Qualla: Battle of Belmont https://qualla.com/battle-of-belmont en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/8/9/battle-of-belmont-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Belmont https://qualla.com/battle-of-belmont Battle of Belmont: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-belmont/ Photo credit Public domain. Belmont, Missouri, was not a town. It was three shacks and a ferry landing on the Mississippi River, directly across from the Confederate fortress at Columbus, Kentucky. On November 7, 1861, it became something more -- the place where Ulysses S. Grant, a failed farmer and former clerk who had re-entered the Army only months earlier, first tested himself in combat. Grant arrived by steamboat with 3,114 men, overran a Confederate camp, watched his soldiers lose all discipline in celebration, then fought a desperate retreat to the river while enemy reinforcements closed in from three sides. He nearly didn't make it back. The battle proved nothing strategically, but it introduced the American public to a general who would one day accept Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox -- and it taught Grant himself a lesson about victory, chaos, and the thin line between the two.

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/8/9/battle-of-belmont-wp/dn89-battle-of-belmont-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Belmont: A River Divided https://qualla.com/battle-of-belmont/ Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). From a drawing by Henry A. Walke., Public domain. The Mississippi River in late 1861 was more than a waterway -- it was the strategic spine of the Western Theater. Kentucky had declared neutrality at the war's outbreak, but that fiction collapsed in September when Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk marched his troops into C...

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Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). From a drawing by Henry A. Walke. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/8/9/battle-of-belmont-wp/dn89-battle-of-belmont-a-river-divided.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Belmont: Steamboats and Cornfields https://qualla.com/battle-of-belmont/ Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). Based on a sketch by Henry A. Walke., Public domain. On November 6, Grant loaded his men aboard six steamboats -- the Aleck Scott, Chancellor, Keystone State, Belle Memphis, James Montgomery, and Rob Roy -- escorted by the gunboats USS Tyler and USS Lexington. They steamed downriver from Cairo and landed at Hunter's Farm, three mil...

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Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). Based on a sketch by Henry A. Walke. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/8/9/battle-of-belmont-wp/dn89-battle-of-belmont-steamboats-and-cornfields.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Belmont: Demoralized by Victory https://qualla.com/battle-of-belmont/ Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). From a drawing by Henry A. Walke., Public domain. What happened next became one of the war's earliest cautionary tales. Grant's men, delirious with their first taste of victory, dissolved into a mob. They plundered the captured Confederate camp, cheered wildly, and ignored their officers. Brigadier General John A. McClernand pla...

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Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). From a drawing by Henry A. Walke. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/8/9/battle-of-belmont-wp/dn89-battle-of-belmont-demoralized-by-victory.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Belmont: A Horse That Understood the Situation https://qualla.com/battle-of-belmont/ Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). From a drawing by Henry A. Walke., Public domain. The retreat to the river became a running fight. The rear of Grant's column suffered badly as it ran the gauntlet of Confederate fire. When Grant reached the landing, he discovered one regiment was missing. He galloped back to search for it, found only enemy soldiers moving towar...

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Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). From a drawing by Henry A. Walke. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/8/9/battle-of-belmont-wp/dn89-battle-of-belmont-a-horse-that-understood-the-situation.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Belmont: The Making of a General https://qualla.com/battle-of-belmont/ Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). From a drawing by Henry A. Walke., Public domain. Both sides claimed victory. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston declared that 'the 7th of November will fill a bright gap in our military annals.' Union casualties were 607 -- 120 dead, 383 wounded, 104 captured or missing. Confederate losses were slightly higher at 641. T...

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Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). From a drawing by Henry A. Walke. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/8/9/battle-of-belmont-wp/dn89-battle-of-belmont-the-making-of-a-general.mp3 0:06 6 full