Simon Cameron, Secretary, announcing his withdrawal from Fort Sumter,” ApRecords of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917 Record Group 94 National Archives. The Union had surrendered Fort Sumter, and the Civil War had officially begun. Sent to then Secretary of War Simon Cameron on April 13, 1861, this telegraph announced that after “thirty hours of defending Fort Sumter, Major Robert Anderson had accepted the evacuation offered by Confederate General Beauregard. In response to the Confederate attack, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers. Anderson surrendered on April 13 th and the Union troops evacuated. Afterdecades of sectional tension, official hostilities erupted on April 12, 1861, when Confederate Brig. It is fatal,” cautioned Georgia senator Robert Toombs to Jefferson Davis prior to an attack on Fort Sumter. Legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. You will wantonly strike a hornet’s nest which extends from mountains to ocean.
“The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen…you will lose us every friend at the North. The fort was in need of supplies, and Lincoln intended to resupply it. Army Major Robert Anderson, held Charleston, South Carolina’s Ft. The "splitting " of The South thru Vicksburg, Mississippi and the taking of New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama - were examples of Scott's Plan.In his inaugural address, Lincoln declared secession “legally void.” While he did not intend to invade Southern states, he would use force to maintain possession of federal property within seceded states. Although the land portion of Scott's plan was largely overlooked, it was modified in part, as The primary maneuver of many Union Generals. However, by mid 1862, The North's Naval assets grew enough to serious impede this counter obstacle. The Confederacy quickly employed "Blockade Runners" to circumnavigate this obstacle. The Union Navy only numbered slightly over 100 vessels which made maintaining a Blockade problematic.
It did however spur the rapid development of Ironclads and Armored Paddle Wheel ships (idea for this mission). In terms of Scott's plan for exploiting Rivers and Inlets, The US Navy (at the time), did not have these kinds of vessels. Although Lincoln issued a Proclamation for 75,000 Volunteers (he got 120,000), these were poorly equipped and trained men. at the start of The War, The US Army numbered only 16,000. The immediate problems with Scott's plan was two fold. The Naval Forces would form a "fluid line" which would stop any and all commerce and trade with The South, from off the Eastern Seaboard (Virginia), all the way to Florida, and around the Gulf of Mexico. The Commands would move downward, exploiting any and all Rivers and Tributaries.
The land operations called for 80,000 men (divided into Corps), to move in an unbroken offensive line, from Virginia, all the way through to the Southwestern States of Kansas and Mississippi.
His plan was designed to encircle The American South from both land and sea, slowly "squeezing" The Region (as the predatory reptile), into submission. At the start of The American Civil War, US President Abraham Lincoln approached Scott to come up with a plan to quickly defeat the recently seceded Confederate States. The "Anaconda Plan" was an envelopment tactic devised by US Army Commanding General Winfield Scott in 1861.