I appreciate the fact that you do recognize some good things about the Confederacy; however, the argument is always over the cause(s) of the Civil War. The term annihilation may be too strong, but the Union declared war against civilians, raped, pillaged, looted, and burned its way across the South.
Absolute fact-
Many of my ancestors were literally burned out of Alabama during Reconstruction and went GTT. That is how we came to live in Texas.
No one here worships the Old South, but the hatred of that repression still linger strong here. I do not need a history book to explain this. It is very personal.
Not even close.
The number of soldiers who died in the Civil War was somewhere around 600,000.
The number of innocent civilians accidentally killed was a few dozen. Typically these were spectators at battles.
Both armies "requisitioned" supplies from local sources. These normally involved "payment" with currency which may or may not have had any real value.
The charge of systematic rape is not documented, that I know of. Indeed, if I remember right, Union General Hooker had a solution to the problem of young soldiers' biological urges -- a solution that still bears his name today!
Yes, it's true that Sherman did burn some buildings in Georgia, but not nearly what was later claimed, and only after a Southern army had burned down Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
Gen's Early & McCausland Burn Down Chambersburg, PA
For a recounting of what Sherman actually did, and a copy of his orders to his troops, see this link:
Hyperbole aside, can you point to a single example of a rebellion where the losing side suffered less and was incorporated back into the body politic faster than the Southern U.S. states?