General Winfield Scott’s Plan to Defeat the Confederacy
By 1861, Winfield Scott served as the general-in-chief of the United States Army for twenty years. He was known as the hero of the Mexican War, as the “Grand Old Man of the Army,” and less flatteringly, “Old Fuss and Feathers,” due to his enforcement of strict military discipline and order in the ranks.
General Winfield Scott
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Scott developed a multifaceted strategy to subjugate the insurgent states. His plan called for a blockade of all Confederate ports (something that President Lincoln had already ordered by the time of Scott’s proposal), and to send an army down the Mississippi River to New Orleans to cut the Confederacy in two.
To accomplish this, he believed the United States Army would need to grow from a pre-war force of 16,000 men to 300,000 soldiers, and that it would take about two years to defeat the South. Scott wrote that the goal of the plan was “to envelop the insurgent States and bring them to terms with less bloodshed than by any other plan.” However, many people in the North, including politicians and other officers, thought this strategy was too cautious and that a more direct approach was needed. In the end, Scott’s plan was dubbed the “Anaconda Plan” by the press in reference to the snake’s ability to slowly kill its prey by choking it to death.
Scott’s Anaconda Plan
By July 1861, President Lincoln was feeling the political pressure to act, and he approved an alternative “On to Richmond” plan that Scott did not favor. The Battle of Manassas (First Bull Run) proved to be a disastrous first step for the United States.
Battle of Bull Run
Scott remained in command of the army until his retirement in November 1861, and he lived to see the Union reunited. He passed away on May 29, 1866.
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Photo Credits:
Anthony, Edward, Contributor, and Mathew B Brady. Lieutenant General Winfield Scott. United States of America, 1862. [New York: Edward Anthony, to 1876] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021669479/.
Elliott, J. B. Scott’s great snake. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year. [S.l, 1861] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/99447020/.
Kurz & Allison. Battle of Bull Run–July 21st –Federal Gen. McDowell … Confederate Gen. Beauregard. Manassas Virginia, ca. 1889. , C1890. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/91481737/.