Would captured soldiers be considered POW's or Terrorists?

[techs]

I was watching 80 Acres of Hell on the History Channel.
It turns out that about 12 percent of all Southern prisoners died while being held by the Union. In Camp Douglas near Chicago it was alleged that a deliberate policy of extermination was used to kill the prisoners.
It is interesting to note that the Union deliberately humiliated the captured Southern soldiers, something that was addressed by the Geneva Conventions subsequently.

 

[Genx87]

Under todays geneva convention rules they would be considered POWs.
But chances are we as a nation would consider them citizens and thus subject to our constitution.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Here's some happy, light reading: Andersonville

Just for fun . .

 

[d3n]

Well I understand that they were pretty rag tag and most did not in fact have uniforms, but they were fighting under a common banner and in a military unit. In my judgement they would be considered POW's

 

[kingtas]

Soldiers in the field were not receiving regular supplies and nutrition. Prisonors were on the low end of the totem poll.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Conditions were bad on both sides. When US Grant got word about how bad it really was at Andersonville, things got horrid in Northern POW camps.
Please remember...The South was broke and food & clothing was in very short supply, as was man power. The North had an abundance of all supplies.

Fully 50+% deaths on both sides were caused by dysentery, conditions were that bad in the field let alone at a POW camp.

Google galvanized yankee...That's how Rebs got out of Northern POW camps. Most ended up in the South West with the Black Buffalo Soldiers killing Native Americans.

NOTE: In uniform POWs, civilian cloths, they could be shot as spies. Problem was, most Confederates did not have uniforms as the North did.


...Galvanized