Civil War, Total War

In a 1995 article, Lance Janda argues that the US applied a policy of “total war” during the Civil War, and later used the same methods in the Indian wars:

“if ‘total war. is defined as using ‘military force against the civilian population of the enemy,’ then the Civil War stands as a watershed in the American evolution of total war theory. The application of force against an enemy’s noncombatants and resources, the central tenet of total war, had been used since the dawn of civilization when it suited political and military ends. But Union Army commanders were the first in American history to use these tactics on a widespread scale, and they played a crucial role not only in the subjugation of the South, but in the conquest of Native Americans as well. A doctrine that was anathema in 1860 emerged from the Civil War as the weapon of choice on the frontier, and by 1880 total war theory dominated the mainstream of American military thought.”