“Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any [prisoner]. . . I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause… for by such conduct they bring shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country.” - George Washington, charge to the Northern Expeditionary Force, Sept. 14, 1775
Lincoln agreed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieber_Code
And the Lieber Code was the seminal document in the 1899 and 1907 Hague Convention.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_C...d_1907#History
John