The Northern generals had three aims in mind when the war began:
- split the South in half by sending soldiers and cavalry from Ohio down to the Gulf
of Mexico
- take the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia
- use the U.S. Navy to blockade and capture southern ports to keep cotton from being
shipped to England and keep the South from getting supplies
The North wanted to starve the South into surrendering. President Lincoln called for a
blockade of the southern ports only five days after the fall of Fort Sumter.
Battles were being fought from Washington, D. C. to Florida and from Pennsylvania to
New Mexico.
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