At the beginning of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln met with his general to come up with a plan to get rebellious states back into the Union. It was at this meeting that General-in-Chief of the United States Army, General Winfield Scott proposed a plan that is known today as the Anaconda Plan (named after the snake that squeezes the life out of its prey). The Plan was developed in order to win the Civil War without causing unnecessary damage to the South. Without the unnecessary damage to the South, President Lincoln anticipated the South coming back into the Union. The Anaconda Plan consisted of three important key roles devised to create a complete naval blockade of the Southern states. The first role consisted of blocking the South coast ports to avert the exportation, and to stop the importation of war supplies. The second role was to divide the South by controlling the Mississippi River by cutting off the South from the west, complicating the communication between the two. The last role was to capture the capital of the Confederate States of America, Richmond, Virginia. Politically, the plan was appealing; it permitted time for disposition to cool and encouraged the possibility of a peaceful return of the Union. Militarily, the Plan's goal was to engage in a bloodless triumph, given that there was no massive invasion of the separate states. But in retrospect, General Scott's plan was one of the few that had been submitted to President Lincoln that took full advantage of the North's overpowering advantages in population and industrial potency and accepted the imperative value of control over the Mississippi River Valley. The most important coastal section was Hampton Roads in Virginia, where the wide mouth of the James River poured into the Chesapeake Bay. For the North, Hampton Roads was an entranceway to the Confederacy capital, Richmond. As for the South, Hampton Roads was a seaward passageway for European allies.
