102. The law of war, like the criminal war regarding other offenses, makes no difference on account of the difference of sexes, concerning the spy, the war traitor, or the war rebel. 103. Spies, war traitors and war rebels are 91. The war traitor is always severely pun- not exchanged according to the common law of ished. If his offense consists in betraying to war. The exchange of such persons would rethe enemy anything concerning the condition, quire a special cartel, authorized by the gov safety, operations or plans of the troops hold-ernment, or, at a great distance from it, by the ing or occupying the place or district, his pun-chief commander of the army in the field. ishment is death.

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 109. The exchange of prisoners of war is an captured, while doing so, in the territory oc- act of convenience to both belligerents. If no cupied by the enemy, is treated by the cap-general cartel has been concluded, it can not be tor as a prisoner of war. If not in uniform, demanded by either of them. No belligerent is nor a soldier, the circumstances connected with obliged to exchange prisoners of war.

A cartel is voidable so soon as either party | country, or to live in greater freedom within the has violated it. captor's country or territory, on conditions stated in the parole.

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.

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

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 a flag of truce, if admitted during the engagement. Firing is not required to cease on the appearance of a flag of truce in battle.

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.

123. Release of prisoners of war by exchange is the general rule; release by parole is the exception.

124. Breaking the parole is punished with death when the person breaking the parole is captured again.

Accurate lists, therefore, of the paroled persons must be kept by the belligerents.

125. When paroles are given and received, there must be an exchange of two written documents, in which the name and rank of the paroled individuals are accurately and truthfully stated.

126. Commissioned officers only are allowed to give their parole, and they can give it only with the permission of their superior, as long as a superior in rank is within reach.

127. No non-commissioned officer or private 114. If it be discovered, and fairly proved, can give his parole except through an officer. that a flag of truce has been abused for surrep- Individual paroles not given through an officer titiously obtaining military knowledge, the are not only void, but subject the individuals bearer of the flag thus abusing his sacred char-giving them to the punishment of death as desertacter 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.

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.

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.

ers. The only admissible exception is where individuals properly separated from their commands, have suffered long confinement without the possibility of being paroled through an officer.

128. No paroling on the battle-field; no paroling of entire bodies of troops after a battle, and no dismissal of large numbers of prisoners, with a general declaration that they are paroled, is permitted or of any value.

129. In capitulations for the surrender of strong places or fortified camps, the commanding officer, in cases of urgent necessity, may agree that the troops under his command shall not fight again during the war, unless exchanged.

130. The usual pledge given in the parole is not to serve during the existing war, unless exchanged.

This pledge refers only to the active service in 117. It is justly considered an act of bad faith, the field, against the paroling belligerent or his of infamy or fiendishness, to deceive the enemy allies actively engaged in the same war. These by flags of protection. Such act of bad faith may cases of breaking the parole are patent acts, and be good cause for refusing to respect such flags. can be visited with the punishment of death; but 118. The besieging belligerent has sometimes the pledge does not refer to internal service, requested the besieged to designate the build- such as recruiting or drilling the recruits, forings containing collections of works of art, sci-tifying places not besieged, quelling civil comentific museums, astronomical observatories or precious libraries, so that their destruction may be avoided as much as possible.

SECTION VII.

The Parole.

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.

122. The parole applies chiefly to prisoners of war whom the captor allows to return to their

motions, fighting against belligerents unconnected with the paroling belligerents, or to civil or diplomatic service for which the paroled officer may be employed.

131. If the Government does not approve of the parole, the paroled officer must return into captivity, and should the enemy refuse to receive him, he is free of his parole.

132. A belligerent government may declare, by a general order, whether it will allow paroling, and on what conditions it will allow it. Such order is communicated to the enemy.

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 indi vidual act, so is paroling, on the other hand, an act of choice on the part of the belligerent

134. The commander of an occupying army or advance of his attacking works as much so may require of the civil officers of the enemy, as from attacks by main force. and of its citizens, any pledge he may consider necessary for the safety or security of his army, and upon their failure to give it, he may arrest, confine or detain them.

138. The motives which induce the one or the other belligerent to conclude an armistice, whether it be expected to be preliminary to a treaty of peace, or to prepare during the armis- 148. The law of war does not allow proclaim tice for a more vigorous prosecution of the war, ing either an individual belonging to the hostile does in no way affect the character of the armis- army, or a citizen, or a subject of the hostile tice itself. government, an outlaw, who may be slain with 139. An armistice is binding upon the bel-out trial by any captor, any more than the modligerents from the day of the agreed commencement; but the officers of the armies are responsible from the day only when they receive official information of its existence.

between the legitimate government of a country | fer, imprison or fine the revolted citizens who and portions or provinces of the same who seek refuse to pledge themselves anew as citizens to throw off their allegiance to it, and set up a obedient to the law, and loyal to the government. government of their own. Whether it is expedient to do so, and whether reliance can be placed upon such oaths, the commander or his government have the right to decide.

