Editing Hickman County, Kentucky (section)

== History ==

Founded in 1821, Hickman County was the seventy-first in order of formation. It was named for Captain [[Paschal Hickman]] of the 1st Rifle Regiment, Kentucky Militia.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n155 156]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_luoxAQAAMAAJ | title=The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 1 | publisher=Kentucky State Historical Society | year=1903 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_luoxAQAAMAAJ/page/n116 35]}}</ref>  A resident of [[Franklin County, Kentucky]], Hickman was wounded and captured at the [[Battle of Frenchtown]] in January 1813 and was killed by Indians in the [[Massacre of the River Raisin]].

[[Columbus, Kentucky]], in the northwest of the county and located on the [[Mississippi River]], was the original county seat. A log structure built in 1823 served as the courthouse. In 1830, the county seat was moved to the more centrally located [[Clinton, Kentucky|Clinton]]. Since 1845 when [[Fulton County, Kentucky]] was partitioned, Hickman County has maintained its current borders.

In 1861, early in the [[American Civil War]], the [[Confederate Army]] established [[Fort de Russey]] on the strategically located bluffs at Columbus across the river from Belmont, [[Missouri]]. Confederate General [[Leonidas Polk]] knew it was important to control the river, and wanted to extend a massive chain across the Mississippi to block Union forces from going downstream. (This was never achieved.) The fort was garrisoned with several thousand troops and a six-gun battery was installed; a smaller force was based at a Confederate camp in Belmont.

Union Gen. [[Ulysses S. Grant]] moved troops from his base at [[Cairo, Illinois]], and attacked Belmont in November 1861, his first battle of the war. He was ultimately defeated by Confederate troops sent from Columbus across the river to reinforce the Confederate defense; they were led by Polk.<ref>Hughes, Nathaniel Cheairs, ''The Battle of Belmont: Grant Strikes South'' (Univ of North Carolina Press, 1991), p. 184.</ref><ref>McGhee, James E. [http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/History2/McGheeGrantatBelmont.htm "The Neophyte General: U.S. Grant and the Belmont Campaign"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041117/http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/History2/McGheeGrantatBelmont.htm |date=March 4, 2016 }}, Civil War in St. Louis</ref> The former site of the Confederate fortifications near Columbus, Kentucky is now the [[Columbus-Belmont State Park]], commemorating all the actions of the day that led to Union defeat here.<ref>''The Kentucky Encyclopedia.''</ref>