The Navy in the Civil War

The “Anaconda Plan” called for a stiff blockade of Southern seaports in conjunction with an amphibious advance along the line of the Mississippi River. These operations would strangle the Confederate economy, based so heavily on the international cotton trade, and split the Confederacy apart. Although the slow and relentless squeeze of the plan was disparaged by critics who thought the conflict would be over in a matter of months, Lincoln stuck by the plan proposed by Gen. Winfield Scott throughout the war.