Are you asking what our ancestors thought or us?

I can only answer for my own view.

The South did send raids into the North to cause the Northerns to grow tired of the war. I've seen the O.R. messages admitting so. But their main targets were public transportation and communication assets of the North.

It would not have been justified for the South to wage war against individual civilians by burning their private homes and property, it would have been against what part of what they were fighting for, defence of home, family and property. It would not have been worth any independance to commit crimes to do so. This belief is one of the reasons the war ended as completely as it did, not for all, but for the overwhelming majority. The Southern soldier could, for the most part, be shamed not to commit such acts, Northern soldiers had to be watched or guarded to keep them from committing such acts when orders not to do so were in effect (O.R. Jan. 1863, evacuation of Holly Springs, Miss.).

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David Upton

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