David, I would not have noticed if you did not mention it. Every thread seems to drift some. My interest was the pillaging, plundering and so forth in the East from the regular U.S. army after Lee's surrender. I do not see a valid military objective (e.g. Stoneman's Raid). The Confederate forces had been depleted so much from attrition, especially desertion. It had to have been Retribution, hatred for Southerners of all races.