The question was posed on the "Gettysburg Message Board: http://mailman.arthes.com/pipermail/gettysburg/

Although primarily focused on the Gettysburg Campaign, it can be most interesting when questions such as these as asked. As I mentioned, most posters on that board are pro-Union, with a tenancy to bring everything back to the slavery issue. ie. "because the Confederacy was fighting to uphold slavery, anything that Sheridan did in the Valley was okay." (paraphrased)