Although European Americans had pressed for Indian removal in the Southeast because they were greedy for land, by the 1860s, the city of Fort Payne and the surrounding area were sparsely settled. Development of cotton plantations and larger settlements had taken place in the uplands region known as the Black Belt. With no strategic targets nearby, during the Civil War only minor skirmishes between Union and Confederate forces took place here. About the time of the Second Battle of Chattanooga, a large Union force briefly entered the county, but it did not engage substantial Confederate forces.