THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 21 Confederate States could not even be considered ; but for the purpose of escaping the dangers, actual and possible, of such a formidable insurrection, it was necessary to attain three results: to blockade efficiently the insnrgflit coast; to get control of the Mississippi liver, and of the entire system of Western waters ; and, finally, to drive the rebel government out Richmond, its capital. By the blockade the rebels are isolated from the foreigners whose sympathy had been promised them ; the introduction of powder and firearms is prevented ; exportation, and the resources which it might have procured, are stopped ; and, finally, the introduction of supplies from abroad is guarded against, which would, in spite of the state of war, have penetrated into the North, to the great detriment of national manufactures and of the Federal treasury. To the navy belonged the duty of this blockade. It discharged that duty rather inefficiently at first for want of sufficient means ; but by degrees the surveillance grew closer and closer until it became difficult to evade it. The possession of the Mississippi was an imperious neces- sitv. The great river and its affluents are the outlets of all the countries which they water. They are the arteries of the Western States—States which have, up to this time, remained faithful to the Union, but in which their material interests might at length chill their enthusiasm, and speak even louder than their convictions. To restore the Union as a matter of interest, on the basis of slavery, has been for a long time past the programme of the Southern leaders. To abandon to them without a struggle the Western rivers would be to concede half the question. It was therefore decided to bring on a conflict on this theatre. The navy recaptured New Orleans by a brilliant coup de main. That was the principal point. The Federals thus put the key in their pocket. As to the course of the Mississippi, the task of reconquering it was confided to the Western armies, admirably seconded by Commodore
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