Belmont | Nov 7, 1861

Newly-promoted General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union forces disembarked steamboats three miles north of Belmont in November 1861, and marched south to engage Confederate soldiers at Camp Johnson where they inflicted heavy losses. Confederate reinforcements, bolstered by long-range cannons in nearby Columbus, counterattacked the Federals. While both sides claimed victory, the Battle of Belmont unquestionably gave Grant the combat and large-unit command experience he would need later in the war.