After three years of the bloodiest warfare ever seen on American soil, the U.S. Civil War was still not much closer to a conclusion three years on.
The North's General Sherman, in 1864, adopted a particularly brutal strategy. With the Southern armies outnumbered and otherwise engaged, he took his troops on a long 'March to the Sea'. Outgunning local militias where he found them, his army destroyed railway tracks and telegraph lines, civilian buildings, mills and houses. His army foraged off the land leaving locals somewhat short of food. He set out with the sole intention to destroy the ability of his opponents to wage war, with scant regard to the impact on innocent civilians. It was a military success.
The tactic is known today as a 'scorched earth' policy. Brutal, but effective in warfare.
Why must Cameron go as PM? Because he isn't only campaigning to stay in the European Union (his prerogative as Prime Minister, though I disagree passionately with him), he's also sabotaging our post-referendum negotiations.
Take his recent assault on pensions as an example. If Britain votes for Brexit, he warned, he'll tear up the government pledge on pensions to pay for the economic cost of Brexit. Brexit will improve the economy not harm it, as I argue in my book, but that's not the point I'm making here.
It's electoral cynicism. Older people are more likely to vote for Brexit, so he chose the pension pot as the place to raid for the hypothetical cost of Brexit. Yet I'm sure that he could easily find a dozen or more less emotive areas for public spending. He didn't say "I'll punish you if you vote for Brexit" but he might as well have.
Inevitably, the stock market reacted. The FTSE had £30 billion wiped off its value in a single day. Most of that was attributable to pension risks, and that in turn can be laid at Cameron's door.
Then many in the Remain campaign have the sheer gall to suggest that 'fear of Brexit' is the driver of stock market uncertainty, and use it as an argument against Brexit. They deliberately harm our nation's economy and then use that harm as a threat of worse if we don't comply. What a disgustingly horrific course of action!
It's perfectly reasonable for Remain to argue that the economy will be better if we stay in, just as it's reasonable for me to argue that it will be worse if we leave. But the level of scaremongering is so beyond the realms of anything normal or rational that it has a wider impact.
Then they called into question education funding. Yes, that's right, if all else fails, threaten our children. Classy. Really classy. Next, it's threatening to cut our NHS budget. That's right, the Tory who told us healthcare was such a priority when he wanted our vote at the General Election now threatens to break his word if we don't vote the way he wants in the referendum. Good grief, what's going to come next, are Remain going to make us an 'offer we can't refuse'?
Cameron's 'serried rows of white headstones' remark was a nonsense; the EU has not kept the peace in Europe. It didn't even exist at the most dangerous of times and has made a spectacular mess in the Ukraine as it did in the Balkans. But by associating the end of world war with British membership of the EU, he implicitly threatens World War 3 if we do not comply. Hardly good for British foreign relations, but perhaps to him that's mere collateral damage in a referendum campaign? Think of the European Union like a table with 28 legs. If removing one leg would make the entire table collapse, there's something wrong with the table!
By egging on President Obama to come to the UK and make negative comments about trade post-Brexit, Number Ten has knowingly made our post-Brexit task harder. Another example of the earth being subject to a good scorching. By doing down our chances of successfully negotiating a deal with other EU countries, Cameron hands ammunition to other European leaders who will be able to use our own Prime Minister's words against us. At best, he is so naive that he is unfit to be Prime Minister.
Some Remainers are genuine; I can disagree with them and take part in rational debate. Cameron is not. When negotiating his deal with the EU he said that he would advise a Leave vote if he didn't achieve certain minor concessions. His actions since show that those words were hollow. No PM who truly considered recommending Brexit just a couple of short months ago could today hold the view that it could led to war.
He has lost his credibility. He does not act in the best interests of Britain. That is simply not acceptable in a modern democratic society. Cameron must go as PM because he is operating a scorched earth policy against his own people.