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Northern Strategy During the American Civil War

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Northern Strategy in the Civil War:
Tactics and techniques used by the Federal government that turned the tide of the war

Jason McCawley

Research Paper
HIST 101 Spr 11
6 June 2011
-2-
The Federal government of the United States was faced with an enormous challenge following the firing of rebel cannon upon Ft. Sumter, SC, in April of 1864. How would a still relatively new government respond to an internal revolt? The Union army (Federal government) used several different methods, known in today’s military as Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTP’s).
The Federal government was faced with the daunting choice of allowing the Confederate’s to simply leave the Union, or to try and re-unite the country by military force. Of course the Federal’s and President Lincoln could not simply let the country split into two. President Lincoln ordered his top military leaders to come up with a tactical plan to conquer the rebels and bring the Confederacy back into the Union.
One of President Lincoln’s top military leaders, General Winfield Scott, proposed a plan, called the Anaconda Plan, based upon three primary missions (procedures). First, a naval blockade of the Southern seaports, second to gain complete control of the Mississippi river, and third, the capture and surrender of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America.1
By blockading the Confederate ports, President Lincoln and General Scott hoped to deprive the rebel government of their main income supply, the export of cotton and other mainly southern type agriculture products to Europe, mainly Great Britain. The Confederacy was receiving payment not only in the form of cash for their exports, but in weapons and ammunition as well. The goal of the second part of the plan was to essentially isolate the western states of the Confederacy from the main military and logistical centers of

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