Despite the Kentucky state legislature's declaration of neutrality on May 16, 1861, the Confederacy decided to make its move northward from the secessionist state of Tennessee. After the Confederate seizure of Columbus and the occupation of Hickman on September 3, 1861, Union Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant moved quickly, occupying Paducah at the mouth of the Tennessee River and a short distance down the Ohio from Smithland, strategically located at the confluence of the Cumberland and Ohio rivers. In September 1861 Grant ordered the construction of two forts - Fort Anderson at Paducah and Fort Smith at Smithland - to house, recruit, and train soldiers to enable the Union to hold Kentucky and force the Confederates to leave the state. The Cumberland leading south into Tennessee and Fort Donelson and the Ohio leading into the Mississippi River and the campaign to cut the South in half. Fort Smith served as an encampment and fortification complex until the last regiment there was mustered out of service in November 1865.

This site has local significance because of its association with military activities and events that achieved or affected important local objectives of the Vicksburg campaign.