CHAPTER VI.

POST AND DISTRICT COMMANDER. BELMONT.

As soon as General Grant had been invested with the rank and authority sufficient to enable him to take the command of a post, he was placed in charge of the one at Cairo, and his forces were increased by the addition of another brigade, which had been organized for, and was under the command of, Brigadier-General John A. McClernand.

The post at Cairo included within its jurisdiction the Missouri shore of the Mississippi River, from Cape Girardeau to New Madrid, and the opposite Illinois shore, to the point of land on which Cairo stood. This post commanded the mouth of the Ohio River, and was the key to the Upper Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. Its importance as a defensive military position, and also as a base of operations, at the early stages of the war, was without estimate; and even later, as a permanent base of supplies, its value was great, and its loss would have been severely felt by the Union army.

At this time, the State of Kentucky was in that incomprehensible condition designated as neutral; but as the line that separated Tennessee, which had seceded, from Kentucky, which had not, was a mere imaginary one; and as the rebel forces of the seceding States were stationed so closely on these borders, it is not to be wondered at tha⭑

they often crossed the line into the neutral State, especially when it was to their advantage so to do.

General Grant no sooner found out that this course of policy was being adopted by the rebels, and that they had actually encroached upon the State of Kentucky, and were fortifying Columbus and Hickman, on the Mississippi River, and Bowling Green, on the Big Barren River, than he ordered the seizure of Paducah, a valuable post at the mouth of the Tennessee River. This village was occupied on September 6, 1861, and within nineteen days he also held possession of Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland River. By these movements he not only blockaded the rivers leading up into the Rebel States, against the running of supplies and contraband articles for the use of those who were up in arms against the government; but he also secured two fine bases for further operations, and cleared out the guerillas, who were trying to blockade the Ohio River, below those points. He also garrisoned each of these places with a force sufficient to hold them; but still retained his head-quarters at Cairo, which had then become the head-quarters of the sub-department or District of Southeast Missouri.

At the time when General Grant took possession of Paducah, he found secession flags flying in different parts of the city, in expectation of greeting the arrival of the rebel forces, which were reported to be nearly four thousand strong, and not many miles distant. The landing of the Union troops was a signal for a general uprising of the loyal citizens of the place, who, being properly supported, in effect, if not in fact, at once tore down from the houses of the rebel sympathizers the secession flags which they had raised.

General Grant immediately took possession of the telegraph office, railroad depot, hospitals, etc., and other points

of importance, after which he issued the following proclamation to the citizens:

PADUCAH, KY., September 6, 1861.

To the citizens of Paducah:

I am come among you, not as an enemy, but as your fellow-citizen. Not to maltreat you nor 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 ene. my, 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 protect the rights of loyal citizens, I shall withdraw the forces under my command. U. S. GRANT, Brig.-Gen, Commanding.

The tone of the above proclamation speaks well for the temper of the soldier, who, although in the midst of enemies, and with the power in his hands, yet refused to use that power further than he, of actual necessity, was called upon to do by the exigencies of his position.

General Grant, when in camp at Cairo, presented little, in fact nothing, of the gewgaws and trappings which are generally attached to the attire of a general; and in this respect, he showed a marked contrast between himself and some of his sub-lieutenants, whose bright buttons and glit tering shoulder-straps were perfectly resplendent. The general, instead, would move about the camp with his attire carelessly thrown on, and left to fall as it pleased. In fact, he seemed to care nothing at all about his personal appearance, and in the place of the usual military hat and gold cord, he wore an old battered black hat, generally

designated as a "stove-pipe," an article that neither of his subordinates would have stooped to pick up, even if unobserved. In his mouth he carried a black-looking cigar, and he seemed to be perpetually smoking.

In connection with these facts, a detractor of General Grant was, on one occasion, speaking rather sarcastically of the stove-pipe General and his passion for cigars, when he was taken up by one of Grant's friends, who said: "Such a bright stove-pipe as Grant, should be excused for smoking."

Several reconnoissances were made down the Mississippi River and inland from the Ohio River, and occasionally skirmishes would also take place. At these contests prisoners would sometimes be taken on both sides, and the following correspondence was the result of these captures: HEAD-QUARTERS, FIRST DIVISION, WESTERN DEPARTMENT, October, 1861.

To the Commanding Officer at Cairo and Bird's Point:

I have in my camp a number of prisoners of the Federal army, and am informed there are prisoners belonging to the Missouri State troops in yours. I propose an exchange of these prisoners, and for that purpose send Captain Polk of the artillery, and Lieutenant Smith of the infantry, both of the Confederate States Army, with a flag of truce, to deliver to you this communication, and to know your pleasure in regard to my proposition.

The principles recognized in the exchange of prisoners effected on the 3d of September, between Brigadier-General Pillow, of the Confederate Army, and Colonel Wallace, of the U. S. Army, are those I propose as the basis of that now contemplated.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

L. POLK, Major-General Commanding.

To which communication General Grant dispatched the following reply:

DISTRICT OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI, HEAD-QUARTERS, CAIRO, October 14, 1861.

GENERAL:-Yours of this date is just received. In regard to an exchange of prisoners, as proposed, I can, of my own accordance, make

none. I recognize no "Southern Confederacy " myself, but will comnunicate with higher authorities for their views. Should I not be sustained, I will find means of communicating with you.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT, Brig.-Gen. Commanding.

To Major-General POLK, Columbus, Ky.

On the 16th of October, 1861, General Grant ordered a portion of his forces under Colonel Plummer, then stationed at Cape Girardeau, Mo., to march towards Fredericktown, by way of Jackson and Dallas, and in conjunction with Colonel Carlin, who was moving in another direction, to check the advance of, and, if possible, defeat the rebel forces, then advancing northward under Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson. The movement was a success; and on the morning of October 21, 1861, the rebels were defeated, and the U. S. troops afterwards returned to their former posts.

Having thus secured the information he required relative to the position of Jeff Thompson's forces, and also having learned that others were concentrating at the rebel camp at Belmont, Mo., General Grant at the head of two brigades, commanded respectively by General McClernand and himself, left Cairo on November 6, 1861, for that point. On the opposite Kentucky shore, the rebels had fortified a position at Columbus, which was to command the camp at Belmont, as well as to blockade the Mississippi River.

The two U. S. brigades landed at Belmont, at eight o'clock of the morning of November 7, were at once formed into line of battle, and immediately attacked the rebel works, where they found the enemy in force under General Cheatham. The rebel forces were driven to and through their camp, and their battery of twelve guns was