Comments on: Sherman’s Looters

By: James

James — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:52:09 +0000

Dear Sirs,
Until recently, histories and historians tended to emphasize the atrocities
of the “Bushwackers”, the Confederate guerillas,
for example, the mention of William “Bloody Bill” Anderson
in the documentary, THE CIVIL WAR, by Kenneth Burns,
and the massacre at Lawrence,
in THE GOLDEN BOOK OF THE CIVIL WAR, by Charles Flato,
while the raids, destruction and systematic depopulation
of large swathes of Missouri, by Unionist forces, is ignored.
Yes, Kansans and pro-Union Native Americans took scalps,
and cut off ears, as well. The massive robberies committed by Kansans
in 1861 were unprovoked. The atrocities carried out after Lawrence
were committed by Federal and Kansan forces with the approval
of the highest civilian and military authorities. The responsibility
for the atrocities of the Confederates, on the other hand,
falls on individuals or leaders of smaller units. Never, in any conflict,
whether between nations or individuals, do opposing parties share
equal guilt; that is the fallback of the coward to avoid the consequences
of making a righteous judgement.
One side is always significantly more at fault.
In this case, the opprobrium clearly falls on the Union.
A New Jersey Copperhead

By: Stephen Clay McGehee

Stephen Clay McGehee — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:03:25 +0000

The accounts that I’ve read of what went on in Kansas and Missouri are just incredible. The cruelties inflicted on Confederate sympathizers by their Yankee neighbors is near the same level of what I have read that the Japanese troops did in China.

By: James

James — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:35:45 +0000

Dear Sirs,
Yours truly, became interested in the Confederacy, and the South,
from my interest in the conflict in western Missouri and eastern Kansas,
where the war was more brutal, even than in Georgia.
Undisciplined Unionist Kansan Jayhawkers and Redlegs, in their raids
on Missouri in 1861, routinely executed adult male civilians,
confiscated the valuables and livestock, they could bring back,
and destroyed the remainder. Later, the summary execution
of all captured Confederate guerillas was authorized,
in spite of the quarter given heretofore by the Confederates,
The large scale atrocities against civilains in Missouri in 1861
was the primary motivator for the Confederate raid on Lawrence, Kansas,
whose population had profited handsomely from the depredations.
Finally, the Federals expelled the populations of several counties
in Missouri, confiscatiing or destroying their property.
Therefore, although hundreds of unarmed men were killed by both sides,
it was the Unionist Kansans, later joined by regular Federal forces,
who set the precedents for the merciless war in this area;
with the domination of historiography by the victors, very few know
of this aspect of the “Civil War”.
A New Jersey Copperhead.

By: Michael Simons

Michael Simons — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:03:47 +0000

Shameful behavior!

By: Trevor Hewitt

Trevor Hewitt — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:22:43 +0000

This is yet another reason why there was uniform hatred of the yankees and it largely still exists today. Lincoln should have let the south secceed. The realization that the south and its Christian values stands as a beacon to the real Constitution. Long live the south!