The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy toward Southern Civilians, 1861–1865

The Hard Hand of War explores the Union army’s policy of destructive attacks upon Southern property and civilian morale – how it evolved, what it was like in practice. From an initial policy of deliberate restraint, extending even to the active protection of Southerners’ property and constitutional rights, Union armies gradually adopted measures that subjected civilians to the burdens of war. Yet the ultimate ‘hard war’ policy was far from the indiscriminate fury of legend. Union policy makers emphasised a program of directed severity, and Grimsley demonstrates how and why it worked. Through comparisons with earlier European wars and through the testimony of Union soldiers and Southern civilians alike, he shows that Union soldiers exercised restraint even as they made war against the Confederate civilian population.