In the winter of 1863–1864, war brought disastrous consequences to Old Columbus, an important landing on the Cumberland River. Late in December 1863, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant sent a naval convoy from Nashville to Creelsboro, Kentucky, on a reconnaissance and supply mission. The U.S. gunboats Reindeer and Silver Lake No. 2, under U.S. Navy Lt. Henry A. Glassford, escorted three transports carrying 140 sharpshooters of the 129th Illinois Infantry under Col. Andrew J. Cropsey. As the convoy moved upriver, Confederate guerrilla bands fired on it at five locations, including Gainesboro, the county seat. Tennessee military governor Andrew Johnson decided to establish a Federal army post at Gainesboro because the town served as a base of operations for Confederate partisans, and he ordered gunboat commanders not to destroy it so its buildings could be used for military purposes. After Federals occupied Gainesboro, Union forces began suppressing partisan warfare. During a February 1864 raid into the countryside, Col. Henry K. McConnell’s 71st Ohio Infantry pursued two companies of Confederate rangers led by Cols. Oliver P. Hamilton and John M. Hughs. The Federal force reached Columbus, where many of the partisans lived and kept their horses, and after removing the women, children, and livestock, the Federals burned the village to the ground.