It consisted of three steam frigates, three gunboats, and a converted sidewheel steamer, which all told mounted 149 guns, including modern, rifled naval guns. Navy had assembled up to that point in the war.

The task force Stringham commanded was the largest that the U.S. Commodore Silas Stringham, commander of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron, led the supporting naval forces. General Benjamin Butler, who previously had commanded the Union garrison at Fort Monroe in Hampton Roads, became the landing force commander. Hatteras Inlet commanded the entrance to North Carolina’s sounds, leading Union commanders to decide to seize its surrounding shoreline first. shipping from rebel privateers – a significant problem that threatened to grow and was already causing disruptions to trade as marine insurance rates in the north sky-rocketed. Possession of these waters would also help eliminate the threat to U.S. These coastal strong-points then would serve as bases from which they could push inland to disrupt vital Confederate agricultural supply areas and the rail lines of communication running through the state to the Confederate capital of Richmond. forces would be in position to take key points on the Carolina mainland. This locale was chosen because the Union leadership saw the value of seizing control of the navigable channels into North Carolina sounds, as with these under control, U.S.

To complement this effort, it determined to launch its first amphibious assault since the Mexican War: an assault on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. In this heated atmosphere, in July and August, the U.S. Government became increasingly anxious to show that it had a viable plan and could field forces capable of winning. Instead, on July 21, 1861, the Battle of Bull Run resulted in disaster for Union arms. In the opening months of the war, there was little good news for the North, and the public clamor for a victory grew daily. Army, General Winfield Scott, developed what he called the “Anaconda Plan,” which aimed to squeeze the Confederacy by blockading its ports, launching amphibious attacks at key points along the Southern coast, and seizing control of vital inland waterways such as the Mississippi River. In early 1861, the commander-in-chief of the U.S.

Anaconda plan civil war