Quote Originally Posted by Helz View Post
That is a valid point. I remember there was one specific union officer who went on a rampage burning as many homes and farms as he could. Some of the unions objectives seemed to be not just to win the war but decimate the souths ability to recover after the war.
The doctrine was in effect - take from the land enough supplies to sustain the army but do not assault the citizens or enter their homes, unless partisans (like the french resistance in ww2) present themselves then basically torch the whole place. I don't think the intention was to decimate the Souths economy as hard as they did, rather to try and bring an end to the war asap. Sounds fairly standard as far as war time doctrines go but the actual implementation of it leaves a lot to be desired. The south did not recover for a very long time.