%0 eBook %A Daniel, Larry J., 1947- %E Bock, Lynn N. %I University of Alabama Press %D 1996 %C Tuscaloosa, Ala. %G English %@ 0585140812 %@ 9780585140810 %T Island No. 10 : struggle for the Mississippi Valley %U http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=13529 %X In 1862, Island No. 10 (so named because it was the tenth island south of the junction of the Ohio River with the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois) was a natural fortress. Approximately 1 mile long, 450 yards wide, and about 10 feet above low water in the middle of the channel, it straddled the boundaries of the states of Tennessee, Missouri, and Kentucky. The island was an ideal site from which Confederates could maintain control of the rivers to the West. But in March and early April of that year, the combined Union Army and Navy launched a campaign for command of Island No. 10--which became the site of the first extensive siege of the Civil War.