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The improper use of the flag is forbidden by the rules of war and constitutes a war crime of perfidy.There have been numerous reported cases of such behavior in conflicts, such as combatants using white flags as a ruse to approach and attack enemy combatants, or killings of combatants attempting to surrender by carrying white flags.
Since the beginning of the war had been the firing on and surrender ("lowering the flag") of Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina, the decision was made to ceremonially raise the Union flag over it. The original flag had been preserved as a patriotic object, and the occasion was one of the first celebrations of the impending end of the war.
Surrender, in military terms, is the relinquishment of control over territory, combatants, fortifications, ships or armament to another power. A surrender may be accomplished peacefully or it may be the result of defeat in battle. A sovereign state may surrender following defeat in a war, usually by signing a peace treaty or capitulation agreement.
The American defenders had been refused the honours of war when they surrendered after the Siege of Charleston (1780). When negotiating the surrender of a British army at Yorktown a year later, American General George Washington insisted: "The same Honors will be granted to the Surrendering Army as were granted to the Garrison of Charles Town."
In distinction to striking one's colors, hoisting a white flag, in itself, is not an indication of surrender. Rather, hoisting a white flag indicates a request for a truce in order to communicate with the enemy. Under the Geneva Conventions, persons carrying or waving a white flag are still not to be fired upon, nor are they allowed to open fire.
By order of Gov. Lee, flags over the State Capitol and all state office buildings will be flown at half-staff until sunset on Friday, Nov. 17, to remember the five Fort Campbell soldiers killed ...
To honor the more than 2,000 lives lost during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff Saturday.
Confederate Flag flying in Fort Sumter after the 1861 surrender. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the first military action of the American Civil War. Following the surrender, Northerners rallied behind Lincoln's call for all states to send troops to recapture the forts and preserve the Union.