What was the ANACONDA plan?

What was the anaconda plan?

• also: name some military and naval engagements that were designed to carry out the plan.

• Answer:

  It was Union General Winfield Scott's plan to cut off commerce between the states in rebellion and the outside world. Much of the South's essential war material came from overseas, and the funds to permit them to pursue the war depended on being able to ship their goods, manly cotton and tobacco, to overseas markets. There were a number of engagements meant to enforce this plan or to defeat it. The Battle of Galveston would be one of those. The closure of the Port of New Orleans was another, as was the seizure of the Mississippi and other rivers - the Anaconda Plan demanded cutting off such inland water supply routes as well as blockading Southern ports. Closing Charleston Harbor was a third such endeavor. Indeed, any Southern coastal town or city would have been a target, as they all had seaports.