Lincoln on Trial: Southern Civilians and the Law of War

5. "Can You Get Near Enough to Throw Shells into the City?": Personal Injury to Civilians

101 5 “Can You Get Near Enough to Throw Shells into the City?” Personal Injury to Civilians When President Lincoln wrote the order of April 25, 1861, authorizing bombardment of Baltimore, he may not have realized the full implications of the power he was giving General Winfield Scott. Errors in the order that are apparent when the full text is read suggest that it was written in haste and excitement: The Maryland Legislature assembles to-morrow at Anapolis; and, not improbably, will take action to arm the people of that State against the United States.The question has been submitted to,and considered by me,whether it would not be justifiable, upon the ground of necessary defence, for you, as commander in Chief of the United States Army, to arrest, or disperse the members of that body. I think it would not be justifiable; nor, efficient for the desired object. First, they have a clearly legal right to assemble; and, we can not know in advance, that their action will not be lawful, and peaceful. And if we wait until they shall have acted, their arrest, or dispersion, will not lessen the effect of their action. Secondly,we can not permanently prevent their action.If we arrest them, we can not long hold them as prisoners; and when liberated, they will immediately re-assemble, and take their action . And, precisely the same if we simply disperse them. They will immediately re-assemble in some other place. I therefore conclude that it is only left to the Commanding 102 Lincoln on Trial General to watch, and await their action, which, if it shall be to arm their people against the United States, he is to adopt the most prompt, and efficient means to counteract, even, if necessary , to the bombardment of their cities—and in the extreme necessity, the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.1 “Annapolis” is misspelled in the first paragraph, and the last paragraph, read literally, implies that suspension of habeas corpus was a more serious act than bombardment. Also in the last paragraph, Lincoln initially wrote “suspicion of the writ of habeas corpus” rather than “suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.” The president’s secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay, later remembered that during this period Lincoln, “by nature and habit so calm,” was “in a state of nervous tension which put all his great powers of mental and physical endurance to their severest trial.”2 General Scott probably requested authorization to bombard disloyal cities in Maryland. He had experience dealing with hostile cities during the war with Mexico.The final, and successful, campaign of that war began on March 9, 1847, when his troops landed on the Gulf coast of Mexico near Vera Cruz. Scott’s plan was to march rapidly inland and capture Mexico City, forcing the Mexican government to sue for peace, but first he had to capture the fortified city of Vera Cruz. After a formal call for surrender had been refused, Scott began bombarding the city on March 22, using heavy naval cannon, mortars, and rockets. During the next four days, 6,700 rounds of shot and shell, weighing 463,000 pounds, fell on the city and its fortifications. On March 25, the consuls of France, England, and Prussia proposed a truce to allow evacuation of women and children. Scott refused. The request was repeated on the 26th and again refused. (In his memoirs, Scott explained that he could not afford any delay in taking the city because tropical fever was already breaking out in his army and there were reports that a Mexican relief force was being organized.)3 Negotiations for surrender followed, and the city capitulated on March 27. The aiming point for the American bombardment was the powder magazine of the chief Mexican fort, but inevitably, given the inaccuracy of mid-nineteenth-century artillery, most of the ordnance fell on the city, populated by 15,000 civilians. Although the black powder artillery shells of the Mexican and Civil wars were not nearly as effective as munitions developed in the twentieth century, there were civilian casu- Personal Injury to Civilians 103 alties. A British naval officer on the scene estimated that 80 Mexican soldiers and 100 civilians had been killed at Vera Cruz.4 Scott’s actions were not as callous as might initially appear. He could not advance on the Mexican capital with his relatively...