The fighting
From First Manassas
to Chancellorsville
After the secession of Virginia and the
transfer of the Confederate capital to
Richmond, both sides sought to mobilize
men and resources and devise their military
strategies. The North faced the prospect of
mounting an active campaign to compel the
Confederate states to return to the Union,
while the Confederacy had the easier task of
responding to northern movements. If
Lincoln and his government proved unable
to launch a major offensive, the Confederacy
would win its independence by default.
Volunteers poured into both armies. The
Confederate Congress passed laws in March
and May 1861 authorizing the enrollment of
500,000 men (from a pool of roughly
1,000,000 military-age white males), and
hundreds of thousands stepped forward.
About half volunteered for three years and
the rest for 12 months. The North drew
roughly 700,000 men into its forces during
the initial rush to the colors, most of them
for three years' service.
The basic unit of organization on both
sides was the company, which on paper
contained 100 men. Ten companies made up
a regiment, four or more regiments a
brigade, two or more brigades a division, and
two or more divisions a corps (the
Confederacy did not officially have corps
until the autumn of 1862). Companies
tended to be raised from a single locality,
and many regiments came from one town or
county. Locally prominent individuals served
as company and regimental officers. In terms
of drill and discipline, regiments with a West
Pointer, a graduate of military colleges such
as the Virginia Military Institute, or a veteran
of the war with Mexico typically progressed
far more rapidly than those dependent
entirely on civilian officers.
Strategic planning proceeded apace with
volunteering. General-in-Chief Winfield
Scott coordinated Union planning. Born in
1786, hero of the second war against Great
Britain in 1812 and the war with Mexico in
the 1840s, and the Whig Party's nominee for
President in 1852, Scott was in the final stage
of an illustrious career. He had cut an
imposing figure as a younger man, a full
6 feet 5 inches tall, immaculately dressed
and of flawless military bearing. Ulysses
S. Grant described him in the 1840s as 'the
finest specimen of manhood my eyes had
ever beheld, and the most to be envied.' By
1861, Scott suffered from an array of
ailments and weighed more than
3001b (135kg), but his mind remained strong
and in April and May he formulated
a long-range plan for defeating the
Confederacy.
Known as the 'Anaconda Plan' because it
aimed to squeeze the Confederacy to death,
Scott's strategic blueprint called for a vigorous
movement down the Mississippi river by a
naval flotilla and an army of 80,000. Union
control of the Mississippi would split the
Confederacy into two pieces, while other
naval forces would blockade southern ports
and cut off supplies from the outside world.
Should the Confederacy continue to resist
after losing the Mississippi and its key ports,
Scott believed a major invasion would be
necessary. Such an operation would consume
two or three years and require a force of up
to 300,000 soldiers. Scott took a realistic view
of campaigning with volunteer soldiers. The
initial strike down the Mississippi could not
begin earlier than the autumn of 1861, he
insisted, due to the need to muster the
recruits, train them for several months and
prepare the logistical effort.
The old General's planning, which in
many respects anticipated the way the war
would be conducted, soon ran foul of
politics and public opinion. Scott worried