Mile 937.2 - LBD Columbus-Belmont State Park

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

937.2 LBD Columbus-Belmont State Park

In the 1670s Frenchmen Marquette and Joliet explored the area where Columbus now stands. Originally called “Iron Banks” due to the purported deposits of iron ore in the bluffs along the river (which turned out to be a falsehood), the settlement changed its name to Columbus and attempted to have the U.S. capital moved from Washington to western Kentucky. Washington D.C. had been burned by the British during the War of 1812. The nation’s capital stayed in Washington, but Columbus did grow to be an important river town. Columbus again became the center of national attention in the opening months of the Civil War. The town had the distinction of being the opening phase of the Federal campaign to secure the West. On September 1, 1861, General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union District of Southeast Missouri, secured Cairo, Ill. and Paducah. His forces then moved on to take the high ground around Columbus. To his surprise Confederate General Leonidas Polk moved up from Tennessee and took the heights. The Confederates established a camp at Belmont, on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. Both Confederate and Union forces had now violated Kentucky’s neutrality forcing the state to ultimately choose the Union. The military advantage of taking the heights could not be overlooked. Confederate guns now looked down on the Mississippi River giving the South a defensible and controlling position of that vital waterway. The Confederacy began to fortify the bluffs above Columbus to such an extent that many military experts felt the position to be impregnable. During the autumn and winter of 1861, the South had 19,000 men laboring on the fortifications around Columbus. Confederate forces installed 140 siege guns along the heights and extended a huge chain across the Mississippi to stop Union gunboats and other vessels from navigating the river. By the time the Confederates finished their work, Columbus had become the most heavily fortified place in North America. It earned the sobriquet, the “Gibraltar of the West.” (from Columbus-Belmont State Park website)

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