[lentulusgracchus]

Not at all! The South was very much part of the Union. The secessionists were not.

You'd been corrected on this argument two or three times even before you posted it to me. Don't dish that swill as fresh.

Either the secessionists were out of the Union, and were foreign nationals -- and you have virtually conceded that argument -- or they were not. You can't have it both ways and just do what you want.

Oh, but wait -- that is the point, isn't it, El Supremo?

[capitan_refugio]

The insurrectionists were residents of no recognized foreign country. The were afforded no legal protections by their former sovereign, as individuals in a state of nature, then privileges those granted to them came by the traditions of the laws of war.

Such is the plight of traitors.