Unfortunately very common by accounts from the period. The war took place across civilian towns and isolated farmhouses while stragglers, deserters, suppliers, foragers (stealing food and livestock), assembling troops, recovering units from heavy casualties/trauma, etc. read more
Atrocities were common on both sides of the Civil War. The main difference is the treatment of black troops who volunteered for the Union army. The Confederacy actually passed a law that authorized killing any black captured in a Union uniform. read more
Whether they lived on large plantations or small farms, in towns, cities or in contraband camps, white and black women all over the American South experienced the sexual trauma of war. Union military courts prosecuted at least 450 cases involving sexual crimes. read more
When we think of war crimes, we think of the Nazis and Stalin’s henchmen. The American Civil War has been covered many times on Listverse, but history classes tend to overlook the presence of genuine crimes against the understood rules of proper war-time conduct. Here are 10 of the most heinous examples. read more