Confederates attacked Chambersburg three different times: 1862 (Stuart), 1863 (Ewell) and 1864 (Early).
All involved pillaging and destruction of property, as well as kidnappings of African Americans.
Early's final attack in 1864 was just on a larger scale than before.
Sherman Logan: "...your general comments on this thread appear to be that Union soldiers misbehaved in the South in retaliation for CSA misbehavior for the comparatively limited periods when they were operating in Union areas.
This is, I believe, exactly backwards."
If you'll go back to review my listing in post #169 above -- you'll see atrocities began in 1862, with Lawrence, Kansas pillaged, burned & massacred by Confederates in 1863.
Of course, my listing is not complete, a longer list might show other towns looted or burned.
But they would not all be by Union troops, and some of the earliest (i.e., Lawrence) came at the hands of Confederates.
But to be clear: my point here is not to excuse anybody of any crime, but simply to emphasize that:
Imho, that's exactly the attitude we also should take today.
You've mentioned Lawrence before. That was the work of a Southern guerrilla group led by Quantrill, not by an authorized Confederate unit. As your link on Lawrence said: "Quantrill himself said his motivation for the attack was, "To plunder, and destroy the town in retaliation for Osceola."
Here is a link to the Sacking of Osceola on September 23, 1861 by Kansas Jayhawkers led by US Senator Lane. The Jayhawkers could probably also be classified a guerrilla group. The sacking of Osceola, Missouri resulted in the burning of all but three houses out of the 800 houses in town and the execution of nine citizens.
According to the book "Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865" by Jay Monaghan, "The property destroyed or appropriated [in Osceola] was reckoned to be worth a million dollars -- ample compensation for the Southerners' capture of Lexington [by General Price], according to Lane's calculations." Senator Lane took home a piano, some silk dresses and a fine carriage as his share of the booty. The sacking of Osceola apparently was the basis for the movie, "The Outlaw Josey Wales." [Link]
Here is a link to the Battle of Lexington mentioned in my quote above. It doesn't mention looting, nor does my Monaghan book I cited above. It sounds like a legitimate battle between the Union forces (including an Illinois cavalry regiment and the 23rd Illinois infantry regiment commanded by a Chicago politician) and Price's Missouri State Guard, who opposed out of state forces coming in and deposing their legitimate state government.
No doubt there were damages to various buildings caused by the battle. Some houses were flattened to permit artillery fire. Federal canon fire set houses on fire in Lexington. Lexington was largely a town of Southern supporters, so there may not have been much looting by Price's troops.
The use of hemp bales by Price's troops in the battle of Lexington mentioned in the Wikipedia link above was inventive. It reminds me of the use of cotton bales on two small bayou steamers that captured the US ship Harriet Lane and drove away the small Federal fleet that had captured Galveston, Texas.
Monaghan's book says the following about the hemp bales at Lexington: "[A] citizen volunteered a novel idea to end the siege. Why not advance to the enemy position behind a movable breastworks of hemp bales?" Price liked the idea. Bales were soaked in the river and arranged into a wall. The soaked bales did not catch fire when hot shot was fired at them by Union artillery. From Monaghan's book again, "Next morning the Federals saw a dark barrier lying like a snake across the ridges and hollows. As they watched, the line twitched and moved forward, crushing down weeds and sunflowers. It parted for trees and joined together after passing them." Well, tanks hadn't been invented yet, but the bales sufficed and brought about the Union surrender.