Answer: The US Civil War
[Note: It would be nice if you showed us the editorial cartoon you mentioned. I've attached an 1861 cartoon map, but I'm not sure that's the same image you were seeing.]
The Anaconda Plan uses the term "anaconda," which is a large type of boa snake which squeezes the life out of its victims. As a military strategy, the Anaconda Plan was proposed by Union General Winfield Scott, proposing a blockade of the coastline of the Confederate states.