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Anaconda Plan
The Anaconda Plan was the Union’s strategic plan to defeat the Confederacy at the
start of the American Civil War. The goal was to defeat the rebellion by blockading
southern ports; capturing Richmond Virginia, which had been established as the
Confederate capital; and controlling the Mississippi River. This would cut off and
isolate the south from the outside world and prevent their government from
functioning. The plan was developed
by General Winfield Scott at the
beginning of the Civil War, following
the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter
on April 12, 1861. The strategic plan
would have eventually ended the Civil
War, ideally with minimal casualties
on both sides. It was a humanitarian
way of defeating the rebellion as
opposed to invading the south with
massive numbers of troops, killing,
burning and capturing everything in
sight.
General Scott’s Anaconda Plan was a very passive way of defeating the
Confederacy. The problem General Scott had with his idea wasn’t the rebels. His
problem was convincing fellow Union commanders that this was a good idea. Pretty
much all of the Union commanders disliked this plan and referred to it as being too
complacent. The tactics that were eventually used were reminiscent of Scott’s plan
yet they also involved horrific combat and many bloody battles.
Lets take a deeper look at each of these three steps…
Step 1 – Blockade the Southern Ports
The South felt that cotton was king. Not only did they assume the war would never
happen because of the North’s dependence on Southern cotton, they also thought
that other countries, like Great Britain, would come to the South’s aid - if not for
help then surely for trading purposes. The North was well aware of this attitude
and decided that blockading Southern ports was a necessary first step. This would
prevent the south from trading their cotton and thus cripple the economy,
preventing them from having the funds to keep the war effort going. At the time,
the northern blockade was the biggest blockade in history. It proved to be very
successful. Union ships would fire on and turn away any Southern trading vessel
trying to go in or out of the ports. New Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston saw their
economic output plummet instantly. Within a year, plantations throughout the
South also began to suffer because they had no place to sell their cotton. The
North, Great Britain, and any other buyer were simply cut off due to the blockade.
Luckily for the North, Great Britain’s Navy did not attack the blockade but instead
watched from the sidelines eager to befriend and establish trade with whichever
side won the war.
The Confederate States of America did employ
some measures to try to counteract this blockade.
Most notably, they experimented with submarines
to try to sneak past Union Ships in the ports.
Most of the attempts failed and weren’t pursued
for a long period of time. The South also combats
the blockade by building lighter, faster ships
designed to out run union ships. These ships were
called blockade-runners and were able to, on some occasions, do just that. These
ships were not enough to get large enough amounts of cotton to Great Britain to
save the Confederate economy. The North’s blockade of the South was successful.
Step 2 – Take Control of the
Mississippi River
For generations, the Mississippi River had been more than just a river. It was a
lifeline for trade and commerce. It acted as a superhighway, traveling the northsouth length of the nation. People would use rafts, rowboats, and later, steamboats
to transport their goods down the river to New Orleans where they could be shipped
anywhere in the world via the ocean. Lincoln and Union Generals knew that the
South would use the Mississippi to transport weapons, troops, and other supplies up
and down the river to assist in war efforts. Also, taking the river would stop
Southern commercial vehicles from trading, further hurting the Confederate
economy. Preventing this would be very beneficial to the Northern war effort.
Also, the Mississippi was in an interesting location
for the South. It flowed through the heart of the
Confederacy. If the Union took control of the river
they would be cutting the western third of the
Confederacy off from the rest. Texas, Arkansas, and
Louisiana all lay west of this River and would
become isolated.
The Union initially struggled with this objective.
General Ulysses S Grant was in charge of Northern
troops in the western front that consisted of battles
on or around the Mississippi. Taking the river would
center around winning a series of battles in several
states that bordered the water. The Battles of Shiloh
in Tennessee and New Orleans in Louisiana led the
North to stake their claim on the river but it wasn’t
until the Battle of Vicksburg in the state of
Mississippi that would finally allow the North to control the entire river and
effectively cut the Confederacy down the middle. Although this process took two
and a half years this was essentially an achieved objective for the North. Now, two
of the three steps of the Anaconda Plan were complete.
Step 3 – Take Over the Confederate
Capital of Richmond, Virginia
Once Alabama seceded in 1861, they invited the other seceding states to join them
in their capital of Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery quickly became the acting
capital of the Confederate States of America. It is here where they wrote the
Confederate Constitution and elected Jefferson Davis as the President.
Montgomery's three hotels were crowded with government officials, politicians,
soldiers, and newspapermen. It became more of a metropolis than a quiet village,
with its streets crowded with carriages and horses. Everyone admired the small
town's beauty. But by May, the summer's humid heat and the mosquitoes changed
many people's minds about Montgomery. So when the newly seceded Virginians
offered their own state and their own capital as the capital of the Confederacy,
many were eager to accept the offer.
Richmond was a much larger metropolis than Montgomery and was the heart of the
South's industry. It was heavily guarded and provided a much better defensive
position despite the fact that it was geographically much closer to the Union and
only 100 miles away from Washington DC, the Union’s capital. Richmond was a
tempting target for the Union. Its capture would hurt the southern industrial
economy, which was small but crucial during wartime, and it would cripple the
Confederate government. The Union troops first attempted to capture the city in the
very first battle of the war, Bull Run. Throughout the war, the North tried again and
again. Each time they were completely unsuccessful and repelled by the opposing
army. It wasn’t until 1865, when the war was already going badly for the South,
that the North was able to capture and burn Richmond. This happened as a direct
result of Union victories elsewhere, which caused General Robert E Lee of the
Confederate Army to retreat and leave the capital defenseless. Defense of
Richmond was a top priority for the South, and failure to do so only became
possible when the South essentially gave up its protection due to its impending
overall surrender. The North’s capture of Richmond is successful, but only after 4
years and many casualties trying. Once this step of the Anaconda Plan was
completed, the war ended and the United States was whole again.