ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a historical overview of a poorly understood American war, one supported by many U.S. citizens at the time yet not by many political elites, including the young Abraham Lincoln (who nonetheless voted to provide monies for the war while he was in Congress). But the focus of the chapter is on how the war was fought, particularly in terms of battlefield proportionality and discrimination (distinguishing and protecting civilians and civilian property), in which U.S. forces have a mixed record. U.S. regulars (professional military) not only fought well but typically acted with restraint and even noblesse oblige, whereas many violations of customary law were perpetrated by armed part-timers and militia members.
