Named Entity Results, William M. Polk

General Polk and the battle of Belmont. His son, Dr. William M. Polk, Captain, C. S. A. On the 1st of November, 1861, General Fremont ordered General Grant at Cairo, and General C. F. Smith at Paducah, to hold their commands in readiness for a demonstration upon Columbus, Kentucky, a strong position then occupied by about ten thousand Confederate troops under General Leonidas Polk. The object of the proposed demonstration was to cover an effort to be made to drive General Jeff. Thompson fDr. William M. Polk, Captain, C. S. A. On the 1st of November, 1861, General Fremont ordered General Grant at Cairo, and General C. F. Smith at Paducah, to hold their commands in readiness for a demonstration upon Columbus, Kentucky, a strong position then occupied by about ten thousand Confederate troops under General Leonidas Polk. The object of the proposed demonstration was to cover an effort to be made to drive General Jeff. Thompson from south-east Missouri; and at the same time to check the sending of reinforcements to Price. In accordance with this general plan, on the 4th and 6th Grant moved Colonels R. J. Oglesby, W. H. L. Wallace, and J. B. Plummer in the direction of the town of Sikeston, Mo. Next he ordered the garrison at Fort Holt opposite Cairo to advance in the direction of Columbus, and early on the morning of the 7th, with a force of about 3500 men of all arms, convoyed by the gunboats Lexington and Tyler, he

olding the river for operations in conjunction with the troops he was gathering along the line of the Memphis and Charleston railroad. When, in the conference at Jackson, Beauregard unfolded these views to General Polk, the latter was not disposed to yield a ready assent to all of them. He recognized the necessity for gathering a force for field operations. It was, indeed, exactly what he and every other prominent officer in the department had, for six months, been urging upon the authorities. He, however, questioned the advisability of giving up Columbus. The works had been accepted by Colonel Gilmer, the chief engineer of the department, an officer who subsequently became the head of the Corps of Engineers in the Confederacy. In spite of the strategical fault which might be committed in an attempt to hold it, General Polk maintained that, just at that time, the moral effect of a determined stand at Columbus would be of great service to the Confederate arms. Dr. Wm. M. Polk.

hat we had a more dangerous force to contend with than the Federals,--namely, the river itself. Inquiry among old residents confirmed my fears that the fort was not only subject to overflow, but that the highest point within it would be — in an ordinary February riseat least.two feet under water. This alarming fact was also communicated to the State authorities, only to evoke the curt notification that the State forces had been transferred to the Confederacy, and that I should apply to. General Polk, then in command at Columbus, Ky. This suggestion was at once acted on,--not once only, but with a frequency and urgency commensurate with its seeming importance,--the result being that I was again referred, this time to General A. S. Johnston, who at once dispatched an engineer (Major Jeremy F. Gilmer). to investigate and remedy; but it was now too late to do so effectually, though an effort was made looking to that end, by beginning to: fortify the heights on. the west bank (Fort Heiman