Who proposed the Anaconda Plan during the Civil War?
The Anaconda Plan was proposed by Winfield Scott, the General-in-Chief of the Union Army. He outlined the strategy in two letters to George B. McClellan, dated the 3rd and the 21st of May, 1861.
Questions about Anaconda Plan
Short answers, pulled from the story.
How did the Anaconda Plan get its name?
The name came from Union generals who criticized the strategy as passive, comparing it to the coils of an anaconda suffocating its prey. They meant it as mockery, but the snake image spread and the name stuck.
What was the Anaconda Plan's strategy for the Mississippi River?
The Anaconda Plan called for a column of perhaps 80,000 men to use the Mississippi River as a highway, with a compact amphibious spearhead advancing downriver to capture Confederate positions in sequence. The goal was to sever the Trans-Mississippi from the eastern Confederate states, splitting the Confederacy in two.
What happened at Vicksburg and why did it matter to the Anaconda Plan?
Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River after Union forces took New Orleans and Memphis. The siege ended on the 4th of July, 1863, when Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton surrendered approximately 29,500 men. Port Hudson fell five days later on the 9th of July, completing Union control of the river.
How effective was the Union naval blockade under the Anaconda Plan?
Historians estimate between 2,500 and 2,800 attempts to run the Union blockade, with a success rate of at least 80 percent. Despite this, Southern exports of cotton fell by 95 percent from pre-war levels, and the Confederate government was financially strained as early as 1862. British-built runners operating mostly from Liverpool and Glasgow supplied the Confederacy with thousands of tons of gunpowder, half a million rifles, and several hundred cannons.
Did the Anaconda Plan succeed in defeating the Confederacy?
The river campaign succeeded: Union control of the Mississippi was completed with the fall of Vicksburg on the 4th of July, 1863, and Port Hudson on the 9th of July. The blockade's contribution remains debated; some historians argue that British blockade runners prolonged the war by two years, adding 400,000 deaths on both sides.