therners however had no intention of letting the South split apart a country that so many had worked so hard to build. A prominent American military figure, Winfield Scott, developed a long-term plan that he believed would help the Northerners achieve victory. His plan, subsequently named the Anaconda Plan would apply pressure, through military actions, to different parts of the South and constrict them into surrendering (Military). A combined force of naval and army units would sweep down the Mississippi River, dividing the Confederacys eastern and western states. At the same time, the Union Navy would institute a blockade to deny the Confederacy the badly needed manufactured goods from Europe. If the South continued to fight, even after the loss of the Mississippi and the closing of its ports; Scott envisioned a major invasion into the heart of the Confederacy (Military). He estimated that it would take two to three years and 300,000 men to carry out this strategy. Aside from underestimating, by about half, the length of time and the number of men it would take to bring success, Scott had sketched the broad strategy the North would implement to defeat the South over the next four years (Military). The U.S. Navy applied increasing pressure along the Confederate coasts, Northern forces took control of the Mississippi River by the Middle of 1863, and large armies marched into Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas (Military).By spring of 1863, the war had waged for two years and a turning point in the fight for succession or unity was about to occur.The Battle of Gettysburg was a decisive engagement in that it arrested the Confederates' second and last major invasion of the North, destroyed their offensive strategy, and pushed them into a war that they could not win with their lack of manufacturing capacities.The Army of the Potomac, under the Union general George Gordon Meade (Golay 150), numbered about 85,000; the Confe...
