read later
Sherman was great friends with many outherners before the war (he ran a military academy down there)
Remember that very many Southerners were NOT Secessionists (many Southerners fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War)
Rich Slave owners were going to lose their slaves (their wealth and position) eventually the way politics was going in America.
They ran Southern Politics.
They decided to Secede to maintain themselves no matter what the ordinary (non-slave-owning) man in the South thought.
Sherman knew what he was talking about.
A generation after the Civil War ended in defeat for the Slave-owners, the same people were running the States and imposing serfdom again upon the ex-slaves.