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Back in Washington, General-in-Chief Winfield Scott had devised a two-prong strategy for executing the war that involved, first, blockading all Southern ports and, second, attacking incisively at the Confederacy through the Mississippi River. For its emphasis on inevitably strangling the life out of its adversary, Scott’s scheme was dubbed the Anaconda Plan. <ref>Allen, Thomas B and Allen, Roger MacBride, <i>Mr. Lincoln’s High-Tech War</i>, National Geographic, 2009, page 23</ref> But while U.S. naval forces moved swiftly to bottle up ports in the South, the Union commander in the West, Major General Henry Halleck, did little to press the northern advantage in securing the vital river artery. Moves against Vicksburg, perched high on defensive bluffs two hundred feet above the water, were delayed until Southern forces had ample time to fortify the position. In the spring of 1863 Halleck was recalled to Washington to replace Scott and Grant and his Army of the Tennessee were given the job of capturing Vicksburg.

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====Executing the Vicksburg Campaign====

It was no small assignment, as Abraham Lincoln had pointed out to his civilian and military leaders, “See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket...We can take all the northern ports of the Confederacy, and they can defy us from Vicksburg." Lincoln assured his listeners that, "I am acquainted with that region and know what I am talking about, and as valuable as New Orleans will be to us, Vicksburg will be more so." <ref>De Togni, Elisa, “The Key in Lincoln’s Pocket: Unlocking the Door to Union Victory,” <i>Civil War Trust</i>, 2014</ref>