ence in quarrelling,
for waylaying to wound, etc.

"That Souldier that having a quarrell with an other, shall gather other
of his acquaintances, and associates, to make parties, to bandie, brave
second, and assist him therein, he and those braves, seconds and
assistants shall pass the pikes."

This was not an idle threat, for duelling was discouraged and forbidden
by Virginia rulers. In 1652 one Denham of Virginia carried a challenge
from his father-in-law to a Mr. Fox. He was tried for complicity in
promoting duelling and thus sentenced:

"For bringinge and acknowledgeinge it to be a chalenge, for deliveringe
it to a member of ye court during ye court's siting, for his slytinge
and lessinge ye offense together with his premptory answers to ye court
ye sd Denham to receave six stripes on his bare shoulder with a whip."

Another common punishment for soldiers (usually for rioting or drinking)
was the riding the wooden horse. In New Amsterdam the wooden horse stood
between Paerel street and the Fort, and was a straight, narrow,
horizontal pole, standing twelve feet high. Sometimes the upper edge of
the board or pole was acutely sharpened to intensify the cruelty. The
soldier was set astride this board, with his hands tied behind his back.
Often a heavy weight was tied to each foot, as was jocularly said, "to
keep his horse from throwing him." Garret Segersen, a Dutch soldier, for
stealing chickens, rode the wooden horse for three days, from two
o'clock to close of parade, with a fifty-pound weight tied to each foot,
which was a severe punishment. In other cases in New Amsterdam a musket
was tied to each foot of the disgraced man. One culprit rode with an
empty scabbard in one hand and a pitcher in the other to show his
inordinate love for John Barleycorn. Jan Alleman, a Dutch officer,
valorously challenged Jan de Fries, _who was bedridden_; for this cruel
and meaningless insult he, too, was sentenced to ride the wooden horse,
and was cashiered.

Dutch regiments in New Netherland were frequently drilled and commanded
by English officers, and riding the wooden horse was a favorite
punishment in the English army; hence perhaps its prevalence in the
Dutch regiments.

Grose, in his _Military History of England_, gives a picture of the
wooden horse. It shows a narrow-edged board mounted on four legs on
rollers and bearing a rudely-shaped head and tail. The ruins of one was
still standing in Portsmouth, England, in 1765.