The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-06-06

question turns upon the word
~ cruelty If killing in action. /
rounding. sickness in hospital
OF elsewhere, produced by exposure, are /
defined as cruelty. ne question arises.
for then there can be no real war with
out cruelty.
But the army officers would not define
the death Of a soldier On the field Of
battle as death from cruelty. If in angry
hate an enemy took his bayonet and
stabbed a wounded man. it would exhibit
cruelty. #. as in Lord Wolseley's cam
paif,n IN Egypt. men armed with sciuli-
te-s would creep around. hamstring the
horscs. and Stay every helpless victim
that they could reach. it would be cruel
y. The selling Of men. women and chill
dren. torturing men in ever. conceiva-
bic way, and scalping them, often while
alive, as the plains Indians have done
in their wars. is properly called "hor-
rihly cruel Driven to madness by n
dian crueIties. cur soldiers have soma
times rataIiated by the NEST cruel meth
eds but as q rule they have not d1ne 50.
but carefully. confined themselves TO the
regulations and rules u civilized wa
fare
During our long civil war l vas II
many battles, ard have tried to describe
some Of them. I recall hut few in
stances where intentional cruelty was
involved. The white faC was always
respected en- both SIDES 9f she conflict
I Prisoners taken on the Confederate side
were usually well treated. al least until
. they got into the hands of the prison
. keepers. # the Union prisoner or cap
tuT. was stripped of his clothing and
vaIuabies. he rightly complained of it as
an outrage. 50 did the Confederate If
he fell Into the hands Of some rough
cavalry sergeant But all the outrages
Of Libby. AndersonviIIe. and ether pris-
/ ems were not necessary part OF var
no more than were the British prison
SHIPS IN tae haTto7 CT New York during
cur Revolutionary struggle Admit
then. that for the most part the opera
/ tons and battles Of cur country have
not violated the laws Of civilized war
[ fare. and have not necessarily involved
cruel methods. cruel treatment CT pris-
Cners CT OF -combatants: Is war ever
necessarily c-ueI--that Is, cruelty insep-
arabic from war?
/ General Sherman said 20 ne often.
Howard. war is cruelty. ard you can
not TOO much refine it" Ee meant
that war involved suffering and losses
that went with every march; bIt he
never meant to justify robbery. murder.
IaDfne. and such things as civilized war
. fare interdictg.
At times. however. war with all the
/ restraints a Havelock would put upon it.
! IS intensely cruel
First As against spies What helped
sheridan more than any other one thing
was the care EuIress with which he found
cut the numbers and the intentions CT
( his opposing general. He hired men with
/ his own money to 90 into the enemy
camp and bring back the information he
needed He kept himself well informed
I Ct what orders were issued against US.
and Of all movements on foot
/ General George H Thomas was always
most careful to employ good spies
+ The welfare OF his own army depended
on the information he thus gained.
/ Well. then. why try by court-marttal
and hang an enemy's SPY? The law Of
! grar stiI requires that. Under Mcclellan
/ = lieutenant Of our army went over to
4 the Confederates, and then became a spy
! for them He was caught. closely con
. Gned, and soon hanged
I Under General Harvey in Mexico sew
/ eraI soldiers deserted TO the Mexicans
land became spies and infoTmants against
their country Harvey captured them
and had them hanged 1t is said that he
/ expressed his opinion OF them in his
/ own strong language while they were
dying.
After all their work, however dill
gent. and their terrible exposures. the
spies are never treated like honorable
men Almost universal distrust awaits
( their future. They are among the os
/ TRACKED. II is a terrible cruelty.
Second. As against gueTrfllas. Guer-
rillas proper are those who are carry
/ Jag on war without the pale of an
army They wear no uniform; they
plumber and burn houses, they slay Oft
en- the most harmless non cOmbatants.
as did QuantreIrs band in Kansas il
the civil var
To ston their horrible work in Ten
nessee. Gen George H Thomas who
was the kjndest and gentlest of en-
manders- issued the seveTest orders
which he could dictate. The general
had bur one line Of supply over the
Cumberland range of mountains; it was
by a railroad with many tunnels and
bridges The guerrillas would burn his
bridges and choke up his tunnels with
Hos and rocks. The organized forces