[nathanbedford]

Am I wrong in this, I thought a soldier out of uniform could be shot as a spy. Did that not obtain in the 19th century? There are good reasons for this convention if it if fact exists because soldiers as combatants are expected to observe certain rules and therefore, entitled to the protection of the rules.

[Non-Sequitur]

In that case the Union army would have been within their rights to shoot just about any confederate enlisted man they captured since uniforms were rare in the rebel army. Sorry, it just strikes me as an arbitrary act of murder on the part of the southern authority. If 7 deserved to hang then they all did. If 14 warrented POW camps then they all did. Why hang some and parole the others?