Battle of Island No. 10
In February 1862, General John Pope concentrated an army in southeast Missouri for the purpose of capturing New Madrid and Island No. 10. Federal troops cut a channel twelve miles long to bypass Island No. 10. Transports and smaller boats were taken through this canal while two large gunboats, under cover of darkness, ran the batteries on the island. The Confederate position was now untenable and on April 7, 1862 Confederate forces evacuated the island and marched to Tiptonville Tenn. Thus the capture of Island No, 10 opened the Mississippi River to the Federal forces and marked a strategic turning point of the war.