Jamie, just a few comments in response.

No where do I support or defend the idea that war should be carried out without control or order. I merely point out that much of the destruction caused by Sherman's men was very intentional and designed to crush the Southern will to resist. Sherman's men accomplished this without widespread murder or rape (as so often has been leveled), but with a show of power and primarily through destruction of property.

You said: "Craig's opinion that civilians are legitimate targets by reason of thought has to be followed up with the belief that if that ideal was good for that particular war it should be OK for all wars."

It has been carried out---and justified---in other American wars. American actions during World War II (by the so-called "Greatest Generation") included firebombing Dresden, Germany and Tokyo, Japan leading to over 100,000 civilian deaths, and dropping two atomic bombs on major civilian targets. I rarely find Americans today who denounce those acts. In fact, I had a discussion a couple of years ago with a gentleman who tried desparately to justify the atomic bombing of Japanese civilians while still cursing Sherman's burning of Southern barns.

The reason why Americans so often justify the mass bombing of civilian cities during WWII is the same reason why many people supported Sherman's tactics (and is the purpose of my post)---to conquer an enemy people, not just an enemy army.

Now, atrocities such as the Nanking massacre (where women and children were literally killed and tortured by the hundreds) are different, for they played no legitimate strategic or tactical role in the military victory. There was a great difference between Sherman's men burning a barn of grain and supplies and Japanese soldiers bayoneting children for fun.

An important question to ask here is what type of conflict the Civil War really was. Was it simply a fight between two opposing militaries? Was it simply a struggle between two opposing governments? Or was it really a war among the people? Were civilians unwitting subjects of the Union and Confederate governments respectively, like European subjects whose governments engaged in wars with or without their consent?