Union victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Vicksburg

Union victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Vicksburg successfully achieved what Union war goal?

A) to cut off the Confederate states west of the Mississippi
B) to obtain stored-up cotton from Southern docks
C) to seize the resource-rich Lower South
D) to isolate South Carolina

ANSWER
Answer: A