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Anaconda Plan Of The Civil War

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The Civil War began in 1861 due to the South and the North having a dispute over slavery. The South repeatedly won battles against the North because they were fighting a defensive war, which gave them an upper hand. Thus, the Anaconda Plan was formed. The strategy enabled the Union to secure critical parts of the South, causing the North to defeat the Confederacy. The Anaconda Plan was a plan created by Winfield Scott, a General for the Union, in order to take power away from the South. Scott understood that both sides wanted to gain control of the Mississippi River. If the union got control of this particular river, it would split the Confederacy in two. Due to this knowledge, he made up a plan in order to take control of the Mississippi and …show more content…

Many Northerners looked down upon the plan because they wanted the war to be over quickly and saw the plan as something that would take time. The Democratic Chicago Tribune published an impatient story under the headline, “The Torpid Anaconda”: “We are told that the “plan” is bold, vigorous and comprehensive, and cannot fail in its noble results to give great joy to the hearts of patriots, and spread consternation among the rebel host. Night after night has this comforting assurance been carried us on the wings of lightning, until people have lost faith in electricity, and pronounce its statements unmitigated falsehoods. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, and the country impatiently demands to know the reason for the procrastination.” Not only were people making fun of it by writing, but also by drawing. A man that goes by the name J.B Elliot drew up a map with a huge anaconda surrounding the southern states calling it “Scott’s Great Snake”. Though people continued to laugh about the plan, it became one of the reasons that the Union won the war. The Union decided to use the Anaconda Plan and try to cut off and steal the Mississippi River from the south. This battle would later be known as the battle of Vicksburg. The Vicksburg campaign was one of the Union Army’s most successful endeavors in the Civil

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