Civil War Strategies

1. Civil War Strategies North and South

2. Union • Anaconda Plan • Naval Blockade • Control Mississippi River • Capture Richmond

3. Anaconda Plan As the name implies, the Southern ports would be surrounded and the flow of supplies in, and cotton out was strangled.

4. Control Mississippi River By gaining control of the Mississippi River, the western Confederacy would be separated from the rest of the nation. Texas and Arkansas were huge sources of cattle and pigs for meat to feed the Southern Army.

5. Capture Richmond The Confederate capitol was moved from Montgomery Alabama to Richmond Virginia. This was too close to Washington D.C. Hence, the majority of battles were within a 100 mile crescent from Washington D.C. to Richmond.

6. Confederacy • Fight a defensive war. • Make it a long war.

7. Defensive War The South would have to be invaded and conquered to be brought back into the Union. The weapons and tactics of the day favored the defense. Defensive fortifications could be set up like the stone wall at Maryes Heights at Fredericksburg where four lines of Confederate rifleman shot doen over 12,500 Union soldiers.

8. Long War The longer the war went, the greater the casualty list in the North would grow. The South hoped this would make the North war weary and seek peace.

9. Linear Tactics Officers in the 1800s had been trained to emulate the tactics of Napoleon Bonaparte of France. This would mass your men, maneuver them into position to fire, keep advancing and firing, then finish your enemy off with the bayonet.