Early’s raid on Chambersburg in July, 1864 was planned specifically as retaliation for Hunter’s raid through the Valley in June.
I doubt it’s accurate to claim southerners started the total war notion. Lawrence was a special case and was not really conducted under CSA authority. It was more along the lines of retaliation in a vendetta than a military operation.
There seems little doubt, to me at least, that the great majority of pillaging and destruction of private property was done by Union forces. This was due more to where the war was mostly fought than to inherent moral superiority of southerners.
BTW, I have ancestors on both sides. Indeed, I have one CSA ancestor soldier who was captured and then joined the Union Army and was sent out west to fight Indians.
There are plenty of examples on both sides -- perhaps more from the Union than Confederates because, as you explain, the war was fought more in the Confederacy.
On the other hand, most Union armies, most of the time had reliable supply lines that Confederates could only envy.
On this subject, am reminded that -- was it Shilo? -- a Confederate route of Union forces died when advancing southern soldiers stopped to eat the mountains of rations left behind by fleeing Union troops -- and that was in a Confederate state!
Meanwhile, Confederate forces in Union states were always there, primarily or secondarily, to secure and return Union "contraband" for the Confederate war effort.
The most notorious example being JEB Stuart's ride around Gettysburg, which arguably contributed to Lee's losing the battle.
And there were others, in every Union state Confederate forces could reach.
Of course, it's true, the war's ferocity amplified as years dragged by, each new incident being worse that ones which preceded it.
Therefore, the "who started what" is unanswerable, meaning it's just as fair for me to accuse the Confederates as it is for them to accuse Union forces... right?
;-)
I also have an ancestor -- straight off the boat from Europe, speaking little or no English -- who was easily captured by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Fairly early in the war, Forrest was the perfect gentleman, releasing these obviously useless soldiers on "parole".
By war's end these young troops were not quite so useless, winning back honor for their unit.
But Forrest's treatment of my ancestor highly colors my favorable opinion of Forrest, despite his later wrong-doings.