> Sherman for all his weirdness offered very generous terms at surrender , not the terms a monster who hated southerners or confederates... <
That is an excellent point! And it kind of destroys a lot of the anti-Sherman rhetoric here. For those who doubt your statement, please see paragraph #11 in the link below.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/548395/facts-about-william-tecumseh-sherman
Hdqrs. Military Division of the Mississippi,
In the Field, Rome, Ga., October 29, 1864
Brigadier-General Watkins, Calhoun, Ga.:
Cannot you send over about Fairmount and Adairsville, burn ten or twelve houses of known secessionists, kill a few at random, and let them know that it will be repeated every time a train is fired on from Resaca to Kingston?
W.T. Sherman,
Major-General, Commanding.
Calhoun, October 30, 1864
Major-General Sherman:
My men killed some of those fellows two or three days since, and I had their houses burned. Watkins is not here, but I will carry out your instructions thoroughly and leave the country east of the road uninhabitable, if necessary.
E.M. McCook,
Brigadier-General
SOURCE: Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, United States Government, Series I, Volume XXXIX, Part III, p. 494
Not "Kill whoever fired on the trains," but "known secessionists." Civilians. Kill a few "at random." Burn their houses so their families will have no place to live.
Monster.