I believe that war is war.
All is on the table in total war.
Julius Cesar had no qualms eliminating entire cities, murdering women & children, raping pillaging & enslaving. The tactics of Rome brought about the 200 year Pax Romana.
If we had allowed Patton to destroy the Red Army after WWII & allowed Douglas MacArthur to invade & destroy the Chinese Communists in the 1950’s we would likely have saved untold hundreds of millions of Chinese & Russian lives in the long run. We would also have a truly free Russia & a China that would be Taiwan instead of the Bully of Asia. We indiscriminately murdered hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians during the war. Now they are among the freest & most prosperous nations on Earth & a valued ally.
Sherman's tactics saved lives. Union lives as well as Confederate lives. The atom bomb saved lives. Both American & Japanese. The fact that we were willing to do whatever necessary to destroy the enemy & their will to resist was essential to end the killing. War crimes? Only if you are the victim. Our enemies would show us no kindness.
The original claim was that Sherman committed war crimes. Others disputed this. Your argument that war crimes were somehow justified concedes the point.
Making War on Civilians is a Hanging Offense in the US Army. Sherman should have been hung for it. And, all of you guys could be arguing whether his hanging was justified.
And, who was the first group of Confederate Civilians that Sherman and Grant went after by law?
The Jews. (See General Order #11)
Do you know what would have saved more lives? Letting the Southern states have the independence that the Declaration of Independence promised was a right of all people.
Sherman was one of America’s greatest heroes.
He should have completely exterminated those racist slave-owning Southern hillbillies 150 years ago.
If it weren’t for the South, there’d be no racism in America!