The Chain Across the Mississippi River

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The Columbus Belmont State Park in Kentucky commemorates the role of Columbus, Kentucky, and Belmont, Missouri (across the Mississippi River) in the Civil War.

The Confederate Army occupied and heavily fortified Columbus in the fall of 1861, disregarding Kentucky's official statement of neutrality. Most of their defensive positions were along the bluff above the Mississippi River in an attempt to prevent Union forces from passing south into Confederate states.

One part of the Confederate's attempt to stop Union ships on the river was a mile-long chain. Confederate General Leonidas Polk stretched that chain, composed of 5 1/2 pound links, across the Mississippi River from Fort DeRussy, on the Iron Banks Bluff north of Columbus, to a capstan on the Belmont, Missouri shore. The chain was supported on numerous pontoons on the river. Polk hoped that any Union ships coming down the river would be stopped by the chain long enough for cannon fire to sink them.

Union General U.S. Grant, however, attacked the town of Belmont on the Missouri side of the river and fought the rebels there to a draw. The Confederates' confidence was destroyed and shortly thereafter, when Grant and his forces attacked Columbus overland from the east, behind the fortifications, they easily took the town. Columbus, Kentucky, remained in Union hands until the end of the war and the State of KY joined the Union cause.

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