Post by joewiggs on Dec 28, 2010 16:52:39 GMT -5
It's incredible, to me, the extent of physical punishment meted out to soldiers for the slightest infractions. Capricious and malicious misuse of punishment destroyed morale among the troopers.
Example: "...summer of 69 Gen. Custer had in use a hole deeply dug in the ground about 30 x 30 feet, by a bout 15 ft. deep, entrance by ladder, hole boarded over: this was the guard house, and a man even absent from from a call was let down. [There were so many of them] I don't know how the prisoners laid down.
Secretary of War, Stephen B. Elkins, reported that one third of the men recruited between 1867 and 1891 had deserted. This number of deserters would include the "snow-birds" that enlisted for the winter only to take "flight" during the Spring for the nearest gold mine.
Example: "...summer of 69 Gen. Custer had in use a hole deeply dug in the ground about 30 x 30 feet, by a bout 15 ft. deep, entrance by ladder, hole boarded over: this was the guard house, and a man even absent from from a call was let down. [There were so many of them] I don't know how the prisoners laid down.
Secretary of War, Stephen B. Elkins, reported that one third of the men recruited between 1867 and 1891 had deserted. This number of deserters would include the "snow-birds" that enlisted for the winter only to take "flight" during the Spring for the nearest gold mine.
