[Vigilanteman]

Nice summary. And although I have a problem with your comparing the depradations of Union high commanders like Sherman and Butler to lower ranking C.S.A. commanders like Early and Stuart rather than their true counterparts like Robert E. Lee, I can certainly agree on your final statement:

. . . 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.

Amen to that. If you want to study a real nasty civil war, the one going on now in Syria or the Thirty Years War in Europe would prove just how true that statement is.

[BroJoeK]

Vikilanteman: "...Sherman and Butler to lower ranking C.S.A. commanders like Early and Stuart rather than their true counterparts like Robert E. Lee..."

Lee only compares to Grant.
Sherman & Butler do compare to lower ranking Confederates like Early & Stuart.

Indeed, if you think about it: Sherman under Grant at Vicksburg took on some general similarity to Stuart under Lee at Gettysburg.

Grant's Vicksburg Supply Line