Anaconda Plan

1861 characterized map of Scott's plan.

The Anaconda Plan was used during the American Civil War to "squeeze" the life out of the South. It was proposed by General Winfield Scott. The plan called for the blockade of the Southern ports.[1] Then an advance down the Mississippi River was to cut the South in two.[1] Like the coils of an anaconda snake suffocating its victim, the south would be squeezed until it returned to the Union.[1] The plan was approved by President Lincoln.[1] Northern Generals, newspapers and the public made fun of the plan.[2] After a year of bloody fighting it was finally put into operation.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 James M. McPherson, 'Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender', The Best American History Essays on Lincoln, eds. Sean Wilentz; Organization of American Historians (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), p. 215
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Michael Lanning, Civil War 100: The Stories Behind the Most Influential Battles, People and Events in the War Between the States (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2006), p. 103