The Anaconda plan was a war strategy developed by the Union to surround the Confederacy and to split it in half. the Union soldiers blockaded the East Coast city ports (along South Carolina, Georgia and along there). The Union came from the North (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois) to storm states such as Tennessee. They also blockaded along the Gulf of Mexico, blocking Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The blockades were preventing the Confederacy to trade and make money with other countries. The Anaconda plan cut Louisiana in half because there was a railroad connecting New Orleans and Vicksburg. Taking control of the railroad meant that Confederate families would starve, die, and become helpless.