Civil War Day-by-Day Civil War Day-By-Day September 4, 1861 Excitement flared… on 4 September when Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk occupied strategic Columbus, Kentucky, fifty miles downstream from Paducah on the Mississippi River. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Posted September 4, 2021