The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy toward Southern Civilians, 1861–1865The 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 were expressly intended to demoralize Southern civilians and to ruin the Confederate economy. Yet the