Fort Anderson, in

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...

was the site of the

Battle of Paducah The Battle of Paducah was fought on March 25, 1864, during the American Civil War. A Confederate cavalry force led by Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest moved into Tennessee and Kentucky to capture Union supplies. Tennessee had been occupied by Un ...

Marine Hospital

The site was originally the site of the Paducah U.S. Marine Hospital, which was funded by the federal Marine Hospital Fund primarily for the benefit of the civilian merchant marine. The building's construction was part of the hospital system's expansion to the "western waters" of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, and

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. The site was selected in 1842 and the building was constructed during 1849–1852. The building layout was based on the then-standard Marine Hospital plan by Robert Mills and Thomas Lawson.

Stephen Harriman Long Stephen Harriman Long (December 30, 1784 – September 4, 1864) was an American army civil engineer, explorer, and inventor. As an inventor, he is noted for his developments in the design of steam locomotives. He was also one of the most pro ...

was in charge of its construction. During the years of its operation it was only lightly used.

Fort

Upon the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

in 1861, the Union military took possession of the hospital and constructed Fort Anderson around it. The building itself burned down in 1862. Originally a supply depot, it was rebuilt as a seven-gun fort. Fort Anderson was 400 feet long and ran 160 feet toward the

, surrounded on the west, north and south by 50 foot ditches filled with water. The fort was commanded by Colonel

Stephen G. Hicks Stephen G. Hicks (February 22, 1809 – December 14, 1869 (or 1866)) was an American soldier alf Cherokee Indian born in Jackson County, Georgia. His father, John Hicks, was one of the seven soldiers killed in action at the Battle of New Orleans. ...

, a federal commander. The fort was occupied by 665 men.

Battle of Paducah

In March 1864,

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

set out from Columbus, Mississippi, with a force of less than 3,000 men on a multipurpose expedition (recruit, reoutfit, disperse Yankees, etc.) into West Tennessee and Kentucky. He arrived in Paducah on March 25, and quickly occupied the town. The cavalry began destroying unwanted supplies, and took what they wanted, mainly horses and mules. Fort Anderson was commanded by

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

officers Col. Stephen G. Hicks and Lt. Cdr. James W. Shirk. They had support of two gunboats on the Ohio River, and refused to surrender. A message was sent by Forrest to Hicks asking for unconditional surrender. The letter reads as follows:

Colonel:
Having a force amply sufficient to carry your works and reduce the place, and in order to avoid the unnecessary effusion of blood, I demand the surrender of the fort and troops, with all public property. If you surrender, you shall be treated as a prisoner of war; but if I have to storm your works, you may expect no quarter.
N.B. Forrest,
Major-General, Commanding Confederate Troops.

Colonel Hicks answered with a letter of his own, which reads:

Sir:
I have this moment received yours of this instant, in which you demand the unconditional surrender of the forces under my command. I can answer that I have been placed here by the Government to defend this post, and in this, as well as all other orders from my superiors, I feel it to be my duty as an honorable officer to obey. I must, therefore, respectfully decline surrendering as you may require.
S.G. Hicks
Colonel, Commanding Post

As a result, on March 25, 1864, at 4:30, the order to charge came from Forrest. Led by Colonel Albert P. Thompson, of Paducah, the Confederate cavalrymen swooped down on the fort. They were met with a barrage of grapeshot and canister from newly converted gunboats. They fell back, and then charged once more, only to meet with the same fierce barrage. The Confederates entered homes near the fort and began firing under cover of the houses. General Forrest gave the order to cease firing. Although this is considered to be a

victory, it was not a conflict that made any lasting changes.

Later history

In 1905, Riverside Hospital opened on the site. Initially operated by the city, it was sold to the Catholic Diocese of Owensboro in 1959 and renamed Lourdes hospital. The hospital was sold in 1973 and became a nursing home. The site is now occupied by the Paducah–McCracken County Convention & Expo Center.

References

{{coord, 37, 05.580, N, 88, 36.121, W, type:landmark_region:US-KY, display=title Buildings and structures in Paducah, Kentucky Kentucky in the American Civil War

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson Ra ...

1864 in Kentucky United States Marine Hospitals 1852 establishments in Kentucky