Posted on 10/21/2020 7:37:22 AM PDT by CheshireTheCat
On this date in 1865, two Republican generals, four colonels, and various other officers captured earlier in the month were executed on the authority of Mexico’s notorious Bando Negro — the “Black Decree.”
Halfway into his ill-fated three-year reign as “Emperor,” Maximilian I was in a bad way against Mexican president-turned-guerrilla Benito Juarez.
On October 3, 1865, he authorized summary execution for captured Republicans … and for anyone else who ran afoul of a nearby military official without having speedy proof of his or her political bona fides.
All individuals forming a part of armed bands or bodies existing without legal authority, whether or not proclaiming a political pretext, whatever the number of those forming such band, or its organization, character, and denomination, shall be judged militarily by the courts martial. If found guilty, even though only of the fact of belonging to an armed band, they shall be condemned to capital punishment, and the sentence shall be executed within twenty-four hours.*
In signing the Black Decree, said Mexican essayist Carlos Fuentes, Maximilian “signed his own death warrant.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
You can bet that Biden backers would have no objections to an American version of this decree.
It’s interesting that in most histories that I’ve read, Maximillian is portrayed as misguided somewhat sympathetic character who bravely went to his death. This Black Decree is never mentioned.
I also find it interesting that while more or less contemporaneous with the American Civil War, how harsh the two sides were in comparison with each other. Only one man was hanged for treason—he cut down an American flag in New Orleans, and only one was hanged for his actions during the war—the governor of the Andersonville P.O.W. camp.
Sherman and Chivington were never held accountable for their crimes.
Sherman and Chivington were never held accountable for their crimes.
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