Hatteras Inlet, defended by Forts Clark and Hatteras, was a strategic port of entry for troops and supplies because it provided deep-water access to vital intercoastal waterways. In late May 1861, the Federal Blockade Board of Strategy began implementing General Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan to constrict the South's war-making capability. Although North Carolina's coast was first dismissed as unimportant, within less than a month it was recognized as the most dangerous stretch of shore in the Confederacy. Along the coast, lighthouses were blacked out, channel buoys were sunk, and forts were built to defend navigable inlets. After North Carolina joined the Confederacy, Hatteras became a principal port of privateering, with privateers using Cape Hatteras Lighthouse as a lookout tower while passing through Hatteras Inlet and taking dozens of ships and millions of dollars in cargo. Northern losses became so severe that major maritime insurance companies demanded the destruction of the nest of pirates and smugglers at Hatteras. In response to corporate and public outcry, and seeking an easy victory, the United States Navy authorized the war's first joint military operation, and Hatteras and its defenses fell on August 29, 1861 after two days of naval bombardment.