In addition, Sherman came to appreciate Grant’s philosophy about the importance of Confederate resources. Grant believed that destroying enemy supplies “tended to the same result as the destruction of armies.” Sherman had already tried a variation of this tactic when he had punished the Confederate citizens for aiding the guerrillas and destroyed their supplies, thereby denying such goods to the irregulars. Now he understood that he would have to take his actions even further to obtain his desired goal—ending attacks on Mississippi River shipping.

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In April 1863, the Federal government would set forth a distinction between civilians and combatants inhabiting the Confederacy in its General Order 100, “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field.” Article 22 read in part that there is a “distinction between the private individual belonging to a hostile country and the hostile country itself, with its men in arms. The principle has been more and more acknowledged that the unarmed citizen is to be spared in person, property, and honor as much as the exigencies of war will admit.” The key factor was war necessity, and as Article 28 pointed out, there was also a right of retaliation. General Order 100 only served to further outline what General Orders 107 and 108 had defined in 1862.

In keeping with the Federal government’s mind-set, Sherman believed his troops should take all precautions not to disturb the property of those civilians who did not participate in guerrilla action or aid guerrillas.

In the spring of 1863, after another bushwhacking incident near Greenville, Mississippi, Sherman ordered Brig. Gen. Frederick Steele to clear the area of partisans and any Confederate regulars. “If planters remain at home and behave themselves, molest them as little as possible,” Sherman cautioned, “but if the planters abandon their plantations you may infer they are hostile, and can take their cattle, hogs, corn, or anything you need.” He ordered Steele to consider any cotton, except that marked with “C.S.,” as private property and leave it unmolested.

He later wrote he was outraged that Union troops, despite Steele’s orders, “burned up everything there was to eat on the plantations,” leaving nothing for the “peaceful inhabitants” as Sherman had instructed. Steele’s overzealous troops destroying private property typified what often happened on such raids. When out of sight of their officers or when negligently led, soldiers often took liberties with civilian property, seeking revenge or simply collecting luxuries for themselves.

When Steele offered to return some of the acquired goods, Sherman agreed, stating: “War at best is barbarism, but to involve all—children, women, old and helpless—is more than can be justified. Our men will become absolutely lawless unless this can be checked.”

When Grant marched on the capital of Mississippi in May 1863, his men once again lived successfully off the land. Grant did not intend to hold Jackson. Instead, he wanted to remove any militarily beneficial materials from the city and rid the area of any Confederate troops, thus protecting himself from a rear attack while he moved on Vicksburg. After he had driven out the Confederate forces, Grant fanned out his men across the city, telling them to “collect stores and forage, and collect all public property of the enemy [and to destroy] the river railroad bridge and the road as far east as possible, as well as north and south.”

Sherman sent his men to set fire to piled railway tracks and ties, heating the rails and twisting them to render the rails useless, a task that came to be called making “Sherman neckties.” He ordered the destruction of “presses, sugar, and everything public not needed by us,” but he cautioned again that “the private rights of citizens should be respected.”

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