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This cartoon map, created in 1861 by J. B. Elliott of Cincinnati, pokes fun at the war plan Union general-in-chief Winfield Scott submitted to U.S. president Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Civil War. Scott called for a strong defense of Washington, D.C., a blockade of the Confederacy's Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and a massive land and naval attack along the Mississippi River aimed at cutting the Confederacy in two. What he didn't call for was an immediate march on the Confederate capital at Richmond, enraging many Northerners who were confidently urging the Union army "On to Richmond!" Scott's plan presciently suggested that victory would come more slowly, leading Elliott to the metaphor of the anaconda, a South American snake that kills its prey by squeezing and crushing it.
On the map, Virginia is portrayed as a hive of secessionist bees, even as Alabamans complain that "Dam old Virginia took our capitol." Enslaved African Americans are "Burning Massa out" in Mississippi, fleeing to Union lines in South Carolina, and being shot in cold blood in Texas, despite being worth "$1,000.00 a head." A "Union man" is hanged in Louisiana, while the winged hat in New York is intended to represent "Free Trade."
In the end, Lincoln took Scott's advice concerning the blockade but scrapped the rest of the plan. Union armies marched toward Richmond and were soundly defeated at the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861. Scott retired in November after a more than fifty-year army career.
Original Author: J. B. Elliott of Cincinnati
Created: 1861
Medium: Cartoon map
Courtesy of Library of Congress Geography and Map Division [g3701s cw0011000]
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