Scorched-earth defense
The scorched-earth defense is a form of risk arbitrage and anti-takeover strategy.
Scorched earth
Another event, in response to Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas, and the many civilian casualties including killing 180 men, Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr., Sherman's brother-in-law, issued U.S. Army General Order No. 11 (1863) to order the near-total evacuation of three and a half counties in western Missouri, south of Kansas City, which were subsequently looted and burned by U.S. Army troops. Under Sherman's overall direction, General Sheridan followed this policy in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and subsequently in the Indian Wars of the Great Plains.