THE ANACONDA PLAN
Early in the war, Gen. Winfield Scott developed the "Anaconda Plan" which had as it's objectives:
- Encircle the South in a Naval blockade.
- Divide the Confederacy by capturing the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers.
- Gradually constrict the life out of the South.
Soon after the
first shots of the war were fired at Ft. Sumter, SC, on April 12, 1861, the
Mississippi River became a focus in the war plans of both sides. "The Father of
Waters" had moved lumber, wheat, corn, and meat from the Midwest, cotton and
tobacco from the Upper South to New Orleans, and European goods upriver. Control
of the Mississippi and the rivers that flow into it would allow the North to
move troops and supplies deep into the South while crippling the Confederacy's
ability to survive. The South needed to protect itself, especially the rich
farmland of the Mississippi River Valley, from Northern invasion.
With northern Missouri securely under Union control by Fall 1861, both sides
massed troops - the North along the Ohio River and the South across Tennessee.
Each side waited and watched, careful not to tip the balance in neutral Kentucky toward the other.
On September 1, 1861, Confederate General Leonidas Polk seized the Kentucky
river towns of Hickman and Columbus. He began erecting fortifications at
Columbus to defend the river as part of a Confederate defense line that
stretched across southern Kentucky from Columbus to Cumberland Gap. General
Ulyses Grant quickly countered by crossing the Ohio river from Cairo, IL, and
occupying Paducah and Smithland, KY. The watching and waiting was over and the
lines had finnaly been drawn.
Late in 1861--with the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts under active Union
blockade--Union land and naval forces launched a key element of the Anaconda
Plan by simultaneously heading south from Paducah, KY, and north from the Gulf
of Mexico to wrest control of the Lower Mississippi River Valley from the Confederates.
At that time, the Union Naval command recognized that the execution of the river portion of the Anaconda Plan would depend on several accomplishments:
- The capture of New Orleans which, while not itself heavily fortified, was
well protected by Forts Jackson and St. Philip about 70 miles below the city.
- Control of the mouth of the Red River down which supplys were flowing to
the eastern Confederate states from Mexico and Texas.
- Reduction of Fort Henry, TN, on the Tennessee River and nearby Fort
Donelson, TN, on the Cumberland River.
- The Reduction of the Confederate strongholds at Columbus, KY--Belmont, MO,
and, subsequently, New Madrid, MO, and nearby Island No. 10.
- Finally, the capture of Vicksburg, MS, which, with it's high bluffs and
formidable gun emplacements, was called "The nail which holds the two halves
of the Confederacy together. (Note: Other Confederate fortifications along the
river--Ft. Pillow, TN, Memphis, TN, Grand Gulf, MS, Port Hudson, LA--were not
armed well enough to be considered a serious threat to Union River
operations.)
The initial engagement of the river portion of Anaconda
was at Belmont, MO, on November 7, 1861.