Chapter 5: Each Side Has Its Own Wartime Strategy

The author of the Union scheme is 75 year old Commanding General of the U.S. Army, Winfield Scott. His proposal, labeled the Anaconda Plan, calls for leveraging the Union’s superior land and naval forces to literally strangle the South’s capacity to feed itself and to fight on.

The Confederate plan is reminiscent of Washington’s approach against a stronger foe in the Revolutionary War. Seek foreign support; keep the army intact; utilize the benefits of interior lines of defense to counter every enemy initiative; inflict alarming casualties to gradually degrade public morale; and secure a peace treaty that sanctions independence.