In February 1862, General John Pope concentrated an army in southeast Missouri to capture New Madrid and Island No. 10. Federal troops cut a channel twelve miles long to bypass Island No. 10, and transports and smaller boats passed through this canal while two large gunboats, under cover of darkness, ran the batteries on the island. The Confederate position then became untenable, and on April 7, 1862, Confederate forces evacuated the island and marched to Tiptonville, Tenn. The capture of Island No. 10 opened the Mississippi River to Federal forces and marked a strategic turning point of the war.
