Anaconda Plan

The North developed a complex plan to defeat the Confederacy with as little bloodshed as possible. This plan, called the Anaconda Plan, consisted of three parts, a western campaign, an eastern campaign, and a naval blockade of the Southern coast. The plan was properly titled Anaconda because the North was trying to squeeze the South and divide it so that it couldn't show a united front. If this three-pronged plan worked, the war would be over with the North victorious. But this war would last much longer than expected, and be bloodier than anyone anticipated.

The western campaign of the Anaconda Plan began when Grant gained control of Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, and attacked Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River, in February of 1862. By doing this, he hoped to gain control of the Mississippi Valley and cut of the shipment of supplies and cut off Texas and Arkansas from the rest of the Confederacy. Grant emerged from this campaign with the nickname of Unconditional Surrender Grant because when the Confederates asked for the conditions for surrender, he said "No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted."

Two months later, Grant took his Army of the Tennessee, and stopped for the night outside the town of Shiloh. The next morning, Grant was surprised when the Confederates, led by General Albert S. Johnston, attacked without any warning and slaughtered the Union army. The battle lasted all day, and the Union army was on the brink of collapse when they were saved by the arrival of General Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio, who drove the tired Confederate army from the field.

The Battle of Shiloh had many lessons buried within the bloodshed. The importance of scouts, trenches, fortifications, and communication with the divisional commanders became known by the way the battle was fought. Up until this point, the Union forces were thinking in only offensive terms. But, because they were unprepared for being attacked themselves, they were forced to think in defensive tactics as well. This battle was a bloody battle, and it made everyone realize there would be no easy, clean end to this war. The battle of Shiloh was a victory for the Union and Grant as they pushed the Confederates back, and they secured their hold on Tennessee.

The eastern part of the Anaconda Plan started off with the Battle of the First Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War. The battle started out in favor of the Union, but reinforcements soon came for the Confederates under the command of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. The Northern retreat was unorganized, and they poured back into Washington D.C., with the city waiting for the Confederate Army to pursue them. But, the Confederate troops were just as disorganized, and they didn't take advantage of the opportunity the Union Army gave them to capture Washington D.C.

Next, General McClellan finally moved his Army of the Potomac towards Richmond after occupying Yorktown. Because of his cautious nature, he continuously asked for reinforcements. Lincoln didn't send them, however, because General Stonewall Jackson threatened Washington D.C. after moving through Shenandoah Valley. Rather than attacking Washington D.C., however, Jackson moved his army to help protect the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Battles lasted outside of Richmond during the month of June 1862. Although the armies were evenly matched, McClellan was outgeneraled once again by West Point graduate General Robert E. Lee. In the beginning of July Lincoln pulled the Army of the Potomac out of Richmond and back to Washington D.C., and named General John Pope head of the Army of the Potomac.

After the Second Battle of Bull Run, which was a Southern victory, Lincoln desperately called on McClellan to once again command the Army of the Potomac. After this victory in the North, the Confederate Army started thinking in terms of attacking rather than defending. So, Lee boldly moved to attack Washington D.C., with McClellan cautiously pursuing him. After some Union soldiers found some copies of Lee's plans, McClellan caught up to him at Antietam Creek, where the Battle of Antietam occurred. After this battle, McClellan was fired for good.

Following the bloody Battle of Antietam, Lincoln appointed General Ambrose E. Burnside as head of the Army of the Potomac. Following the Battle of Fredericksburg, which was a complete disaster for the Union Army, Lincoln replaced Burnside with General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker. However, after Hooker lost the Battle of Chancellorsville to the brilliant Confederate general Stonewall Jackson, Lincoln replaced him with General George Meade. General Meade and Jackson met at Gettysburg, and the ensuing Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in the war. While the Battle of Gettysburg was taking place, Grant, with his Army of Tennessee, captured Vicksburg, Mississippi.

After the Battle of Gettysburg, and Vicksburg, Lincoln named Ulysses S. Grant head of the Union Army, taking command of the Army of the Potomac. William T. Sherman was appointed head of the Army in Tennessee.

The Union Army, under Grant, fought many consecutive battles, at Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. Although Grant suffered many more casualties than Lee, he was beating Lee with just sheer force of numbers. After Petersburg, the Union Army moved on Richmond, and soon after, Lee abandoned Richmond, and surrendered at Appomattox.

While Grant was in the North, Sherman was wreaking havoc in the South. Sherman, in his famous March to the Sea, went through Georgia and burned or destroyed anything that was in his way. After successfully occupying Atlanta, Georgia, he moved in to South Carolina and North Carolina. After Sherman occupied North Carolina, Johnston surrendered.

Another part of the Anaconda Plan was a naval blockade. On the 19th of April 1861, President Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the Southern states from South Carolina to Texas. Later, he extended the blockade to North Carolina and Virginia. The goal of the blockade was to sever the Confederacy's lifeline with Europe. At the beginning of the war, the blockade was ineffective, but as time went on, Lincoln strengthened the blockade with more and more ships. The main problem for the blockade was whether England would recognize it as a legal blockade, because there was question whether it was effective enough to be upheld. Fortunately for the Union, England did uphold the Union blockades, and it remained in effect for the rest of the war. It wasn't until many months after it was announced that the Union's navy was large enough to enforce the blockade. It was because of the blockade that the Union was able to pick away at the Confederacy's coastal defenses.

From 1861-1862, Federal ships captured many Confederate forts along the Southern coast, including Fort Hatteras, North Carolina, and Port Royal, South Carolina, Roanoke Island, New Bern and Fort Macon, North Carolina, Fort Pulaski, Georgia, and Pensacola, Florida. Also in 1862, Admiral David Farragut commanded the Union fleet that captured New Orleans. Later, Farragut also helped General Ulysses S. Grant capture Vicksburg, but his greatest victory of the war was his victory at Mobile Bay, off the coast of Alabama. Farragut had no functioning torpedoes, but with the battle cry, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" Farragut attacked and destroyed the last of the Confederate Navy.

In 1862, there was a well-known battle between two newly developed ironclad warships, the Monitor and the Merrimac (Virginia). The Merrimac, named the Virginia by the Confederate Navy when they captured it from the Union Navy, and the Monitor, a Union ironclad battleship, engaged in battle off the Virginia coast. This was a significant step in the naval war as it proved that all-wooden ships were no more.

As Abraham Lincoln once said about crushing the rebellion in the South, "Now therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States...have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and of the Law of Nations in such case provided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach or shall attempt to leave any of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the commander of one of the blockading vessels, who will endorse on her register the fact and date of such warning, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured, and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against her, and her cargo as prize, as may he deemed advisable."

One of the reasons why the blockade was so effective was that the Confederacy was created without a navy, and it never developed an effective one. The Confederacy had very little industry, and they had little funds for making them. The Confederacy tried to purchase some ships from Great Britain, but the Union blockade was effective in preventing these ships from getting through. The few ships they did have, which added up to a total of twenty, were successful before they were destroyed. Despite these successes, the Confederacy was still dominated when it came to the naval portion of the war.