Both sides burned farms when on the other side's soil or when dealing with those they felt had been traitors. That's a time honored tradition, going back to the beginning of organized warfare, becuase if you burn the evidence, it is harder for the powers to be to prove you were looting.
Sheridan and Sherman made an organized practice out of it- they were systematically targetting logistics, which was relatively new at the time.
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-IronRaven
When a man dare not speak without malice for fear of giving insult, that is when truth starts to die. Truth is the truest freedom.