Sherman's words

"The United States has the right, and...the...power, to penetrate to every part of the national domain. We will remove and destroy every obstacle - if need be, take every life, every acre of land, every particle of property, everything that to us seems proper."

-- Union General William T. Sherman

"The Government of the United States has in north Alabama any and all rights which they choose to enforce in war - to take their lives, their homes, their lands, their everything, because they cannot deny that war does exist there, and war is simply power unrestrained by constitution or compact."

-- Union General William T. Sherman

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I profess to fight for but one single purpose, viz, to sustain a Government capable of vindicating it's just and rightful authority, independent of niggers, cotton, money, or any earthly interest!"

-- Union General William T. Sherman, Official Records, Vol XXX, pt. IV, p. 235