[BroJoeK]

stgremba: "In those cases, Sherman is certainly directly to blame for targeting civilians."

Mrs. Don-o: "When I think of Sherman, anger and shame contend."

Sorry to interrupt this hate-fest on Uncle Billy Sherman, but it's important for somebody to point out that Sherman did nothing in Georgia against civilians that had not already been done by Confederate forces against Union civilians, and indeed against some of their own civilians.

Here is a representative listing:

1. August 10, 1862: Nueces massacre, Kinney County, Texas.
   
2. October 10, 1862: Chambersburg attacked by JEB Stuart, Pennsylvania, "destroying $250,000 of railroad property and taking 500 guns, hundreds of horses, and at least eight young colored men and boys"
   
3. January 18, 1863: Shelton Laurel Massacre, North Carolina.
   
4. June 1863: Chambersburg attacked by Jenkins, Pennsylvania: "occupied the town and burned several warehouses and Cumberland Valley Railroad structures and the bridge at Scotland".
   
5. August 21, 1863: Lawrence Massacre, Kansas.
   
6. April 12, 1864: Fort Pillow Massacre, Henning, Tennessee.
   
7. July 30, 1864: Chambersburg burned by Early/McCaulsand, Pennsylvania: "for failing to provide a ransom of $500,000 in US currency, or $100,000 in gold."
   
8. September 27, 1864: Centralia Massacre, Missouri.
   
9. October 2, 1864: Saltville Massacre, Virginia

Lawrence Kansas Massacre:

[Mrs. Don-o]

What a perfect tu quoque.

"You did it first!"

"No, you did it worst!"

Shame on all of them for these damnable deeds. They face the same Judge.

[stremba]

Certainly atrocities abounded on both sides of the Civil War. That being said, it does NOT excuse Sherman. Two wrongs don’t make a right. (BTW: I am certainly not a “lost causer” either.) The question of war crimes committed during the fighting of a war is logically independent of the validity of the overall cause. A soldier fighting for a perfectly justified cause can commit war crimes. A soldier fighting in an illegal war of aggression is likewise entitled to certain protections per the laws of just war, such as being allowed to surrender without being killed and being treated in humane fashion if taken prisoner. Civilians on ANY side of a conflict are generally entitled to be free from being intentionally targeted.

Bottom line: one need not believe in the fundamental rightness of the Confederate cause (and I do not) to hold Sherman responsible for intentionally targeting civilians during the campaign in Georgia and S. Carolina. The fact that Confederate leaders also targeted civilians does not mitigate this responsibility; I would condemn those leaders as much as I do Sherman.