What was the ANACONDA plan?

How did the Anaconda Plan play out?

• I have that the 3 parts to the anaconda plan were: Blockade ports in the south Take the Mississippi River and cut the south in half Come down from the north, drive into the south, and ...show more

• Answer:

  Entirely successful. The blockade cut Southern imorts and exports by 95%,and as the South could not export cotton to get hard cash,the Confederate economy eventually collapsed. Once Vicksburg fell in JUly 1863 and the Union had gained control of the entire length of the Mississippi river,the CSA was effectively cut in 2.This meant no Texas beef or Lousiana salt (a vital preservative in a pre refrigeration era) for the eastern CSA,and no manufactures (almost all Confederate factories were in the eastern states) or imports from blockade runners for the western CSA.It was also very,very difficult to reinforce one theatre from another after Vicksburg. A combination of the 2 made the campaign of Grant 1864-65 to capture Richmond that much eaiser - ultimately,he was able to trap the Confederate army at Petersburg and end the war by forcing its surrender without actually having to attack and capture Richmond.