Confederate Rage, Yankee Wrath No Quarter in the Civil War by George S. Burkhardt
(Southern Illinois University Press, April 2007)
The first comprehensive account of Civil War atrocities, this work is sure to excite controversy. But the exhaustive research, based on the letters, diaries, journals and memoirs of the men and women who struggled during those years, firmly supports the author's arguments and conclusions.
Confederate Rage, Yankee Wrath documents that Southerners executed defenseless captured or wounded black Federal soldiers with the Confederate government's de facto approval. Immediately, the black soldiers retaliated in kind, killing helpless prisoners and wounded enemies whenever possible.
Atrocities escalated during the Civil War's last year when Confederates began shooting, hanging or cutting the throats of white Federals. In the beginning, they executed captured raiders and "house-burners." But soon foragers and ordinary soldiers felt their deadly rage. White Federals struck back in eye-for-eye retribution and many on both sides believed the struggle teetered on the edge of a harrowing and bloody take-no-prisoners conflict, a war of extermination.
