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naval blockades from southern ports
Blockades on Southern ports were set up in the Anaconda Plan. This plan was to use naval vessels to block all ports within the Confederates States. If they could not get their cotton out to market then they could not bring in any supplies.
If President Lincoln had not ordered a blockade of Southern ports during the US Civil War, the war would have been extended by several years. The blockade was a necessary operation in the Union's efforts to disrupt the Confederate's trading ability with England and France. It would be, however, be impossible for Lincoln to not use the strategy of blockading.
The Union's Secretary of the Navy was Gideon Welles. After President Lincoln proclaimed the Union blockade, Welles issued a detailed statement concerning the goals of the blockade. The strategy was as follows:1. The closing of all insurgent ports along a coastline of almost 3,000 miles; 2. Combined efforts of the navy and the army to use force to capture or destroy the Rebel ports; and 3. The active pursuit and capture of privateer ships attempting to slip pass the blockade.
Blockade: naval action aimed to prevent the enemy from making use of its ports, merchant marine and any maritime traffic, irrespective of the origin and carriers, by means of the navy.
theanaconda plan was a plan made by the north. the plan was to use ships to make a blockade at the southern ports to block the supply routes
Lincoln used a three-part strategy known as the Anaconda Plan to defeat the Confederate States. His plan was to blockade Southern ports, seize control of the Mississippi River to divide the Confederacy in half, and to surround and attack the Confederacy on all sides.
They use Blockade Runners to go and get supplies, They use small, fast vessels to get by the big war ships. Some southern blockade runners also took the overland route, through Texas and on to Mexican ports, which were not subject to the blockade. However, after the Battle of Vicksburg, the Union controlled the entirety of the Mississippi River, cutting off the flow of goods into Texas from the rest of the Confederacy.
Union General Scott's Anaconda Plan was initially thought by Lincoln as being too slow to accomplish his objectives. The Plan called for a blockade of Southern ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the South. Along with that, to take control of the Mississippi and hold important Southern cities on that river. Scott's plan was to basically strangle the South and force them in time force the South to surrender. Lincoln believed that the Plan was too slow. He wanted a faster to for the end of the Southern rebellion. As things worked out, however, the first major step Lincoln took was to attempt the above-mentioned blockade. Later in the war, the control of the Mississippi and New Orleans would be crucial to the Union's war in the West.
The North and the South were both unprepared to fight a war. And, both sides at first believed the conflict would be a short one. In the mind of many, foremost US President Lincoln, his early goal was to capture the Southern capital of Richmond. The city was barely a 100 miles south of Washington DC. Lincoln and several generals believed this "center of gravity" to use a military term, would quickly quell the Southern rebellion. Another early Union goal was to blockade important Southern ports.
A blackade is to shut ports by a ship to help people and supplies not come in and go out!
enforcing a navel blockade