Today in Fort Laramie history we take a look back at the history and abolition of branding as a corporal punishment: “Branding or marking as now prohibited. This punishment, as heretofore remarked, is prohibited by Article 98, which is but a reiteration of the provision of section 2 of the Act of June 6, 1872, (the only previous legislation on the subject,) by which it was declared that - “hereafter it shall be illegal to brand, mark or tattoo on the body any soldier by sentence of court-martial.” This provision is inadvertently repeated in Article 38. Marking in the British service was abolished in 1871. As heretofore administered. The marking of deserters with the letter “D” dates from the Roman law, and was authorized by the British Mutiny Act at an early date. Later, that Act also authorized the marking of offenders discharged with ignominy, with the letters “B.C.” (Bad Character.) In our service this punishment has been carried considerably farther, additional forms of it having been sanctioned by usage. Soldiers have been sentenced to be branded, as well as marked, with D, both for desertion and for drunkenness. The mark has commonly been placed on the hip, but sentences to be branded on the cheek and on the forehead have been adjudged. Other markings imposed by our courts have been “HD” for habitual drunkard, “M” for mutineer, “W” for worthlessness, “C” for cowardice, “I” for insubordination, “R” for robbery, and “T” for thief. Sometimes also entire words were required to be marked as “Deserter”, “Habitual Drunkard”, “Mutineer”, or “swindler.” The branding was done with a hot iron; the marking with Indian ink or gunpowder, usually pricked into the skin to tattooed. This species of punishment, except in so far as necessary or expedient in cases of deserters, was repeatedly during the late war unfavorably commented upon by Judge Advocated General Holt as being “against public policy” and “not conducive to the best interests of the service.” These views were repeated by other authorities, until Congress took the matter into consideration, and at length, by the enactment already cited, prohibited such punishment altogether. Military prisoners, however, convicted of escape or attempted escape form the lat Military Prison (now “U.S. Penitentiary”) have been frequently sentenced (in connection with other penalties,) “to have the letter E marked upon their clothing.” - Military Law and Precedents William Winthrop Washington: GPO 1920 Pages 440-441
Posted on: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 14:48:33 +0000
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