I am a southerner, and I argue pro-South on these threads, however, I also believe there is no civility in war, no “war crimes” possible. War is Hell. If you don’t like war then do not wage war, and you had best fight to win.
I fully believe the north provoked the fight. I fully believe the south was prepared to engage in war as well if need be. But again, war is a no holds barred fight to exterminate the enemy. It was a war.
“But again, war is a no holds barred fight to exterminate the enemy”
Women and children, no-combatants, are not the enemy. No more than the thousands of Plains Indians slaughtered by Sherman and Sheridan and their thugs to make room for the railroad.
In historical fact, despite innumerable incidents, outgoing President Buchanan refused to be provoked into war against secessionists.
And incoming President Lincoln announced in his First Inaugural Address that secessionists could not have war unless they themselves started it.
Which they promptly did, at Fort Sumter and soon after formally declared war on the United States.
The fact is that Civil War came because secessions believed it a better alternative to seemingly never-ending efforts at peaceful processes.