In January 1862, Confederate General Leonidas Polk stretched a mile-long chain across the Mississippi River from Fort DeRussy on the Iron Banks Bluff north of Columbus to a capstan on the Belmont, Missouri, shore in hopes of stopping Union ships long enough for cannon fire to sink them. A Union spy reported that the chain lay about one mile above Columbus, sustained by flats at intervals and passing through supports placed about the water's edge and under the boats. Most of the chain was removed after the Union occupation of Columbus in March 1862, and the effort failed. In December 1925, a landslide at the edge of the bluff exposed a section of the chain. Each link weighs 20 pounds 5 ounces. Digging at the end of the chain revealed an anchor measuring 15 feet 9 1/2 inches long, with flukes 9 feet from tip to tip. The anchor had been buried 11 feet deep with the flukes in a vertical position and fixed in place with 12-foot oak logs. It is estimated to weigh anywhere from 2 to 6 tons.
