On June 27, 1863, near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania--just days before the momentous Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee issued a general order to the Army of Northern Virginia, praising them for their honorable conduct thus far in their march into Union territory, but cautioning them on their continuing responsibility to respect all private property and the lives of all noncombatants.
“The commanding general considers no greater disgrace could befall the army, and through it our whole people, than the perpetration of the barbarous outrages upon the unarmed and defenseless and the wanton destruction of private property, that have marked the course of the enemy in our own country…It must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered…without offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without whose favor and support our efforts must all prove in vain.”
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