Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field

Art. 97. Guides, when it is clearly proved that they have misled
intentionally, may be put to death.

Art. 98. AU unauthorized or secret communication with the enemy is
considered treasonable by the law of war.

Foreign residents in an invaded or occupied territory, or foreign visitors
in the same, can claim no immunity from this law. They may communicate with
foreign parts, or with the inhabitants of the hostile country , so far as
the military authority permits, but no further. Instant expulsion from the
occupied territory would be the very least punishment for the infraction of
this rule.

Art. 99. A messenger carrying written dispatches or verbal messages from
one portion of the army, or from a besieged place, to another portion of
the same army, or its government, if armed, and in the uniform of his army,
and if captured, while doing so, in the territory occupied by the enemy, is
treated by the captor as a prisoner of war. If not in uniform, nor a
soldier, the circumstances connected with his capture must determine the
disposition that shall be made of him.

Art. 100. A messenger or agent who attempts to steal through the territory
occupied by the enemy, to further, in any manner, the interests of the
enemy, if captured, is not entitled to the privileges of the prisoner of
war, and may be dealt with according to the circumstances of the case.

Art. 101. While deception in war is admitted as a just and necessary means
of hostility, and is consistent with honorable warfare, the Common law of
war allows even capital punishment for clandestine or treacherous attempts
to injure an enemy, because they are so dangerous, and it is difficult to
guard against them.

Art. 102. The law of war, like the criminal law regarding other offenses,
makes no difference on account of the difference of sexes, concerning the
spy, the war-traitor, or the war-rebel.

Art. 103. Spies, war-traitors, and war-rebels are not exchanged according
to the Common law of war. The exchange of such persons would require a
special cartel, authorized by the government, or, at a great distance from
it, by the chief commander of the army in the field.

Art. 104. A successful spy or war-traitor, safely returned to his own army,
and afterwards captured as an enemy, is not subject to punishment for his
acts as a spy or war-traitor, but he may be held in closer custody as a
person individually dangerous.

SECTION VI
Exchange of prisoners – Flags of truce – Flags of protection

Art. 105. Exchanges of prisoners take place – number for number – rank for
rank wounded for wounded – with added condition for added condition – such,
for instance, as not to serve for a certain period.

Art. 106. In exchanging prisoners of war, such numbers of persons of
inferior rank may be substituted as an equivalent for one of superior rank
as may be agreed upon by cartel, which requires the sanction of the
government, or of the commander of the army in the field.

Art. 107. A prisoner of war is in honor bound truly to state to the captor
his rank; and he is not to assume a lower rank than belongs to him, in
order to cause a more advantageous exchange, nor a higher rank, for the
purpose of obtaining better treatment.

Offenses to the contrary have been justly punished by the commanders of
released prisoners, and may be good cause for refusing to release such
prisoners.

Art. 108. The surplus number of prisoners of war remaining after an
exchange has taken place is sometimes released either for the payment of a
stipulated sum of money, or, in urgent cases, of provision, clothing, or
other necessaries.

Such arrangement, however, requires the sanction of the highest authority.

Art. 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.

Art. 110. No exchange of prisoners shall be made except after complete
capture, and after an accurate account of them, and a list of the captured
officers, has been taken.

Art. 111. The bearer of a flag of truce cannot insist upon being admitted.
He must always be admitted with great caution. Unnecessary frequency is
carefully to be avoided.

Art. 112. If the bearer of a flag of truce offer himself during an
engagement, he can be admitted as a very rare exception only. It is no
breach of good faith to retain such flag of truce, if admitted during the
engagement. Firing is not required to cease on the appearance of a flag of
truce in battle.

Art. 113. If the bearer of a flag of truce, presenting himself during an
engagement, is killed or wounded, it furnishes no ground of complaint
whatever.

Art. 114. If it be discovered, and fairly proved, that a flag of truce has
been abused for surreptitiously obtaining military knowledge, the bearer of
the flag thus abusing his sacred character is deemed a spy.

So sacred is the character of a flag of truce, and so necessary is its
sacredness, that while its abuse is an especially heinous offense, great
caution is requisite, on the other hand, in convicting the bearer of a flag
of truce as a spy.

Art. 115. It is customary to designate by certain flags (usually yellow)
the hospitals in places which are shelled, so that the besieging enemy may
avoid firing on them. The same has been done in battles, when hospitals are
situated within the field of the engagement.

Art. 116. Honorable belligerents often request that the hospitals within
the territory of the enemy may be designated, so that they may be spared.
An honorable belligerent allows himself to be guided by flags or signals of
protection as much as the contingencies and the necessities of the fight
will permit.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Common law, Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field, country.