Winfield Scott's original plan was to just blockade the South and wait for them to return to the Union. At worst the Union would march an army down the Mississippi to scare them and maybe take New Orleans. He touted his plan as being "bloodless" and specifically did not want an army marching into the Southern heartland becuase that would destabilize the Southern slave society.
In 1860 the Union had way too few ships to maintain a blockade and would take 4 years of war to build up a large enough fleet; also given how intransigent the South was, a blockade alone would have never ended the war.
Like a big part of why the war took so long despite all the advantages the Union had was becuase of generals like Scott who didn't really want to bring war to the Confederacy.
Winfield Scott's original plan was to just blockade the South and wait for them to return to the Union. At worst the Union would march an army down the Mississippi to scare them and maybe take New Orleans. He touted his plan as being "bloodless" and specifically did not want an army marching into the Southern heartland becuase that would destabilize the Southern slave society.
In 1860 the Union had way too few ships to maintain a blockade and would take 4 years of war to build up a large enough fleet; also given how intransigent the South was, a blockade alone would have never ended the war.
Like a big part of why the war took so long despite all the advantages the Union had was becuase of generals like Scott who didn't really want to bring war to the Confederacy.