The Captain Brown story is found in the old book about the Civil War years in Bradley County, Tennessee that I often reference here. It's available on Google books. The page linked contains an overview of the character of Captain Brown.
page 89 of "HISTORY OF THE REBELLION IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE"
Page 108-109 contains a partial list of some of the Unionists who were victims of Brown's extortion, one of whom is one of my relatives.
Beginning on page 245, chapter 23, "Murder of the Two Carters", details a grotesque atrocity occurring in the wake of a Wheeler raid with possible partial knowledge by the general himself. Today this episode would be labelled a war crime. There is also an account of a rebel crime spree in the wake of another Wheeler raid through Bradley, but this one was pretty obviously done without the knowledge of the general.
This book's early chapters also details the progress of secession in Tennessee and shows why many considered the Tennessee secession an illegal travesty not even considering the Constitutional issues. And if anybody had relatives in Bradley at the time, the appendix has an extensive listing of the sheep and goats, Bradley's Union and rebel soldiers and Union and Confederate citizens.
As far as Sherman's raid, I have to admit the conduct in South Carolina often crossed the line. It was no surprise that SC got it worst, it had a bad reputation even among some Southerners. But much of what happened, such as Columbia, was against Sherman's wishes. And the view that the SC conduct was significantly a response to SC's leading secession role is supported by the way the the rampage quieted down once in NC.
Sorry I'm tardy in responding, but your posts often require a day or two to study and think about which is a compliment to the quality of your contributions.
Very similar things like that in Bradley County happened with respect to elections in Kentucky with Federal troops striking Democrats off the ballot. Both sides abused their power. I see in your link that General Wheeler showed that the two Carters were not bushwackers by his question about whether they were armed. It sounds like the five who captured the Carters were not Wheeler's men, but some who later participated in the killing of the Carters might have been.
If what happened to Unionists in East Tennessee was bad (and it was), then what happened to Southern sympathizers in Kentucky and elsewhere was also bad. There was much more Southern land occupied by Federals than Union-favoring land occupied by Confederates. IMO, there was consequently much more opportunity for bad/brutal administration by Federals than by Confederates. It is one reason we have so much bad behavior by Federals to point to.
You mentioned that the things that happened to South Carolina were against Sherman's wishes. I'm skeptical of that. He had written orders that appear that he was against the burnings and atrocities (CYA, IMO), but I believe his purpose was to destroy Columbia.
The part I posted above about Sherman and his officers traversing the streets everywhere during the "demonic saturnalia" (as Simms called it elsewhere in his book) but doing nothing about it was from Simms' original newspaper account. Is Simms telling the truth? If Hurlburt's book about East Tennessee is believable, why shouldn't Simms' book about the burning of Columbia be given similar credence.
A commission was set up in 1866 by South Carolinians to document what happened. Depositions were taken from some 60 individuals. The results were quoted from many years later by a 1920 history book: [History of South Carolina]. On page 801 of that book, Sherman is reported to have said the following in Salem, Illinois, in July 1865 about a change in policy he made on his march to the sea. "Therefore, I resolved in a moment to stop the game of guarding their cities and to destroy their cities."
Sherman also said that his feeling and that of the army officers and troops in 1865 was that South Carolina deserved extirpation. [Source: New York Times, May 10, 1873]. Union Captain George Whitfield Pepper reported in his 1866 book I mentioned above that Sherman said the following to a group of Columbia ladies who asked for protection, "Do not ask me for protection, I am an enemy and destroyer." [Pepper's book, page 315].
Incidentally, Pepper's book also confirms Simms' account of Union troops cutting firehoses of local firefighters trying to put out fires. [Pepper's book, page 312]. Pepper also says on his way into town the next day after the fire, he was met by crowds of soldiers "waving gold watches, handsful of gold, jewelry, and rebel shinplasters [rb: paper money] in the air, and boasting of having burned the town." [page 312-313]
I learn history by responding to your posts. Thanks.