G. Washington on Treatment of Prisoners

These were the instructions of General George Washington to troops under his command after the Continental Army captured several thousand Hessians at Trenton:

"should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injur[e] any [of them]... 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." Any officer who failed to heed this direction, he said, would bring "shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country."

"Shame, disgrace and ruin..."

Pretty strong words. We were in a much more basic and existential conflict then than we are now, but Washington knew that our honor, our self-respect and the very nature of our nation was on display in how we treated prisoners.