The Civil War was more complicated. Yes, the south started things by firing on Ft. Sumter. A measured response would've been a sea blockade or dispatching a marine contingent to retake the fort; not a full scale land invasion of Virginia, which hadn't even joined the CSA until it became clear that they were the main target of the full scale invasion.
Yeah, the burning of Chambersburg was a nasty affair, but it in no way even compared to the scale of what Sherman's army did to Georgia. And, yeah, the ability of the respective armies to visit destruction on enemy territory has some validity unless you consider the relatively benign invasion of Pennsylvania by Lee's army in the month prior to Gettysburg. I will discount the equally relatively benign invasion of Maryland by Lee's army in the month prior to Antietam/Sharpsburg the previous year, given that the entertained hopes of enlisting Maryland into the C.S.A. cause or at least ensuring her neutrality.
They had no such illusions about Pennsylvania in June of 1863. Granted that the war took a far nastier turn post Gettysburg which saw the end of prisoner exchanges, furloughs, etc. But we still have a compare and contrast to what course invading armies took when they HAD the ability to visit massive destruction on the locals: Lee's army in Maryland in August/September of 1862 and Lee's army in Pennsylvania in June of 1863 vs. Sherman's army in Georgia, 1864 and Butler's army in Louisiana and Mississippi in 1862-63.
FRiend, I don't blame you, I blame our woeful education system for it's failures to teach even basic facts of history.
In this particular case "a measured response" is precisely what Lincoln first proposed after Fort Sumter, on April 15, 1861:
On April 19, Lincoln called for a blockade of Confederate ports.
The Confederacy responded by:
All of this happened before a single Confederate soldier was killed directly in battle with any Union force, or before any Union force "invaded" a single Confederate state.
Indeed, the first Union "invasion" didn't happen until after Virginians voted to secede, and join the Confederacy's formally declared war on the United States.
The first actual battle deaths came on June 10, 1861.
Vigilanteman: "Yeah, the burning of Chambersburg was a nasty affair, but it in no way even compared to the scale of what Sherman's army did to Georgia."
But, it happened before Sherman's "March to the Sea", and it was not the Confederates' only atrocity against civilians.
The fact is, in general, Confederates did more damage to civilians than Union troops, for the very simple reason that Confederate supplies were much less reliable, and therefore, they had to "live off the land" much more.
By contrast, Union troops normally received plentiful supplies from nearby railheads.
The exception of Sherman's "march to the sea" is especially notable precisely because it was such an exception.
Vigilanteman: "...the relatively benign invasion of Pennsylvania by Lee's army in the month prior to Gettysburg."
Yeh, right...
People often forget that one major reason Lee lost at Gettysburg was: his "eyes and ears", JEB Stuart's cavalry, were out gallivanting across Maryland and Pennsylvania, scarfing up all the food, horses and wagon-loads of other supplies they could carry.
So Stuart wasn't there to help Lee figure out where the Union Army was moving, resulting in some poor decisions by Lee.
However "relatively benign" you may think that, the fact is Stuart considered those supplies essential, and his pursuit of them cost Lee the battle, and arguably, the Confederacy the war.
Vigilanteman: "...we still have a compare and contrast to what course invading armies took when they HAD the ability to visit massive destruction on the locals: Lee's army in Maryland..."
Of course, you make the wrong comparisons.
The correct comparison to Sherman in Georgia, November 1864, is not Lee in Maryland, 1862, but rather Jubal Early's burning of Chambersburg in July 1864.
The correct comparison to "Beast" Butler in 1862-63 Louisiana/Mississippi is not Lee at Gettysburg in 1863, but rather the Bee Creek Massacre of December 1861, and Champ Ferguson in Eastern Tennessee, all through 1861 to 1864, including the Saltville Massacre in Virginia, October 1864.
In short: sure, you can always make a case by choosing the "best of Confederates" compared to the "worst of Unionists", but if you compare apples-to-apples, the truth of the matter is that they come out about the same.
And let us, please, give credit where it is due: by comparison to almost any other armies in civil or other wars throughout the history of mankind, our ancestors on both sides were veritable models of "Christian soldiers", and deserve to be recognized as such.