GDG- a rebel soldier shall be executed

[Dennis Lawrence]

Order of Retaliation [1]
Executive Mansion, Washington D.C July 30. 1863

It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens, of 
whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly 
organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the 
usages and customs of war as carried on by civilized powers, permit no 
distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public 
enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, 
and for no offence against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism and 
a crime against the civilization of the age.

The government of the United States will give the same protection to all 
its soldiers, and if the enemy shall sell or enslave anyone because of his 
color, the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's 
prisoners in our possession.

It is therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed 
in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for 
every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall 
be placed at hard labor on the public works and continued at such labor 
until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a 
prisoner of war

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Annotation

[1]   DS, DNA WR RG 94, Adjutant General, Letters Received, P 518. This 
order, drafted by the War Department and signed by Lincoln, was issued by 
the Adjutant General's Office on July 31, 1863, as General Orders No. 25