Fort Anderson, in Paducah, Kentucky was the site of the Battle of Paducah. Marine Hospital The site was originally the site of the Paducah U.S. Marine Hospital, which was funded by the federal Marine Hospital Fund primarily for the benefit of the civilian merchant marine. The building's construction was part of the hospital system's expansion to the "western waters" of the Mississippi River, Ohio River, and Great Lakes. The site was selected in 1842 and the building was constructed during 1849–1852. The building layout was based on the then-standard Marine Hospital plan by Robert Mills and Thomas Lawson. Stephen Harriman Long was in charge of its construction. During the years of its operation it was only lightly used. Fort Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the Union military took possession of the hospital and constructed Fort Anderson around it. The building itself burned down in 1862. Originally a supply depot, it was rebuilt as a seven-gun fort. Fort Anderson was 400 feet long and ran 160 feet toward the Ohio River, surrounded on the west, north and south by 50 foot ditches filled with water. The fort was commanded by Colonel Stephen G. Hicks, a federal commander. The fort was occupied by 665 men. Battle of Paducah In March 1864, Confederate Major-General Nathan Bedford Forrest set out from Columbus, Mississippi, with a force of less than 3,000 men on a multipurpose expedition (recruit, reoutfit, disperse Yankees, etc.) into West Tennessee and Kentucky. He arrived in Paducah on March 25, and quickly occupied the town. The cavalry began destroying unwanted supplies, and took what they wanted, mainly horses and mules. Fort Anderson was commanded by Union officers Col. Stephen G. Hicks and Lt. Cdr. James W. Shirk. They had support of two gunboats on the Ohio River, and refused to surrender. A message was sent by Forrest to Hicks asking for unconditional surrender. The letter reads as follows: Colonel: Having a force amply sufficient to carry your works and reduce the place, and in order to avoid the unnecessary effusion of blood, I demand the surrender of the fort and troops, with all public property. If you surrender, you shall be treated as a prisoner of war; but if I have to storm your works, you may expect no quarter. N.B. Forrest, Major-General, Commanding Confederate Troops. Colonel Hicks answered with a letter of his own, which reads: