Union Combined Operations on the Texas Coast, 1863–64
Union Combined Operations on the Texas Coast, 1863–64
Abraham Lincoln's announcement of a blockade of the Southern coast on April 19, 1861, inaugurated the strategy, derisively labeled the “Anaconda Plan” by its critics, to seal off the rebels from the outside world while a Union naval flotilla and land force engaged in a combined movement down the Mississippi to cut the Confederacy in two. While the blockade remained its primary focus, the numerous duties of the navy included raiding the Confederate seacoast, transporting military forces, providing gunfire support, cooperating in the capture of port cities, and participating in riverine warfare. All these features were evident along the coast of Texas, where the West Gulf Blockading Squadron operated against places like Galveston and Sabine Pass. But naval leaders soon discovered that without army support, the navy alone could not hold positions on the coast against Confederate counterattacks, and as a result the naval victories of 1862 were both incomplete and temporary.
Keywords: Civil War, Union, Confederates, blockade, army, navy
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