Control of the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers was central to Union and Confederate strategy because possession of the Mississippi would split the Confederacy, cut off men and supplies west of the river, and open a path into the lower South. From 1861 to 1863 the Confederates held the river with strong positions at Columbus and Vicksburg, while Federal forces attacked from Cairo, Illinois, downriver and from the Gulf of Mexico upriver. Kentucky declared neutrality in 1861, but Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk occupied Hickman and Columbus on September 4, and Union Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant answered by taking Paducah and Smithland on September 6, ending the state's neutrality. Columbus, on the Iron Banks, was a powerful Confederate fortress whose high bluffs, railroad connection, artillery batteries, river mines, chain barrier, rifle pits, abatis, and earthen forts made it a major defense of the upper Mississippi. Federal success on the river depended heavily on gunboats, including timberclads and later ironclads under Captain Andrew Hull Foote, which supported army operations by engaging Confederate artillery and helped destroy Southern batteries at Forts Henry and Donelson, Island No. 10, New Madrid, and later Vicksburg. As part of efforts to check Confederate reinforcement into Missouri, Grant organized 3,114 men and sailed from Cairo on the evening of November 6 with six steamers supported by the Lexington and Tyler, then chose to attack the Confederate camp at Belmont, Missouri, to give his troops combat experience. Polk, still commanding at Columbus after an unaccepted resignation, learned of the Federal movement early on November 7 and sent Brigadier General Gideon J. Pillow's brigade to Belmont, where Colonel James C. Tappan's men at Camp Johnson, only 800 yards from Columbus, prepared for battle with limited ammunition.