Battle of Belmont
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The Battle of Belmont was fought on November 7, 1861, in Mississippi County, Missouri. It was the first combat test in the American Civil War for Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the future Union Army general in chief and eventual U.S. president, who was fighting Major General Leonidas Polk. Grant's troops in this battle were the "nucleus" of what would become the Union Army of the Tennessee.
Battle of Belmont, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
Lexington and Tyler duel the Confederate batteries
Grant's troops withdraw after the battle
John A. McClernand
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John Alexander McClernand was an American lawyer, politician, and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He was a prominent Democratic politician in Illinois and a member of the United States House of Representatives before the war. McClernand was firmly dedicated to the principles of Jacksonian democracy and supported the Compromise of 1850.
General McClernand during the Civil War
Embarkation of General McClernand's Brigade at Cairo -- the Advance of the Great Mississippi Expedition -- January 10, 1862
McClernand (right) with Abraham Lincoln during his inspection of the Antietam battlefield; Allan Pinkerton is standing at left.