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Battle of Belmont: Grant's first Civil War engagement

When
1861
Where
Mississippi County, Missouri
Episodes
1

The Battle of Belmont occurred on November 7, 1861, in Mississippi County, Missouri. Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant launched a surprise attack against a Confederate camp opposite Columbus, Kentucky. The engagement aimed to disrupt Confederate troop movements into Missouri. Grant's troops initially overran the camp but retreated upon the arrival of Confederate reinforcements led by Leonidas Polk.

Episodes

  1. November 7, 1861 · Mississippi County, MissouriSurprise Attack at Belmont

    Grant launched a surprise attack against the Confederate camp at Belmont on November 7, 1861, to disrupt Confederate troop movements into Missouri.

Background and detail

The Engagement. On November 7, 1861, Grant launched a surprise attack against the Confederate camp at Belmont, aiming to disrupt the movement of Confederate troops into Missouri. The battle took place in Mississippi County, Missouri. Union forces overran the camp but retreated when Confederate reinforcements arrived. The engagement was a significant early action for Grant, who had recently joined the Union Army.

People involved

Sources

  1. Battle of Belmont Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-10
  2. Leonidas Polk Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06
  3. Ulysses S. Grant Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-06

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.