several different times, a certain number of stripes repeated at intervals of two or three days, in which case the wounds are in a state of inflammation, and the skin rendered more sensibly tender ; and the terror of the punishment is greatly aggravated. Another mode of punishment is that of running the gantlet, this is done by a company of soldiers standing in two lines, each one furnished with a switch, and the criminal is made to run between them and receive the scourge from their hands on his naked back ; but the delinquent runs so rapidly, and the soldiers are so apt to favor a comrade, that it often happens in this way that the punishment is very trivial ; but on some occasions, a soldier is ordered to hold a bayonet at his breast to impede his steps. If a noncommissioned officer is sentenced to corporeal punishment, he is always degraded to the soldier's rank. The practice of corporeal punishment in an army has become a subject of animadversion, and both the policy and propriety of the measure have been called in question. It may be observed that the object of punishment is to exhibit examples, to deter others from committing crimes ; that corporeal punishment may be made sufficiently severe as a commutation for the punishment of death in ordinary cases ; it is more humane, and by saving the life of a soldier, we prevent the loss of his services to the public. In justification of the practice, it is alleged also, that in the British army it has long been established in their military code, and it is not uncommon to sentence a criminal to receive a thousand lashes, and that they aggravate its horrors in the most cruel manner, by repeating the stripes from day to day, before the wounds are healed ; and instances are not wanting of its having been attended with fatal consequences. On the other hand, it is objected, that corporeal punishment is disreputable to an army, it will never reclaim the unprincipled villain, and it has a tendency to repress the spirit of ambition and enterprize in the young soldier ; and the individual thus ignominiously treated, can never, in case of promotion for meritorious services, be received with complacency as a companion for other officers. These objections will apply to most other modes of punishment, and it remains to be decided, which is the most eligible for the purpose of maintaining that subordination so indispensable in all armies.
James Thacher, A Military Journal during the American Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1783 (Boston, 1823), 222-224.
