The Civil War in the Jackson Purchase 1861-1862

<p> The Jackson Purchase is the far western section of Kentucky. In 1861 it was a rich agricultural and iron producing region. It also controlled the mouths of the Ohio Cumberland and Tennessee rivers as well as that middle stretch of the mighty Mississippi where it transitions from a northern to a southern river. The Purchase was the riverine gateway to the Deep South. The obvious military importance of the region caused both the Federal and Confederate governments to pour material resources and military talent into the Purchase in an effort to hold it and defend it against the incursions of their enemies.</p><p> The Jackson Purchase was the Civil War training ground of such army officers as U.S. Grant C.F. Smith Leonidas Polk Lloyd Tilghman and the navy's own Andrew H. Foote commander of the Federal Brown Water Navy. Four major amphibious battles were fought for control of the area: Columbus-Belmont Fort Henry Fort Donelson and Island Number Ten. This book tells the story of the bloody years 1861 and 1862 and the tense contested Union occupation that followed in the region known as The South Carolina of Kentucky.</p>