Days after the Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter in April 1861, President Lincoln declared a blockade of ports in the seceded states. The blockade represented a key part of the North’s “Anaconda” strategy, designed to isolate the Confederacy from trade and foreign assistance, slowly squeezing the life out of the rebellion.
![A Sharp Fight Alabama](https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Alabama1-100x100.jpg)