War Crimes Against Southern Civilians
I remember sometime back receiving notification about the release of the book, War Crimes Against Southern Civilians. I didn’t purchase it but the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the title was that this was yet another addition to the growing “self-help hate the Yankees” stack of books. From what I have read about it, my thoughts seem justified. However, while 200 + pages of this book reveal horrors of war inflicted on Southern civilians by those “awful Yankees,” I can’t but help wonder when the second volume is coming – War Crimes Against Southern Civilians, the Other Side of the Story (or War Crimes Committed by Southerners Against Southern Civilians). If recommendations for stories are accepted, for starters, I’d like to suggest this story about Henry Tucker (*NOTE – THIS STORY IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN AS IT IS VERY GRAPHIC IN DETAIL). If that isn’t good enough (considering he was, after all, a Southerner who served in a Union unit and therefore, on a technicality, a soldier), I have some others worth being told.
But really… for more serious studies of this subject matter, I’d recommend Mark Grimsley’s The Hard Hand of War and Stephen V. Ash’s When the Yankees Came. In the meantime, continue to browse through some of those great stories in the rosters of the 1st Alabama Cavalry, USV.
*Related civilian atrocities/war crimes/depredations posts: 7/18/08, 12/2/08, 12/3/08, 12/5/08. Be sure to also see the Southern Unionists Chronicles blog.
No doubt there were atrocities committed on both sides. The difference I perceive is that crimes committed by Confederates were not santioned by the CSA, whereas Sherman’s war against Southern civilians was commissioned from the “top down”.
Actually, there were incidents that can be attributed to Confederate soldiers as well as Southern civilians. Personally, I find the incidents committed by Southern civilians against their own people in their own counties (and sometimes neighbors) was the greater set of attrocities… that, and the fact that some conscript patrols were made up of locals and acted, sometimes well outside prescribed orders, against other locals. While actions may have not received official endorsement, surely there was an awareness of the cruel practices. Therefore, the absence of “sanctioning” might be reconsidered when considering the absence of actions taken against cruelties inflicted on Southerners by Southerners. Then again, why would these actions be condemned? It could be considered, by some, that these actions were overlooked as they were deemed necessary to hold men in the ranks in order to sustain the war effort.
No doubt there were atrocities committed on both sides. The difference I perceive is that crimes committed by Confederates were not santioned by the CSA, whereas Sherman’s war against Southern civilians was commissioned from the “top down”.
Precisely, Norman. There’s no comparison.
Richard,
You continue down this path, but really, are you saying that since there is no comparison, we should just disregard anything that may have been “forgotten” regarding Confederate depredations inflicted upon Northern civilians? You are missing my point behind even posting about this then. See one of the comments that I made today in reponse to today’s post…
“Bottom line is… to gain a complete understanding of what happened in the war, and to keep everything in context, we can’t ignore the other atrocities.”