Three days after the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of all Southern ports. While that decree had an unintended political impact–the tacit recognition of the Confederacy as a belligerent–it was nevertheless an essential action on his part. The European nations had already determined that they would not recognize or honor a Union declaration that the Southern ports were closed to trade. In order to ensure the de facto closing of the ports, the Union had to assert control over the various waterways and coastlines of the Confederacy.

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The blockade proposed by Lincoln was part of an overall strategy championed by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott that was derisively given the nickname ‘Anaconda’ by the press and political opponents of the administration. Scott believed that, given the temperament of the Southern people and their deep love for the Union, in time they would realize the error of their ways and return to the fold. His theory required a strategy that did not rest on battles and invasions but on the ability of the Union to slowly strangle the South into submission.

Scott’s plan boiled down to establishing a deep-water blockade of the entire Confederate coast to prevent the South from doing business with European countries. To efficiently administer the blockade, he divided it into four regions: the North and South Atlantic Blockading squadrons, responsible for watching the eastern sea-board, and the East and West Gulf Blockading squadrons, which kept an eye on the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, a 60,000-man army supported by gunboats would be sent down the Mississippi River to New Orleans in order to split the Confederacy in half and cut off the shipment of resources from the west to the east. In the end, he believed, the rebellion would be choked to death by internal and external economic strangulation. Scott’s insightful strategy took advantage of the North’s strengths, including the U.S. Navy, but was ridiculed by many who called for a quick battlefield victory to end the war.

As vessels of various kinds were pressed into service on blockade duty, a new issue presented itself. In order to be in a position to respond to the elusive nature of Southern blockade runners and to be able to interdict ‘illegal’ shipping without regard to the arbitrary nature of winds and tides, the Federal blockading fleets would have to rely on steam power and coal. For a flotilla to remain on station, coaling stations and maintenance facilities would be needed.

Initially, the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron operated out of the ports of Hampton Roads, Va., and Key West, Fla. Those bases, however, were far from the primary Confederate ports of Charleston, S.C., Savannah, Ga., and New Orleans. Blockading ships thus spent as much time getting to their operational stations from the bases as they did on duty. In addition, the coasts of the Carolinas and Georgia were filled with dozens of minor inlets and natural harbors that could provide safe haven to blockade runners. The Union naval force, therefore, would have to be exceptionally large to watch over the long stretch of coastline, thereby requiring even more extensive base facilities. To have any chance for success, the Union needed a new strategic approach.

Ultimately, the Federal strategy along the Confederate coast was based upon the findings and reports of an ad hoc strategy board convened by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and consisting of Captain Samuel Francis Du Pont, superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey, Major J.G. Garnard of the U.S. Engineers and Commander Charles H. Davis of the U.S. Navy.

Among its many duties, the Blockade Strategy Board was charged with finding suitable coaling stations along the Southern coast. At its first meeting, however, the members determined that such depots might be used for other purposes as well, including storing provisions and serving as refuges or headquarters for the forces along that part of the coast. The board also looked at the development of the depots as support bases for inland military expeditions.

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