A Condensed Version of The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda and an Unnecessary War by Thomas J. DiLorenzo. Prima. 352 pp. $24.95
Condensed by
Dr. Jimmy T. (Gunny) LaBaume
Chapter 7: Waging War on Civilians
2. The Rules of War
An international convention met in Geneva in 1863 for the purpose of codifying the rules of warfare. During the previous century, nations had agreed that attacking defenseless towns, plundering and destroying civilian property and taking more than necessary to sustain an occupying army from the civilian population were all war crimes punishable by imprisonment or death. Furthermore, the only just war was a defensive war. Thus, Lincoln’s invasion of the South was a war crime.
The American military relied on Emmerich de Vattel’s The Law of Nations as its source concerning the rules of war. These “laws” were the result of accumulated wisdom handed down since classical times. They were based on self-evident moral ideas worthy of respect by all civilized peoples. To Vattel, war was to be conducted only by soldiers—i.e. women, children, feeble old men, the sick and those who offer no resistance were exempted. He condemned taking civilian hostages and burning private homes—two practices widely used by the union armies.
In 1861, Henry Halleck was a leading expert on international laws of war and the author of International Law – which happened be the text used at West Point . He agreed with Vattel that non-combatants should be spared, civilians and their property were to be protected, and private property should only be taken with compensation.
In 1863, Lincoln issued General Order No. 100. It became known as the “Lieber Code” because of its author, Francis Lieber, who was a staunch unionist and German immigrant influenced by Otto von Bismark. The Code reiterated the accepted international law with regard to the sparing of civilians. But, it contained a bit of Lincolnian rhetoric that permitted commanders to ignore it if the situation deemed it necessary. In other words, it was a smokescreen to create the impression that the union army would abide by international law when, in reality, it exempted federal commanders from it.
Think secession!
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