Belmont, Missouri

Belmont, Missouri Soundex Code B455

The town of Belmont, in Mississippi County, Missouri southeast of Charleston, Missouri, is served by its own paved state highway. Too bad nobody lives there.

Belmont, once an important river landing and the home to a American Civil War battle, isn't even shown on most modern maps. It's easy to find, though. Take I-55 south to Highway 80, turn east, and keep going until the pavement ends. You'll come to a dead-end sign, a rare sight for a major state highway.

Throughout most of its history, Belmont had a Ferry Boat connecting to Columbus, Kentucky. The ferry is long gone, but the highways on either side -- both numbered Highway 80 -- still remain.

If the ferry was still operating, it would be possible to enter Kentucky and follow the highway across the entire length of the state and into Virginia. Indeed, Highway 80 is the longest state highway in Kentucky, providing a continuous connection -- minus the ferry -- between Missouri and Virginia.

Belmont dates to 1853, when a river landing was established and named for August Belmont, Sr., a wealthy and powerful New York banker. It remained a sleepy hamlet said to contain "three shacks." That changed during the American Civil War.

Across the river at Columbus, Kentucky the Confederate Army built a fortification on top of the bluffs. Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk called his fort the "Gibraltar of the West." He knew that control of the Mississippi River was a vital part of the war for both sides. In order to stop the passage of Union supply ships, a giant chain was stretched across the water from Columbus to Belmont.

Attacking Columbus directly would have been foolish for the Union, especially since it was the home to 140 cannon. The biggest was the "Lady Polk", a cannon capable of shooting 128-pound projectiles and reported to be the largest operated by the Confederacy at the time.

Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant decided to attack the Confederates on the opposite side of the river, at a small camp they had erected at Belmont. This was the Civil War's Battle of Belmont on Thursday, November 7, 1861. By American Civil War standards, it was fairly small, but it was still deadly.