![]() ![]() Meanwhile, Lincoln and military leaders in the North were optimistic a quick blow to the South, especially if they could capture the Confederacy’s new capital of Richmond, Virginia, would end the rebellion before it went any further. Northerners hoped that most Southerners would not actually fire on the American flag. Some questioned how committed Southerners really were to their cause. Many believed that a single, heroic battle would decide the contest. Men rushed to enlist, and the Confederacy welcomed tens of thousands who hoped to defend the new nation. This official pronouncement confirmed the beginning of the Civil War. The Confederacy responded to the blockade by declaring that a state of war existed with the United States. Also in April, Lincoln put in place a naval blockade of the South, a move that gave tacit recognition of the Confederacy while providing a legal excuse for the British and the French to trade with Southerners. The response from state militias was overwhelming, and the number of Northern troops exceeded the requisition. His goal was a ninety-day campaign to put down the Southern rebellion. The First Battle of Bull RunĪfter the fall of Fort Sumter on April 15, 1861, Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers from state militias to join federal forces. LI, Part 1 (Government Printing Office, 1897).Figure 1. The First Battle of Bull Run, which many Northerners thought would put a quick and decisive end to the South’s rebellion, ended with a Confederate victory. ![]() Finally, it will be necessary that New Orleans should be strongly occupied and securely held until the present difficulties are composed.įrom The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol. In the progress down the river all the enemy’s batteries on its banks we of course would turn and capture, leaving a sufficient number of posts with complete garrisons to keep the river open behind the expedition. ![]() This army, in which it is not improbable you may be invited to take an important part, should be composed of our best regulars for the advance and of three-years’ volunteers, all well officered, and with four months and a half of instruction in camps prior to (say) November 10. I suppose there will be needed from twelve to twenty steam gun-boats, and a sufficient number of steam transports (say forty) to carry all the personnel (say 60,000 men) and material of the expedition most of the gun-boats to be in advance to open the way, and the remainder to follow and protect the rear of the expedition, &c. In connection with such blockade we propose a powerful movement down the Mississippi to the ocean, with a cordon of posts at proper points, and the capture of Forts Jackson and Saint Philip the object being to clear out and keep open this great line of communication in connection with the strict blockade of the sea-board, so as to envelop the insurgent States and bring them to terms with less bloodshed than by any other plan. We rely greatly on the sure operation of a complete blockade of the Atlantic and Gulf ports soon to commence. Lee had declined Scott’s offer to assume command of the Union army, which no doubt underscored Scott’s unpopular belief that the war would not end quickly.Ĭommanding Ohio Volunteers, Cincinnati, OH Newspapers ridiculed the so-called Anaconda Plan as too slow, editor Horace Greeley writing, “Forward to Richmond!” Two weeks earlier, Robert E. Army since 1841, outlined a plan below to strangle the Confederacy by taking control of the Mississippi and enforcing a coastal blockade. Seasoned 74-year-old General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, commander of the U.S. ![]()
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