The River Town

Paducah, Kentucky is located at the mouth of the Tennessee River, and was a strategic point for Union supplies along the Ohio, Mississippi, and Tennessee River systems.

In a response to the Confederate’s occupation of Columbus, Kentucky, Union General Ulysses S Grant’s forces took the town on September 6th 1861, in a bloodless takeover. To protect the town the Union troops built Fort Anderson. Due to Paducah’s location it played a important role in the Western Theater during the Civil War.