b) Suffocate Confederate trade

The strategic goal of the Civil War’s Anaconda Plan was to suffocate Confederate trade. Devised by Union General Winfield Scott, the plan aimed to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River, thereby cutting off the Confederacy’s access to resources and trade routes. This strategy was intended to weaken the Confederate economy and military capability gradually, without a direct assault on Southern cities. The Anaconda Plan played a significant role in the Union’s overall strategy to defeat the Confederacy by economically isolating it.