The United States Government adopted the following rules in 1863 for the
guidance of our armies, and published them in General Order, No. 100,
April 24:--
* * * * *
11. The law of war not only disclaims all cruelty and bad faith concerning
engagements concluded with the enemy during the war, but also the breaking
of stipulations solemnly contracted by the belligerents in time of peace,
and avowedly intended to remain in force in case of war between the
contracting powers.
It disclaims all extortions and other transactions for individual gain;
all acts of private revenge, or connivance at such acts.
Offences to the contrary shall be severely punished, and especially so if
committed by officers.
14. Military necessity, as understood by modern civilized nations,
consists in the necessity of those measures which are indispensable for
securing the ends of war, and which are lawful according to the modern law
and usages of war.
15. Military necessity admits of all direct destruction of life or limb of
armed enemies, and of other persons whose destruction is incidentally
unavoidable in the armed contests of the war; it allows of the capturing
of every armed enemy, and every enemy of importance to the hostile
government, or of peculiar danger to the captor; it allows of all
destruction of property, and obstruction of the ways and channels of
traffic, travel, or communication, and of all withholding of sustenance
or means of life from the enemy; of the appropriation of whatever an
enemy's country affords necessary for the safety and subsistence of the
army, and of such deception as does not involve the breaking of good
faith, either positively pledged regarding agreements entered into during
the war, or supposed by the modern law of war to exist. Men who take up
arms against one another in public war do not cease on this account to be
moral beings, responsible to one another and to God.
16. Military necessity does not admit of cruelty,--that is, the infliction
of suffering for the sake of suffering or revenge,--nor of maiming or
wounding, except in fight, nor of torture to extort confessions. It does
not admit of the use of poison in any way, nor of the wanton devastation
of a district. It admits of deception, but disdains acts of perfidy; and,
in general, military necessity does not include any act of hostility which
renders the return to peace unnecessarily difficult.
27. The law of war can no more wholly dispense with retaliation than can
the law of nations, of which it is a branch; yet civilized nations
acknowledge retaliation as the sternest feature of war. A reckless enemy
often leaves to his opponents no other means of securing himself against
the repetition of barbarous outrage.
28. Retaliation will, therefore, never be resorted to as a measure of mere
revenge, but only as a means of protective retribution, and cautiously and
unavoidably; that is to say, retaliation shall only be resorted to after
careful inquiry into the real occurrence and the character of the misdeeds
that may demand retribution.
33. It is no longer considered lawful--on the contrary it is held to be a
serious breach of the law of war--to force the subjects of the enemy into
the service of the victorious government, except the latter should
proclaim, after a fair and complete conquest of the hostile country or
district, that it is resolved to keep the country, district, or place
permanently as its own, and make it a portion of its own country.
49. A prisoner of war is a public enemy, armed or attached to the hostile
army for active aid, who has fallen into the hands of the captor, either
fighting or wounded, on the field or in the hospital, by individual
surrender or by capitulation.
52. No belligerent has the right to declare that he will treat every
captured man in arms, of a levy en masse, as a brigand or bandit. * * *
56. A prisoner of war is subject to no punishment for being a public
enemy, nor is any revenge wreaked upon him by the intentional infliction
of any suffering, or disgrace by cruel imprisonment, want of food, by
mutilation, death, or any other barbarity.
57. So soon as a man is armed by a sovereign government, and takes the
soldier's oath of fidelity, he is a belligerent; his killing, wounding, or
other warlike acts are no individual crime or offence. * * *
67. The law of nations allows every sovereign government to make war upon
another sovereign state, and therefore admits of no rules or laws
different from those of regular warfare regarding the treatment of
prisoners of war, although they may belong to the army of a government
which the captor may consider as a wanton and unjust assailant.
The use of poison in any manner, be it to poison wells, or food, or arms,
is wholly excluded from modern warfare. He that uses it puts himself out
of the pale of the laws and usages of war.
71. Whoever intentionally inflicts additional wounds on an enemy already
wholly disabled, or kills such an enemy, or who orders or encourages
soldiers to do so, shall suffer death if duly convicted, whether he
belongs to the army of the United States, or is an enemy captured after
having committed his misdeed.
72. Money and other valuables on the person of a prisoner, such as watches
or jewelry, as well as extra clothing, are regarded by the American army
as the private property of the prisoners, and the appropriation of such
valuables or money is considered dishonorable, and is prohibited.
74. A prisoner of war, being a public enemy, is the prisoner of the
government and not of the captor. No ransom can be paid by a prisoner of
war to his individual captor or to any officer in command. The government
alone releases captives, according to rules prescribed by itself.
75. Prisoners of war are subject to confinement or imprisonment, such as
may be deemed necessary on account of safety, but they are to be subjected
to no other intentional suffering or indignity. The confinement and mode
of treating a prisoner may be varied during his captivity, according to
the demands of safety.
76. Prisoners of war shall be fed upon plain and wholesome food whenever
practicable, and treated with humanity. They may be required to work for
the benefit of the captor's government, according to their rank and
condition.
77. A prisoner of war who escapes, may be shot or otherwise killed in his
flight, but neither death nor any other punishment shall be inflicted upon
him, simply for his attempt to escape, which the law of war does not
consider a crime. Stricter means of security shall be used after an
unsuccessful attempt at escape. * * *
109. The exchange of prisoners of war is an act of convenience to both
belligerents. If no general cartel has been concluded it cannot be
demanded by either of them. No belligerent is obliged to exchange
prisoners of war. A cartel is voidable as soon as either party has
violated it.
119. Prisoners of war may be released from captivity by exchange and under
certain circumstances, also by parole.
120. The term parole designates the pledge of individual good faith and
honor to do, or to omit doing, certain acts after he who gives his parole
shall have been dismissed wholly or partially from the power of the
captor.
121. The pledge of the parole is always an individual but not a private
act.
133. No prisoner of war can be forced by the hostile government to parole
himself, and no government is obliged to parole prisoners of war, or to
parole all captured officers, if it paroles any. As the pledging of the
parole is an individual act, so is paroling, on the other hand, an act of
choice on the part of the belligerent.