Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field |
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according admitted allows American Army Armed prowlers armistice bearer belonging besieged breaking the parole capital punishment capitulation captured officers cartel cease character civil officers Commissioned officers committed common law concluded condition Crimes destruction diplomatic agents district enemy's enslave entitled escape exchange of prisoners expel field flag of truce force FRANCIS LIEBER give no quarter GOVERNMENT OF ARMIES hospitals Hostages hostile army hostile country hostile government individual inflicted intercourse invaded country killing law and usages law of nations law of war legitimate government levy ligerents loyal citizens Martial Law ment military authority Military necessity modern law noncombatants oath offense parties penal law persons pledge prisoners of war private property protection public enemy rank rebellion rebels released retaliation revenge right to declare safe-conduct safety SECTION slavery soldiers sovereign stipulated suffer death territories occupied tion Traitor treated as prisoners treaty of peace troops unarmed United War-rebels wounded
Popular passages
Page 20 - 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.
Page 35 - The besieging belligerent has sometimes requested the besieged to designate the buildings containing collections of works of art, scientific museums, astronomical observatories, or precious libraries, so that their destruction may be avoided as much as possible.
Page 30 - ... 94. No person having been forced by the enemy to serve as guide is punishable for having done so. 95. If a citizen of a hostile and invaded district voluntarily serves as a guide to the enemy, or offers to do so, he is deemed a war-traitor, and shall suffer death.
Page 26 - ... with intermitting returns to their homes and avocations, or with the occasional assumption of the semblance of peaceful pursuits, divesting themselves of the character or appearance of soldiers — such men or squads of men are not public enemies, and therefore, if captured, are not entitled to the privileges of prisoners of war, but shall be treated summarily as highway robbers or pirates.
Page 38 - 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.
Page 10 - ... 24. The almost universal rule in remote times was, and continues to be with barbarous armies, that the private individual of the hostile country is destined to suffer every privation of liberty and protection, and every disruption of family ties. Protection was, and still is with uncivilized people, the exception.
Page 9 - Nevertheless, as civilization has advanced during the last centuries, so has likewise steadily advanced, especially in war on land, the distinction between the private individual belonging to a hostile country and the hostile country itself, with its men in arms. The principle has been more and more acknowledged that the unarmed citizen is to be spared in person, property, and honor as much as the exigencies of war will admit.
Page 40 - ... 141. It is incumbent upon the contracting parties of an armistice to stipulate what intercourse of persons or traffic between the inhabitants of the territories occupied by the hostile armies shall be allowed, if any. If nothing is stipulated, the intercourse remains suspended, as during actual hostilities.
Page 38 - If an armistice be declared, without conditions, it extends no further than to require a total cessation of hostilities along the front of both belligerents. If conditions be agreed upon, they should be clearly expressed, and must be rigidly adhered to by both parties. If either party violates any express condition, the armistice may be declared null and void by the other.
Page 8 - Military necessity does not admit of cruelty — that is, the infliction of suffering for the sake of suffering or for 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.