153. Treating captured rebels as prisoners of war, exchanging them, concluding of cartels, capitulations or other warlike agreements with them; addressing officers of a rebel army by the rank they may have in the same; accepting flags of truce, or, on the other hand, proclaiming martial law in their territory, or levying The following Proclamation by the President war taxes or forced loans, or doing any other is published for the information and governact sanctioned or demanded by the law and ment of the Army and all concerned:

erents, neither proves nor establishes an ac-"BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF knowledgment of the rebellious people, or of the government which they may have erected, as a public or sovereign power. Nor does the adoption of the rules of war toward rebels imply an engagement with them extending beyond the limits of these rules. It is victory in the field that ends the strife and settles the future relations between the contending parties.

The commander will throw the burden of the war, as much as lies within his power, on the [L. s.] our Lord one thousand eight hundred and disloyal citizens of the revolted portion or province, subjecting them to a stricter police than the non-combatant enemies have to suffer in regular war; and if he deems it appropriate, or if his government demands of him that every citizen shall, by an oath of allegiance, or by some other manifest act, declare his fidelity to the legitimate government, he may expel, trans

AFFIDAVITS

OF

LOUIS J. WEICHMANN AND CAPT. G. W. DUTTON.

COL. H. L. BURNETT, Judge Advocate, Cincinnati, | with John Wilkes Booth in the parlor. On the Ohio:

Colonel I stated before the Commission, at Washington, that I commenced to board with Mrs. Surratt in November, 1864. As a general thing, I remained at home during the evenings, and, consequently, I heard many things which were then intended to blind me, but which now are as clear as daylight. The following facts, which have come to my recollection since the rendition of my testimony, may be of interest:

AFFIDAVIT OF LOUIS J. WEICHMANN.

I once asked Mrs. Surratt what her son John had to do with Dr. Mudd's farm; why he made himself an agent for Booth (she herself had told me that Booth desired to purchase Mudd's farm). Her reply was, that "Dr. Mudd and the people of Charles county had got tired of Booth, and that they had pushed him on John." Before the fourth of March, she was in the habit of remarking that "something was going to happen to old Abe which would prevent him from taking his seat; that Gen. Lee was going to execute a movement which would startle the whole world." What that movement was she never said.

way down she was very lively and cheerful, taking the reins into her own hands several times, and urging on the steed. We halted once, and that was about three miles from Washington, when, observing that there were pickets along the road, she hailed an old farmer, and wanted to know if they would remain there all night. On being told that they were withdrawn at about eight o'clock in the evening, she said she "was glad to know it." On the return, I chanced to make some remark about Booth, stating that he appeared to be without employment, and asking her when he was going to act again. "Booth is done acting," she said, "and is going to New York very soon, never to return." Then turning round, she remarked: "Yes, and Booth is crazy on one subject, and I am going to give him a good scolding the next time I see him." What that "one subject" was, Mrs. Surratt never mentioned to me. She was very anxious to be at home at nine o'clock, saying that she had made an engagement with some gentleman who was to meet her at that hour. I asked her if it was Booth. She answered neither yes nor no.

When about a mile from the city, and having from the top of a hill caught a view of Washington swimming in a flood of light, raising her hands, she said, "I am afraid all this rejoicing will be turned into mourning, and all this glory into sadness." I asked her what she meant. She replied that after sunshine there was always a storm, and that the people were too proud and licentious, and that God would punish them.

A few days after, I asked her why John brought such men as Herold and Atzerodt to the house, and associated with them? "O, John wishes to make use of them for his dirty work," was her reply. On my desiring to know what the dirty work was, she answered that "John wanted them to clean his horses." He had two at that time. And once, when she sent me to Brooks, the stabler, to inquire about her The gentleman whom she expected at nine son, she laughed, and remarked that "Brooks o'clock on her return, called. It was, as I afconsidered John Surratt, and Booth, and Her-terward ascertained, Booth's last visit to Mrs. old, and Atzerodt a party of young gamblers and sports, and that she wanted him to think Brooks has told me since the trial that such was actually the case, and that at one time he saw John H. Surratt with three one-hundred dollar notes in his possession.

80."

Surratt, and the third one on that day. She was alone with him for a few minutes in the parlor. I was in the dining room at the time, and as soon as I had taken tea, I repaired thither. Mrs. Surratt's former cheerfulness had left her. She was now very nervous, agitated and restless. On my asking her what was the matter, she replied that she was very nervous, and did not feel well. Then looking at me, she wanted to know which way the torchlight procession was going that we had seen on the On Good Friday I drove her into the country, Avenue. I remarked that it was a procession ignorant of her purpose and intentions. We of the arsenal employees, who were going to started at about half-past two o'clock in the af- serenade the President. She said that she would ternoon. Before leaving, she had an interview | like to know, as she was very much interested

When Richmond fell and Lee's army surrendered, when Washington was illuminated, Mrs. Surratt closed her home and wept. Her house was gloomy and cheerless. To use her own expression, it was "indicative of her feelings."