1. During the Civil War, Union forces established a blockade of Confederate ports designed to prevent the export of cotton and the smuggling of war materiel into the Confederacy. ... The U.S. Government successfully convinced foreign governments to view the blockade as a legitimate tool of war.
2.Lincoln preferred to promote then-Commanding General Henry Halleck to lead the Union Army, which had been plagued by a string of ineffective leaders and terrible losses in battle. ... Well-respected by troops and civilians, Grant earned Lincoln's trust and went on to force the South's surrender in 1865.
