War Strategies

    One of the many strategies the North or Union had was the "Anaconda."  This was a maneuver which surrounded the South, Confederacy, so that they could not export or import supplies.  This worked for some time but then the South found ways of exporting and importing.

    The most popular strategy with the Northern press, the public, and political leaders called for a direct overland march in Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate Capital.  They thought that if Richmond fell, this would demoralize the South and the war would end.  With this plan, the South's largest munitions factory, the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond would be destroyed.  Some of Lincoln's military advise argued that this would invite disaster.  Not only did the army consist of untrained volunteers, but an over land attack on Richmond would mean crossing difficult terrain.  An alternate strategy, based on the expectation of a longer war, would give them the time to train an army of 30,000 men.

    Using round bullets to defeat the enemy was one strategy they thought of, however, the men did not have good aim and the bullets did not go very far.  Instead they used half oval bullets that had better aim and went further.

The New Book of Knowledge Encyclopedia. Grolier Inc, 1968