What is the philosophy of total war as practiced by General Sherman and Grant?

Answer 1

To punish the civilians for having taken part in the rebellion, and started the war.

To bring the war to the home front, and attack the 'soft underbelly' of the Southern war effort.

To despoil the farms, burn the crops, slaughter the livestock, free the slaves... to bring the Confederate armies closer to starvation.

Answer 2

To attack the civilian infrastructure that supported the Confederate armies in the field by burning down farms in Georgia and South Carolina.

It is ironical that this earned Sherman a name for brutality, when it was actually a very humane form of combat - basically economic warfare that cost minimal casualties on either side.

Answer 3

Generals Grant and Sherman both agreed that the time had come to attack the civilian infrastructure that supported the Confederate war-effort. This meant burning down farms and wrecking railroads, which looked cruel, but in fact shortened the war by months at minimal casualties.

Answer 4

Generals Grant and Sherman did not conduct strategies or tactics of 'total war".

It is now commonly described by military historians as the strategy and tactics of exhaustion. If done successfully, exhausting the Southern armies of food and other supplies such as livestock, the ability of Confederate armies to continue to wage war would be hampered to the point of exhaustion. With little food and livestock, continuing to fight would be severely diminished.