Shutting the Gates of Mercy:
The American Origins of Total War
In his thesis, Shutting the Gates of Mercy: The American Origins of Total War, 1860-1880, Lance Janda asserts that the tactics used in the Civil War are the origins of the concept of total war for America. The definition of total war he chooses for his thesis lends itself especially well to his argument. Since the terminology was not used during the time of the Civil War, Janda may interpret its meaning with 20/20 hindsight and this may be his most glaring bias.
He supports his claim with numerous examples taken from the memoirs and letters of the Union Leaders he feels most responsible for the shift from Napoleonic and American...
He even calls them a "trinity of generals" (Janda p. 9).
Had Janda quoted from Military Law or
theory of the time he would not have had the same support for his argument. He reveals this in his citation notes from the U.S. War Department, citation 10 when he writes, "the order reflects official Army thought, and probably the consensus of most Union Commanders" (as cited Janda pg. 10). The order he refers to the "distinction between the private individual belonging to a hostile country and the hostile country itself" (Janda p. 9). Janda's bases his theory upon the actions of a specific few actions, which he generalizes to a broad change in tactics.
If one approached the actions of Sherman, Sheridan, and possibly McClellan from a different point-of-view, one might make the case that desperation drove their actions in the later years of the war. One might also observe that the "trinity" abhorred the actions they were forced to take. Grant's views on the battle of Shiloh, 6-7 April 1862 seem like an apology and an excuse for the destruction that he brought upon the South. "It was a policy born…
