I have read some old UCV/SCV Reunion Programs where they mention "the discussion of compensation and restitution for civilian victims of the war" but obviously nothing really meaningful ever came from it. Great point and I am going to dig around in some old books and legal references of the period and see what I can find.

Perhaps most shameful was Lincoln's support of Sherman's horrific and unforgivable actions in the South. Sherman's goal, in his words, was to "make war so terrible" to the people of the South that "generations would
pass away before they would again appeal to it." In their infamous March to the Sea, Sherman's forces pillaged and plundered, taking or destroying all food in their path and often setting fire to people's homes. "If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty," he said, "I will answer that war is war, and not popularity seeking." Who can doubt that if a war-crimes tribunal had existed in the 1800s, Sherman and Lincoln would surely have been indicted for the vicious and brutal war that they waged against Southern civilians?" Jacob Hornberger