When secession of the Southern states began, Kentucky declared herself neutral, but Paducah and most of western Kentucky took a strongly southern stand. Many young men from Paducah enlisted in the Confederate Army and followed Lloyd Tilghman into training camps across the state line in Tennessee, while Federal troops concentrated in Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Rumors that the Federal Army intended to occupy Paducah circulated but lost credibility until Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk occupied Columbus, Kentucky, on 4 September, fifty miles downstream on the Mississippi River. Expecting Confederate troops to arrive, Paducahans flew Confederate national colors, but on the morning of 6 September three Federal steamboats landed troops below the city and marched on town. The 9th and 12th Illinois Infantry and Smith's Battery of Artillery, about 1,800 men, came ashore. Citizens reacted in panic, and men, women, and children tried to evacuate, but Federal troops had already moved around Paducah and blocked each street out of the city. As troops blocked escape, the gunboats Tyler and Conestoga landed at the foot of Broadway, and a guard detail took the mayor aboard the Tyler, where he met Brigadier General U.S. Grant. Grant told him Federal troops would occupy Paducah and that people who behaved and did not interfere with the military would not be molested but protected, and the mayor was instructed to tell the people. Shortly afterward Brigadier General Paine arrested the mayor, held him for most of the day, and released him after ill treatment. Grant then came ashore to the foot of Broadway and Water Street and issued a proclamation saying he had come not as an enemy but as a fellow citizen to enforce the rights of loyal citizens, defend the city against rebellion, and protect friends of the government while punishing its enemies, and that he would withdraw when the people could defend themselves and maintain governmental authority. Leaving Paine in command of the occupation forces, Grant ordered him to command the post, dispose the forces to retain possession and control of the city, quarter some troops in the Marine Hospital near the river at the end of 4th Street between Park Avenue and Clay Street, and build fortifications and redoubts needed to guard government property, while private dwellings were not to be entered or searched without specific orders and strict discipline was to be enforced against soldiers who insulted citizens or plundered.