J.B. Elliott, Scott’s Great Snake (Anaconda Plan), 1861

Suggested Sequencing

• Use this Primary Source alongside the William Tecumseh Sherman and Total War Narrative and the Images of Total War: Sherman’s March to the Sea, 1865 Primary Source to illustrate the tactics the Union used to win the war.

Introduction

Few families did not have a member who was an enlisted soldier during the Civil War. Maps helped family members locate their loved ones serving far from home, and commercial publishers, especially in the North, issued maps in large quantities during the war. In 1861, J. B. Elliott of Cincinnati published the following cartoon map entitled Scott’s Great Snake. The map references General Winfield Scott’s plan to blockade the Confederacy’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts and launch a major offensive down the Mississippi River to divide the South in two. Elliott’s map compares Scott’s scheme to an anaconda, a large South American snake that squeezes and crushes its prey. The comparison implies that the plan would take time to work, yet Scott’s strategy, in fact, contribute to an eventual Northern victory.

Sourcing Questions

1. What was going on at the time this map was published?
2. Why were maps issued in large quantities during the Civil War? How is J. B. Elliott’s map different from a typical map used for this purpose?

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Figure 1: J. B. Elliott’s map, titled Scott’s Great Snake, 1861.