Note 22 — XXXI THE AMERICANS AS CONQUERORS 1846–1848

“Head Quarters of the Army, Tampico, February 19, 1847. General Orders, no. 20. 1. It may well be apprehended that many grave offences not provided for in the act of Congress ‘establishing rules and articles for the government of the armies of the United States,’ approved April 10, 1806, may be again committed—by, or upon, individuals of those armies, in Mexico, pending the existing war between the two Republics. Allusion is here made to atrocities, any one of which, if committed within the United States or their organized territories, would, of course, be tried and severely punished by the ordinary or civil courts of the land. 2. Assassinations; murder; malicious stabbing or maiming; rape; malicious assault and battery; robbery; theft; the wanton desecration of churches, cemeteries or other religious edifices and fixtures, and the destruction, except by order of a superior officer, of public or private property, are such offences. 3. The good of the service, the honor of the United States and the interests of humanity, imperiously demand that every crime, enumerated above, should be severely punished. (Paragraphs 4–6 demonstrate the necessity of a code supplemental to the rules and articles of war.) 7. That unwritten code is Martial Law, as an addition to the written military code, prescribed by Congress in the rules and articles of war, and which unwritten code, all armies, in hostile countries, are forced to adopt—not only for their own safety, but for the protection of the unoffending inhabitants and their property, about the theaters of] military operations, against injuries contrary to the laws of war. 8. From the same supreme necessity, martial law is hereby declared, as a supplemental code in, and about, all camps, posts and hospitals which may be occupied by any part of the forces of the United States, in Mexico, and in, and about, all columns, escorts, convoys, guards and detachments, of the said forces, while engaged in prosecuting the existing war in, and against the said republic. 9. Accordingly, every crime, enumerated in paragraph No. 2, above, whether committed—1. By any inhabitant of Mexico, sojourner or traveller therein, upon the person or property of any individual of the United States’ forces, retainer or follower of the same; 2. By any individual of the said forces, retainer or follower of the same, upon the person or property of any inhabitant of Mexico, sojourner or traveller therein, or 3. By any individual of the said forces, retainer or follower of the same, upon the person or property of any other individual of the said forces, retainer or follower of the same—shall be duly tried and punished under the said supplemental code. 10. For this purpose it is ordered, that all offenders, in the matters aforesaid, shall be promptly seized and confined, and reported, for trial, before Military Commissions to be duly appointed as follows: 11. Every military commission, under this order, will be appointed, governed and limited, as prescribed by the 65th, 66th, 67th, and 97th, of the said rules and articles of war, and the proceedings of such commissions will be duly recorded, in writing, reviewed, revised, disapproved or approved, and the sentences executed—all, as in the cases of the proceedings and sentences of courts-martial; provided, that no military commission shall try any case clearly cognizable by any court-martial, and provided also that no sentence of a military commission shall be put in execution against any individual, whatsoever, which may not be, according to the nature and degree of the offence, as established by evidence, in conformity with known punishments, in like cases, in some one of the States of the United States of America. 12. This order will be read at the head of every Company serving in Mexico.” This order helps to explain the later improvement at the north which we have noted.