Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant occupy Paducah, Kentucky on the Ohio River

Kentucky's year-long effort to maintain its neutrality in the war had ended when, three days before, Confederate General Gideon Pillow occupied the western Kentucky town of Columbus, and stretched a steel chain across the Mississippi River to Belmont, Missouri.  In response, two thousand Union troops under General U.S. Grant, with support from gunboats, occupied Paducah, Kentucky on the Ohio.  The next day, the state legislature voted 77 to 20 to hoist the Union flag over the Kentucky Capitol.  (By John Osborne)