<P> By early 1861, General Winfield Scott had devised the Anaconda Plan to win the war with as little bloodshed as possible . Scott argued that a Union blockade of the main ports would weaken the Confederate economy . Lincoln adopted parts of the plan, but he overruled Scott's caution about 90 - day volunteers . Public opinion, however, demanded an immediate attack by the army to capture Richmond . </P> <P> In April 1861, Lincoln announced the Union blockade of all Southern ports; commercial ships could not get insurance and regular traffic ended . The South blundered in embargoing cotton exports in 1861 before the blockade was effective; by the time they realized the mistake, it was too late . "King Cotton" was dead, as the South could export less than 10 percent of its cotton . The blockade shut down the ten Confederate seaports with railheads that moved almost all the cotton, especially New Orleans, Mobile, and Charleston . By June 1861, warships were stationed off the principal Southern ports, and a year later nearly 300 ships were in service . </P> <P> The Civil War occurred during the early stages of the industrial revolution and subsequently many naval innovations emerged during this time, most notably the advent of the ironclad warship . It began when the Confederacy, knowing they had to meet or match the Union's naval superiority, responded to the Union blockade by building or converting more than 130 vessels, including twenty - six ironclads and floating batteries . Only half of these saw active service . Many were equipped with ram bows, creating "ram fever" among Union squadrons wherever they threatened . But in the face of overwhelming Union superiority and the Union's own ironclad warships, they were unsuccessful . </P> <P> The Confederacy experimented with a submarine, which did not work well, and with building an ironclad ship, the CSS Virginia, which was based on rebuilding a sunken Union ship, the Merrimack . On its first foray on March 8, 1862, the Virginia inflicted significant damage to the Union's wooden fleet, but the next day the first Union ironclad, the USS Monitor, arrived to challenge it in the Chesapeake Bay . The resulting three hour battle between the Ironclads was a draw, but it marked the worldwide transition to ironclad warships . Not long after the battle the Confederacy was forced to scuttle the Virginia to prevent its capture, while the Union built many copies of the Monitor . Lacking the technology and infrastructure to build effective warships, the Confederacy attempted to obtain warships from Britain . </P>

What side were the rebels on in the civil war