Transcript David__Pottle_posterx

The Anaconda Plan:
The North’s Plan to Slowly Squeeze the Life out
of the Confederate War Machine
Part Two was to capture
the vital Mississippi River
which would cut the
South in half and also
allow Union forces to use
the waterway as a
highway to funnel
resources South
General Winfield Scott came
up with the plan early in the
war but he could never
implement it because he
retired soon after the war
began.
Part one of the
plan called for a
naval blockade of
all Southern Ports
which would
hinder the
Southern
Economy.
Part Three was to use the
Mississippi River to move
east and attack the
Confederacy from two sides
at the same time
Effects of the Anaconda Plan
Part Three Of the plan was to move
Part One of the plan succeeded
in starving the Southern economy. The
blockade prevented any traditional
transportation boats from outrunning the
blockade. As a result, the South had to
make blockade runners which were
designed for speed and not for cargo
capacity. While 5 out of 6 blockade runners
outran the blockade, it was not enough to
save the Confederacy. Perhaps the biggest
influence of the blockade was to discourage
any other attempt to sell goods overseas.
Cotton was the South’s main export and
therefore the main source of revenue.. The
exportation of cotton rapidly decreased
95% compared to the period before the
war. This lead to a high inflation rate which
hurt the economy and it also caused the
South to overuse and slowly rundown their
railroads.
Part Two of the plan also
succeeded in cutting the Sout in half
and depriving it of the vital
Mississippi River. Captain David
Farragut sailed up the Mississippi
River from the Gulf of Mexico and
quickly captured New Orleans in
April 1862. He than began to go up
river from there until reaching the
fort at Vicksburg while halted him.
Meanwhile, the Union had moved
down the river from the North,
capturing the forts that tried to
guard the river until they got to
Vicksburg. Vicksburg held out until it
surrendered in July 1863. This led to
a full control of the Mississippi River
and the North began to move men
down it in order to attack the South
from the West. This move also cut off
all supplies, men and support for the
Confederacy from all h of the states
west of the Mississippi.
East and attack the Confederates from two
sides. While the war was raging between
Washington and Richmond, the Union
began to slowly push their way into the
deep South. The Confederacy was put in a
challenging position because it had to try
and defend its borders against Union
advances in the West and it also had to
defend Richmond. The very large
concentration of Union troops around
Washington forced the Confederacy to
station a very large number of resources
and men around Richmond in order to
match the Union forces across the
Potomac. This is why a lot of the battles in
the East were stalemates or not really that
decisive and also why neither side was
able to swiftly end the war by capturing
the opposing capital. Meanwhile, the
Western campaign was full of decisive
Union victories from Ft. Donleson to Shiloh
to the fall of Atlanta. With supplies and all
possible reinforcements cut off, Richmond
was essentially on its own and finally
surrendered on April 3 1865. Lee’s army
was shortly defeated and surrendered at
Appomattox Court house on April 9, 1865
thus ending the Civil War.
Map by:Jespersen, Hal. "Hal Jespersen's Cartography
Services
American
Civil Civil
War War
Maps."
Hal Jespersen's
Cartography
American
Civil War
Maps.athttp://www.cwmaps.com
November 16, 2012).
image- Davis,
Will .-"The
American
Center
at Historic Tredegar."
TheServices
Virginia-Center
for Digital
History
The University of Virginia.(accessed
http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/civilwar/index.php?section=Exhibits&page=War50_60
(accessed
November
16, 2012).
US Navy Department, Official records of the Union
and Confederate
Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Series I: 27 volumes. Series II: 3 volumes. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1894-1922.