Scott came up with the plan to "squeeze out" confederate aide by controlling the mississippi river and the ports along the south atlantic seaboard and the gulf of mexico.

Winfield Scott, a General-in-Chief for the U.S. Union Army, came up with the Anaconda Plan to blockade the Southern waterways of the Mississippi and patrol the Mississippi river, in an attempt to split Confederate forces. The main drawback of the plan, although initiated from the onset, was that is was nearly an impossible task to accomplish due to the size of the Mississippi River.