16. Both sides expected the war to be of short duration
Newspapers of the North and South, confident troops of both sides, and jubilant secessionists all pronounced a short war in early 1861. Southern confidence based itself on the superior abilities of Confederate arms, led by gentlemen. Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers in the aftermath of Fort Sumter inspired similar judgments in the North. But more sober-minded leaders of both sides took a differing view. Immediately after Fort Sumter fell, Southern leaders took steps to strengthen defenses throughout the Confederacy. Diplomatic steps were taken to obtain aid, and hopefully recognition, from the European powers. The Confederacy absorbed state militias into a federally controlled army. Relatively minor skirmishes occurred in the West, along the Mississippi River, and in the border states. Even before the first major battle, at Manassas in Northern Virginia, it was evident the war would last a long time.
Military leaders absorbed the great distances involved in conducting war from Virginia to Texas. Even after the great Southern victory at Manassas, in which they routed the Union forces, they could do little more than threaten the approaches to Washington DC. The first Union strategy announced for the war, Winfield Scott’s Anaconda Plan, indicated the war would be long. The plan called for the Union to wrest control of the Mississippi River from the South, and establish a blockade which would starve the South into submission. Grant’s early victories in the west, Forts Henry and Donelson and the bloodbath at Shiloh, indicated both sides would fight fiercely despite massive casualties. By mid-1862 it was clear to anyone and every one the war would be long, bloody, and financially disastrous for the South, even should they prevail.