Let's compare apples, oranges and mangos. Ft. Pillow was a battle between soldiers; civilians were not involved. Many federal soldiers "surrendered" only to pick up a rifle and start shooting again. This is well documented. Finally, the Confederates began shooting them all. The Crater...again, armed combatants, not civilians. Andersonville...again, a POW camp, not civilians. Confederate guards received the same pitiful rations as the POWs and suffered equally of disease and malnutriton. Confederates tried to give the POWs up, without any exchange, but the feds refused. One trainload was taken to Savannah but the feds refused to take them. Unexplained and CRUEL. Andersonville was NOTHING compared to Camp Douglas in Chicago, Rock Island Illinois, Elmirah NY, Point Lookout MD and I could go on. In Chicago, food and blankets were plentiful, yet the federal guards allowed the Confederate POWs to die of exposure, illness and starvation. Torture was routine...prisoners were made to sit barebottomed in the snow for hours. Prisoners were made to straddle an 8 foot high sawhorse made of rough-hewn wood with weights tied on each foot...for hours and days. In Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago you'll find the largest mass grave in North America...almost 7000 Confederate POWs are buried in one hole...only 4300 are named, the others are "unknowns." Contrast that with Andersonville where they at least kept records and could name every soldier in an INDIVIDUAL Grave.
More on Camp Douglas & the ugly rock But I digress. Regenstein was talking about soldiers raping, murdering, looting and burning out civilians. In that regard, Chambersburg (where NO civilians were killed or raped), and various partisan raids in Illinois and Missouri....these were NOTHING compared to the systematic and APPROVED AT THE TOP war crimes that marked Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia. Meridian MS, Columbia SC, Atlanta GA (all the way to Savannah), the Shenandoah Valley. Yes, "sh*t flowed both ways"...but Grant's "total war" policy has NO COMPARABLE EQUIVALENT by the Confederate forces. Your attempts to sarcastically change the subject do NOT withstand casual scrutiny. Regenstein is correct.
For the past few years I have posted and browsed here on FreeRepublic, and for the most part have found a thoughtful and polite give and take. On occasion, certain topics seem to bring out the worst qualities in some of the posters. They can get rude, insulting and in some cases they miss the mark by a mile, such as is the case here. Lew Regenstein is no foe of Donald Rumsfeld. His commentary was aimed at a historical figure that he does not, to say the least, admire.
I know Lew Regenstein, and while I don't always agree with everything he believes in, he is a gentleman, an intellectual of the first order and passionate in his beliefs. Those are traits to be admired in my view, and indeed he is an admirable fellow, in my eyes. If most of the posters on this thread knew Lew, as I do, there is no doubt that they would draw different conclusions about the intent of the letter to the editors of the New York Times.