for going thirty or forty miles from the camp, without leave, to visit his wife and three small children. After the usual preliminaries in such cases, his coffin, a box of rough pine boards, was borne before him on the shoulders of two men to the place of execution. He wore, as a winding-sheet, a white cotton gown, having over the place of his heart the black image of a heart, as a mark for the executioners to aim at. His countenance was as pale as his winding-sheet, and his whole frame trembled with agony. His grave was dug, the coffin placed by his side, and the deserter, with a cap drawn over his eyes, required to kneel upon the lid. At this signal, the eight soldiers, drawn by lot for the bloody deed, stepped forward within two rods of their victim; and, at another signal from the officer, all fired at the same instant. The miserable man, with a horrid scream, leaped from the earth, and fell between his coffin and his grave. The sergeant, to insure immediate death, shot him through the head, holding his musket so near that the cap took fire; and there the body lay, with the head sending forth the mingled fumes of burning cotton and hair. The soldiers, after passing close by the corpse in a line to let every one see for himself the fate of a deserter, marched back to the merry notes of Yankee Doodle! and all the officers were immediately invited to the quarters of the commander, and treated with grog!!

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I will quote a recent case from England. the 29th of June, 1839, the Tower of London and its environs were thrown into great excitement by the flogging of two privates for insulting non-commissioned officers! One was sentenced to receive one hundred lashes with the cat-o'-nine-tails, and the other one hundred and fifty. The time chosen was ten o'clock; the place the most public in the Tower.

The first man brought out, was a fine young man, named Jarman, whose crime was insulting his sergeant. He was secured to the halberts by thin cords, which severely cut his flesh; and the dreadful and beastly infliction commenced. He received his punishment without uttering a word or a groan, although the punishment was unusually severe, the drummers being changed every ten lashes, instead of twenty-five as heretofore, and the cat, the instrument of punishment, very heavy. After he had received the hundred lashes, or nine hundred stripes, his back presented a mangled appearance, and the blood poured down his person.

"As soon as the first man left the square, the second man, Slade, a much slighter person than the other, was called to the front. He was sentenced

to receive one hundred and fifty lashes, or one thousand three hundred and fifty stripes. It was evident he did not possess the nerve of the other man; he shook so violently that he was scarcely able to pull his jacket off, and his terror was evident to all. Upon being tied up, he shook from head to foot; and the moment he was struck, he began to shriek loudly, and earnestly called out 'mercy, mercy!' which were heard very distinctly all over the Tower. The cat fell with double force on his back, owing to its being wetted with the blood of the other man. Slade no sooner began to call out than the drums were beaten to stifle his cries, and re-echoed among the walls. When about seventy or eighty lashes had been inflicted, the poor fellow's head fell on his shoulder, and it was supposed he had fainted; but such was not the case, as the commanding officer walked up to the triangle, and, on looking him in the face, ordered the drummer to proceed. At this time, with the exception of the drummers who were selected to flog, it took all the others to secure him,

his back being literally cut to pieces from his neck to his loins. His cries for mercy were unavailing, until one hundred lashes had been inflicted, when it was found he was unable to bear any more. He was led away between two of his comrades, a truly shocking spectacle of suffering humanity. Several men fainted away; and we could mention the names of several officers who did have humanity enough to loosen the stocks and coats of several privates. Many clerks and others of the ordnance department, witnessed part of the punishment, but, to use their own words, were unable to stand it out. The lady of the resident governor happened to go to her window, and, hearing the cries of Slade, fell into hysterics, and the whole family were for some time in great confusion. Several respectable civilians expressed their indignation, and said they would not live in the Tower, if such scenes were repeated."

We might quote cases still more recent, and equally revolting; but let us glance at the acknowledged effects of such punishments. A British officer says, "Men have declared to me, that the sensation experienced at each lash, was as if the talons of a hawk were tearing the flesh off their bones!" Sir Charles Napier says, "I have seen many hundreds of men flogged, and have always observed that, when the skin is thoroughly cut up or flayed off, the great pain subsides, and they bear the remainder without a groan. They will often lie as without life, and the drummers appear to be flogging a lump of raw flesh."

"I remember," says an English military writer, attending the punishment of a man in 1808. He was sentenced to receive 1000 lashes, but was taken down upon receiving 250. After being cured, he was again brought out to receive the remainder; but the first few lashes tore open the newly cica

trized skin so much, that his back became instantly covered with blood flowing downward under his clothes, and he was taken down before he had received forty lashes."

Let us hear a few cases from Dr Hamilton, an English military surgeon. "Henley, for desertion, received 200 lashes only; an acute inflammation followed, and the back sloughed. When the wounds were cleaned, and the sloughed integuments removed, the back-bone, and part of the shoulderbone, were laid bare; and it was upwards of seven months before he was so far recovered as to be able to do his duty. Lately a soldier, not far from the metropolis, received 400 lashes; he scorned to flinch for some time, till by a repetition of stripes he groaned and died!-In 1803, at Chatham, a private, having been found asleep at his post, was sentenced to be flogged. He was a fine-looking lad, and bore an excellent character. The officers were much interested in his behalf, and endeavored, but without success, to prevail on the general in conmand to give his case a favorable consideration. During the infliction I saw the drum-major strike a drummer to the ground for not laying on the lashes hard enough. The man's back became black as the darkest mahogany, and greatly swollen. After receiving only 229 lashes, he was taken down and sent to the hospital, where he died in eight days. Although few or none die immediately from punishments moderately inflicted, I know from experience in the service, that constitutions have been considerably impaired by them. We sometimes find the body melt away into a spectre of skin and bone from the large suppurations that have followed; nor were they ever afterwards, as long as I knew them, able to bear the same hardships as before, or the same exposure to disease."

SECTION III.

MARCHES.

THE sufferings incident to marches are various, and exceedingly destructive to life. It cannot be otherwise; for soldiers, if not entirely exhausted by disease, are obliged in all seasons to brave all weathers without a screen against heat, or cold, or storm, and to encamp on the damp or frozen earth, sometimes on ice or snow, with only a tent at best stretched over them, and a single blanket wrapped around them.

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No precaution can prevent a vast amount of hardship and suffering from this source. a single case even in our war with Mexico. Las Lomitas," says one of the men, 66 we marched, June 30th, to Ranchita; but, the woods being very wet and muddy, we were compelled in many places to march through mud up to our middle; and, as many of us lost our shoes in the mud, and could not draw them out, we were obliged to continue our march, barefooted, through a country where the prickly pear abounds. At length, with much suffering, we reached Ranchita, where we remained three days without tents, or any of our baggage, and with but one day's rations, which soon gave out, and left us to live on fresh beef without bread or salt. July 2, we were ordered to march for Matamoras; and, when within two miles of that place, we encamped for the night, if throwing down on the ground a blanket, and then throwing yourself down upon that, may be called encamping. The next day at dawn we were again put under march, and led to Matamoras through a swamp,