This is known as the Anaconda Plan.
This military strategy, developed by Union General Winfield Scott, was meant to starve the Confederacy out of their resources. Essentially, Scott felt that if the Confederacy could not trade for goods with other countries they would not be able to survive. This is due to the Confederacy's reliance on cotton as their main cash crop.
This strategy helps to explain why the US wanted to blockade trade with other countries as well as why the Union wanted to control the Mississippi River, as they knew control of this waterway could negatively impact the Confederacy's ability to transport/obtain resources.
Answer:
From Texas, more citizens joined the armed forces than from any other U.S. state. Texas contributed with products such as beef, petroleum products, medical supplies, weapons and equipment which were used by troops oversees.
Coahuila y Tejas-Index
Texas Empresario Stephen F. Austin (photo center) drafted a Mexican constitution, wrote a suggested "Plan of Federal Government" and presented it to Ramos Arispe six months prior to the emergence of Arispe's acta constitucional.
