y of the hundreds who viewed the scene, save on the part of the
surgeon, who stood perfunctorily near with basin and drugs to revive the
sufferer if he fainted, or stop the punishment if it seemed to foretell
a fatal result. We read that raw recruits sometimes cried out or dropped
down in the ranks from fright at the first horrifying sight of an
army-flogging, but they soon grew scarcely to heed the ever-frequent and
brutalizing sight. These floggings were never of any value as a
restraint or warning in the army; the whipped and flayed soldiers were
ruined in temper and character just as they were often ruined in health.
Deaths from exhaustion and mortification from the wounds of the lash
were far from infrequent. The story of the inquiry in army circles that
led to the disuse of the whip in the British army (as for instance, the
_Evidence on Military Punishment_ contains some of the most revolting
pages ever put in print.

English army-laws of course ruled the royal troops in the American
provinces, and the local train bands, and were continued among the
volunteer American soldiers of the Revolution. I have read scores of
order-books and seen hundreds of sentences to flogging, both during the
French and Indian wars, and in the Revolutionary war. A few instances
may be given. Edward Munro, of Lexington, Mass., was a Lieutenant in a
company of Rangers in 1758, and in 1762 he was Lieutenant in
Saltonstall's regiment at Crown Point, and he acted as adjutant for four
regiments. His order-book still exists. On October 19, 1762, a
court-martial found several soldiers guilty of neglect of duty, and he
records that they were sentenced to receive punishment in the following
manner:

"Robert McKnight to receive 800 lashes on his naked back with
cat-o'-nine-tails. John Cobby to receive 600 lashes in the same manner;
and Peter McAllister 300 lashes in the same maner. The adjutant will see
the sentences put in execution by the Drum of the line at 5 o'clock this
evening; the Surgeon to attend the execution."

As Peter McAlister was very young his lashes were remitted. He was led
in disgrace to watch the others as they were whipped, two hundred lashes
at a time, at the head of the four regiments, _if the surgeon found they
could endure it_.

These sentences were horribly severe. Thirty-nine lashes were deemed a
cruel punishment. Ten was the more frequent number. Dr. Rea, in his
diary, kept before "Ticonderogue," tells of a thousan