- Joined
- May 4, 2015
- Location
- Boonville, MO.
Thanks Lefty... War has always been harsh, which has been the point of it... One empire`s expansion coming at the fall or even extinction of another`s empire which was lost in war. You used the Punic Wars as your example, when the Punic wars were fought by the Romans, they saw a great threat to their own empire by Carthage and had no choice but to confront it, but at that time it was just considered war, as "total war" was not even a concept during that time in our history, as it was a given to destroy your enemy, to include civilians, by any means possible. Wars of old were simply meant to utterly destroy the enemy, quite different than what they have become today, seemingly always ending with police actions and nation building, often times resulting in greater nations being built for the losers than what they had before the wars were fought, which never would have entered the minds of ancient warriors. So by using the standard of more ancient wars the American Civil War was no where near being as extreme in terror and complete destruction of population centers where civilians were living. Regarding the Plains Indian Wars, that was war reverting to its old form... Losing had consequences and part of that was complete submission to the victor with all lands and treasure being taken by the victor as the spoils of war, which has long been the standard of war, going back for as long as wars have existed and were fought from the very beginning of mans history.
I don't know if this helps your thesis or not, but Sherman didn't have to look any farther than is own household to come up with the idea of "Total War, Scorched Earth," etc.
Sherman's father died when he was a boy, and he was sent to live in the Thomas Ewing, Sr. household. Sherman later married his foster sister, Ellen Ewing, and so his foster brother, Thomas Ewing, Jr. became his brother in law. Sherman remained close to his foster brother/brother in law for the rest of his life, naming a son after Thomas Ewing, Jr.
In the summer of 1863, Thomas Ewing, Jr. is now a Union general, and in command of the District of the Border-Kansas and western Missouri. In an attempt to rid the area of domestic support for the querrillias, Ewing issues General Order #10, requiring all southern supporters to immediately remove themselves from a three and a half county area in Missouri, south of Kansas City, and along the border with Kansas. A few days after this order is issued, guerrilla leader Quantrill makes his raid on Lawrence, Ks. In response to this raid, Gen. Ewing issued his infamous General Order #11, requiring ALL persons-northern and southern supporters- to remove themselves from the same three and a half county area. Before many of the civilians had a chance to leave their homes, Union troopers came in and stole everything they could and then applied a "Scorched Earth" policy to the entire area. To this day, this part of Missouri is known as "The Burnt District" and keep in mind, that while Missouri had areas of very strong southern support, the state never left the Union.
I wonder, if after the war at family gatherings of the Sherman and Ewing's, if these two foster brothers, and brother in law compared notes on what they did in and to Missouri and Georgia?