Sure they were, why shouldn't they be? In the words of Sherman himself, "War is the remedy our enemy's have chosen. They dared us to war, and you remember how tauntingly they defied us to the contest. We have accepted the issue and it must be fought out. You might as well reason with a thunderstorm. I say let us give them all they want; not a word of argument, not a sign of let up, no cave in till we are whipped or they are."
If you choose to start a war you have nobody but yourself to blame if that war comes home to you.
I’d be happy to point out that your notion that the South was “incorporated back into the body politic more quickly than ...” gave me the best laugh I’ve had in years. Thanks.
Feel free.
What’s the matter, truth got your tongue?
And what would you know about that?
ME: What’s the matter, truth got your tongue?
You: And what would you know about that?
ME: Your tongue? Like all of the members of any sex or species the thought of any knowledge of your tongue is repulsive.
You left out that psychotic general’s famous leeter;
On June 21, 1864, before his bloody March to the Sea, Sherman wrote to the secretary of war: “There is a class of people [in the South] men, women, and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order.”
Do you think the desire to kill the women and children are your favorite aspects of the great General’s conduct of the war? It was so necessary, too ... the Southern army being in position to pour into the north.
You are proud of this “toughness” aren’t you?