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Re: A Thought
In Response To: Re: A Thought ()

You said "Forrest's troops were engaged in a battle, the men that were caught near Marks Mill were enroute to enlist, I find that different, they were non-combatants."

Definition Traitor - One who commits the act of Treason.

Definition Treason - The crime of disloyalty to one's nation or state. A person who betrays the nation of their citizenship and/or reneges on an oath of loyalty and in some way willfully cooperates with an enemy.

They were not caught "near Marks Mill". They were captured with the column of Union soldiers which were attacked and defeated after a 5 hour Battle.

Most of the real "Civilians", followed behind the Union Column, and excaped back across Moro creek with the 1st Iowa Cavalry which was on their way home after being discharged. The so called "civilians" and blacks, who were executed, were captured with, and had direct ties to, the Union military. Such as sutlers and teamster in the employe of the United States Army. In the case of the Sutlers, they were government contracted and had their wagons full of goods taken(stolen) from the citizens of Camden.

War is war! As Robert E. Lee correctly said, "It is good that War is so terrible, Lest we grow to love it too much."

In World War II American B-25 crews in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea intentionally machine gunned helpless unarmed Japanese soldiers and sailors who were struggling the seas and in lifeboats from the ships, that the Americans had just sunk. The justification was to keep them from getting to shore to supposedly fight again. Even though they were helpless and had no weapons or provisions. By our standards of today clearly a case of murder.

These men in 1864 who had volunteered for Union service in Camden and who were traveling to Pine Bluff, with that Union Column, to enlist in that army, had clearly demonstrated their intentions to fight against the Southern army. Therefore their intent was traitorious. A man does not have to have a uniform, or shoot a gun, to be a traitor.

Until the Modernization of our ideals in the 20th Century, traitors, once identified, have always either been hung or shot. And usually immediately upon discovery without the benifit of even a summary trial. And one sides Villian is usually the others sides Hero. For example Benedict Arnold, and Nathan Hale.

No, in my opinion these men were NOT true non combatants. Except for maybe the black teamster. But then you would have to consider all of the 6,000 plus merchant marines who lost their lives in North Atlantic Convoys during World War II as Non-combatants. And all the truck drivers killed in Iraq by roadside bombs, while they carried supplies to military bases as Non Combatants.

While they may, under the letter of the Geneva Convention, which did not exist in 1864, have a Non Combatant status, they still serve a military purpose and further a military objective. And they are a military asset to be destroyed in the enemies evaluation. In the case of Black Teamsters, where did most of them come from? They certainly did come from Vermont to drive wagons in Arkansas. Again the definition of traitor applied to the southern mindset.

Most of the other blacks with that column, who were not Teamsters, were unarmed even during the Battle. But they worn Union Uniforms because they were serving as Pioneers and were, I believe, a company from the 1st Arkansas Inf. US (colored). Even Col Drake's (commander of the Union Column) black bodyservant was wearing a uniform and was shot.

We still judge the behavior of the 19th century soldier, both north or south, by too many 20th century attitudes of Morality. There was not so much gray area in their judgement of the "letter of the law" as we have today. They tended to judge things far stricter/harsher that we do.

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Jefferson Davis Pardon
Your Answer
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Your welcome... *NM*
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Salmon P. Chase
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