential Election, slavery had become one of the defining features of southern culture, with the ideology of states' rights being used to defend the institution. Eventually, many southerners decided that secession was the only way to preserve slavery, especially after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. Lincoln's candidacy was regionally successful, as much of his support was from the northern states, while he received no electoral votes from the Deep South. Many southerners rejected the legitimacy of Lincoln's election, and promoted secession. On December 20, the state of South Carolina seceded, and the states of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed suit in early 1861. On February 4, the seceding states formed the Confederate States of America; Jefferson Davis became the nascent nation's president.

In Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, the important military installation of Fort Sumter was still held by a Union Army garrison. On the morning of April 12, the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, beginning the American Civil War. The fort surrendered on the 13th. Shortly after Fort Sumter was attacked, Lincoln requested that the states remaining in the Union provide 75,000 volunteers for the war effort. In the coming weeks, the states of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas joined the Confederacy. The states of Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, and Kentucky permitted slavery but remained in the Union; they were considered to be border states.

Divergent interests acted on Kentucky: slavery provided a connection to the Confederacy, although the state's historic connection to the north provided influence in the opposite direction. Kentucky Unionists supported a policy of neutrality as a method of avoiding secession. In May, the Kentucky General Assembly and Governor Beriah Magoffin created an official policy of neutrality in the conflict. Meanwhile, Unionists performed strongly in a June election to the United States Congress and an August election for the Kentucky General Assembly. Only the Jackson Purchase region strongly supported secession. With Kentucky neutral, residents of the state who wished to fight for either side had to leave the state to join their chosen army. Some residents of the Jackson Purchase region also stole weapons from the Kentucky State Guard militia organization and sent them to the Confederates.

Polk occupies Columbus
Earlier in May, the neighboring state of Tennessee had entered into a military alliance with the Confederacy. The Governor of Tennessee, Isham G. Harris, placed Gideon Pillow in charge of Tennessee's armed forces. On May 13, Pillow advocated that troops be sent to occupy the town of Columbus, Kentucky. Columbus was located on high ground that allowed whoever held the city to control the Mississippi River; it would also make a good location from which to launch strikes against Paducah, Kentucky, and Cairo, Illinois. Nothing immediate came of this suggestion, and in July, Tennessee's forces entered into Confederate service and Pillow was replaced by Major General Leonidas Polk.

Polk was a secessionist and a bishop in the Episcopal Church. In a meeting with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Polk had advocated for Albert Sidney Johnston to be appointed as military commander of the Mississippi Valley. Johnston was not available immediately, and Davis offered Polk the command for the time until Johnston could take command. After a week, Polk accepted the offer. Polk's opponent was Major General John C. Frémont, who commanded Union forces in St. Louis, Missouri. On August 28, Frémont sent Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant to Cairo with orders to control southeastern Missouri and capture Columbus. Additionally, Frémont also sent Colonel Gustav Waagner on September 2 to capture Belmont, Missouri, which was across the Mississippi from Columbus. Polk responded by ordering Pillow into Kentucky. Pillow's men captured the town of Hickman on September 3, and occupied Columbus on either September 4 or 5th. The Confederates strung a chain across the river to attempt to block traffic and emplaced either 140 or 150 cannons on the bluffs at Columbus. Polk's men also began constructing fortifications at the site, which would become known as Fort DeRussey.