Cairo supply base
Supply base, Cairo, Illinois.
- Side
- Union
- Kind
- Supply base
- Where
- Cairo, Illinois
- Years
- 1861-1865
- Today
- Park
CAIRO SUPPLY BASE
Cairo stood at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Grant occupied the city in January 1862 and built Fort Defiance at the confluence. It was an important Union supply base and training center for the rest of the war, the base for his campaigns south.
Then
Cairo sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Grant occupied the city in January 1862 and built Fort Defiance at the confluence to control access to the rivers, and Cairo was an important Union supply base and training center for the rest of the war, the base from which Grant launched and supplied his campaigns south.
Now
Park
Fort Defiance, at the point where the rivers meet, is the southernmost park in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources took over the site in 2014.
Lines owned by CN and smaller railroads run through Cairo today.
Nearby
- 0 miCairo naval stationUnion · Naval works, Cairo, Illinois
- 5 miMound City naval stationUnion · Naval works, Mound City, Illinois
- 18 miColumbus fortress and railheadConfederate · Army post, Columbus, Kentucky
- 18 miColumbus supply baseUnion · Supply base, Columbus, Kentucky
- 31 miPaducah supply depotUnion · Supply base, Paducah, Kentucky
- 42 miIsland No. 10 surrenders, opening the Mississippi to Fort PillowApril 8, 1862, Island No. 10, New Madrid Bend, Tennessee