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The North entered the Civil War with a plethora of advantages over the South: a larger population, a superior railway infrastructure, and a higher level of industrial production. So, it was going to be a quick and easy victory, right? Well, not exactly. Strategy played a large role in the North's early defeats as well its later triumphs.
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Sign up for freeThe Overland Campaign was part of which General's aggressive strategy?
True or False: General Grant favored an aggressive strategy because he believed the Confederacy could not replace their losses as easily and that he would lose more men to exposure in long campaigns than to combat.
At the beginning of the war, General George McClellan initially hoped to win by:
Which general favored an aggressive strategy, pushing forward in the face of mass casualties?
Why did Lincoln initially overlook the Anaconda Plan?
Which general finally succeeded in gaining control of the Mississippi River?
Which was not an effect of the Emancipation Proclamation?
Which states became cut off from the Confederacy when the North gained control of the Mississippi?
Which general came up with the Anaconda Plan?
The First Battle of Bull Run was an encouraging victory for the North and affirmed their strategy.
Which general focused on capturing civilian strongholds in the South?
The Overland Campaign was part of which General's aggressive strategy?
True or False: General Grant favored an aggressive strategy because he believed the Confederacy could not replace their losses as easily and that he would lose more men to exposure in long campaigns than to combat.
At the beginning of the war, General George McClellan initially hoped to win by:
Which general favored an aggressive strategy, pushing forward in the face of mass casualties?
Why did Lincoln initially overlook the Anaconda Plan?
Which general finally succeeded in gaining control of the Mississippi River?
Which was not an effect of the Emancipation Proclamation?
Which states became cut off from the Confederacy when the North gained control of the Mississippi?
Which general came up with the Anaconda Plan?
The First Battle of Bull Run was an encouraging victory for the North and affirmed their strategy.
Which general focused on capturing civilian strongholds in the South?
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Team Northern Strategies in the Civil War Teachers
At the beginning of the Civil War, the North’s main goal was to force the South back into the Union. Major General Winfield Scott suggested the Anaconda Plan to strangle the South into submission. The Anaconda Plan was essentially a naval blockade along the Atlantic Coast that would disturb the supply of key resources from abroad. After a disturbingly brutal and bloody defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run, however, Lincoln opted to focus on a more active strategy. The Anaconda Plan would take too long for its effects to be felt, and the Union wanted a swift victory.
The First Battle of Bull Run
Both the North and the South believed that they would win the war rapidly and with ease. So, when the First Battle of Bull Run began, both sides expected a swift victory. Northern spectators even traveled from Washington, D.C. to witness the confrontation, picnic baskets in hand. What they witnessed, however, was a wake-up call. The battle was not only long and bloody--the Union suffered almost 3,000 casualties--but ended with a humiliating Union retreat. It was clear the Union needed to regroup and develop a viable strategy.
Fig. 1 - illustration of the Anaconda Plan
President Abraham Lincoln looked towards General George McClellan, whom he appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac, to formulate a strategy.
The Army of the Potomac
the largest and most significant Union army operating in the East
McClellan believed that launching several attacks simultaneously would wear the South out, as the Confederacy lacked both supplies and manpower when in comparison with the North. But it quickly became clear that McClellan was prone to indecisiveness and inaction. Conditions were never quite perfect, and as a result, the Union army stalled.
Fig. 2 - portrait of General George McClellan
By 1863, the overall military strategy consisted of five major points:
Hold strong with the Anaconda Plan
Gain control of the Mississippi River
Capture Richmond, Virginia (the Confederacy’s capital)
Capture major civilian cities
Engage in simultaneous offenses
The Siege of Vicksburg proved a critical turning point, with the Union finally gaining control of the Mississippi River. This essentially extended the naval blockade of the Anaconda Plan through the South itself, cutting Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas off from the rest of the Confederacy. This exacerbated the Confederacy’s supply shortage even further and made Union General Ulysses S. Grant look really attractive as the next commander of the Union Army. President Lincoln appointed Grant in early 1864, replacing the generally unsuccessful Henry Halleck.
Fig. 3 - General Ulysses S. Grant
General Grant believed in the same simultaneous offense that McClellan had suggested but failed to truly implement. Grant sent General Benjamin Franklin Butler to capture Richmond and General William Tecumseh Sherman to capture major civilian strongholds in the heart of the South like Atlanta and Savannah. Both would hurt Southern morale. Grant, himself, would stay with General George Meade and the Army of the Potomac to face off with Confederal General Robert E. Lee. His goal was to engage and overpower with sheer manpower so that Confederate troops would lose their will to fight.
Essentially, the North was waging a war of attrition against the South, hoping that a lack of resources, manpower, and morale would eventually lead to a surrender. But, with all this talk of breaking Southern morale, what was President Lincoln doing to keep morale up in the Union?
Well, he made the decision to change the Union’s main goal of the war. It was no longer a war to bring the South back into the Union, but a war to end the atrocity of slavery. He did this by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
executive order that freed all slaves in rebelling states and territories
Earlier in the war, Lincoln had hesitated to take a stance against slavery. He feared it would anger border states who still had slavery but remained loyal to the Union.
Fig. 4 - print of the Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was a double-edged sword for the Confederacy. It led to a renewed vigor in the North, but it also dashed Confederate hopes for European assistance. The Confederacy had long believed that European powers, particularly England and France, would provide support. The South had cotton, and the British and French needed it and would surely intervene, right? Well, what the South had not anticipated was England and France turning to other sources, particularly India. So, now the Confederacy was left on its own, magnified even further by the naval blockade.
When it came to military strategy, the South had begun with a cordon defense, in which they sent troops to defend all borders. Unfortunately for the Confederacy, it soon became clear this was not a viable strategy. The Union Army far outnumbered Confederate troops, and they simply couldn’t be everywhere at once. Instead, the Confederacy turned to an offensive-defensive strategy, in which they only staged attacks where they knew would be at an advantage.
While the South may have had initial success, with General Ulysses S. Grant at the helm, the Union began to make considerable headway. Where previous commanders were hesitant to attack, Grant was decisive and lethal. He knew that the North had numbers and was not scared to run through them. With this approach, he found success, and under his watch, all five points of the Union strategy came to fruition.
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What was the Northern strategy in the Civil War?
The Northern strategy in the Civil War was to cut off the South from key supply routes and break down morale by capturing key cities and engaging in simultaneous offenses.
Who developed the Northern strategy in the Civil War?
Various generals (particularly Winfield Scott, George McClellan, and Ulysses, S. Grant) in conjunction with Abraham Lincoln developed the Northern strategy in the Civil War
What was Lincoln's strategy for the Civil War?
Lincoln's strategy for the Civil War was to force the Confederacy to surrender by breaking down their will to fight.
What were three Northern strategies to fund the war?
The North instituted new forms of taxation, printed wartime currency known as greenbacks, and sold bonds to fund the war.
What was one Northern strategy for winning the war?
One Northern strategy for winning the war was the Anaconda Plan, which called for a naval blockade of the South along the Atlantic Coast.
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