Anaconda Plan

The Anaconda Plan was used during the American Civil War to "squeeze" the life out of pro-slavery Southern states. General Winfield Scott proposed the plan.

 Details 
The plan began with blockading Southern ports.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 Next the Union Army would advance down the Mississippi River, cutting the South in two. Like the coils of an anaconda snake suffocating its victim, the Union Army would squeeze the South until it returned to the Union. 

President Lincoln approved the plan. Some Northern generals, newspapers, and people made fun of it.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 After a year of bloody fighting, it was finally put into operation.

 References 

Category:1861 in the United States
Category:American Civil War