Anaconda Plan in the United States

Anaconda Plan in the U.S. Legal History

Summary

General Winfield Scott designed this strategic plan in the early days of the Civil War. to give direction to the Union war effort against the South. The plan advocated a full naval blockade of the South’s coastline, a military campaign to gain control of the Mississippi River, and the placement of armies at key points in the South to squeeze– like the Anaconda snake–the life out of the Confederacy. In various-ways, this plan helped inform overall Union strategy in militarily defeating the South.