The Union Navy maintained a blockade along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the Confederate States between 1861 and 1865. President Abraham Lincoln put the blockade into effect on April 19th 1861. The blockade was part of plan designed by Union General Winfield Scott known as the Anaconda Plan. The blockade included the closure of 3,500 miles of coast line and 12 ports within the Confederacy. The blockade was supposed to keep the Confederacy from getting supplies and arms. Ships, mostly new, and high speed known as blockade runners tried to evade the blockade, they ran between the Confederate ports and the neutral ports of Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, Havana, and Nassau. The Union Navy commissioned 500 ships. These Union ships captured or destroyed around 1,500 blockade runners during the war. The blockade cut Confederate cotton exports by 95% during this time.
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