What year were the "Articles of War" revised to prohibit punishments of flogging, branding, marking, tattooing?

2018-08-27T13:14:19-04:00

History Lesson

Response by Lt Col Charlie Brown made Aug 27 at 2018 1:22 PM

2018-08-27T13:22:09-04:00

1874

Response by SPC David S. made Aug 27 at 2018 1:44 PM

2018-08-27T13:44:51-04:00

Another code of conduct, the 1863 Lieber Code, operated during the American Civil War as well. It was the first codified law that expressly forbade giving "no quarter" to the enemy (i.e. killing prisoners of war)

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 27 at 2018 1:49 PM

2018-08-27T13:49:13-04:00

Flogging in the Army was abolished in 1861

Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made Aug 27 at 2018 3:12 PM

2018-08-27T15:12:49-04:00

Navy or Army?
Navy discontinued Flogging in 1850 by act of Congress, the other substituted were banned in 1855 and the rules comparable to today were enacted. The Army officially in 1861, although flogging was not a common punishment as it was in the Navy.

Response by CPO Glenn Moss made Aug 28 at 2018 7:43 AM

2018-08-28T07:43:27-04:00

1861, right after the start of the Civil War. 8/5/1861, to be exact.

Flogging was a punishment that was a point of contention for several decades. In 1820, a bill was introduced in Congress to ban flogging...but it failed. In 1850, Congress passed some restrictions on flogging in a Naval Appropriations Bill. In 1851-1853, another Senator (Commodore Stockton) passed more legislation restricting flogging. And finally, 7/17/1862, Congress abolished flogging entirely.

A good book to read up on this is "Rocks and Shoals, Naval Discipline in the Age of the Fighting Sail" (James E. Valle). It was the book I chose to read when I was selected as Chief Petty Officer.

https://www.amazon.com/Rocks-Shoals-Discipline-Fighting-Bluejacket/dp/ [login to see]

It's no coincidence that flogging was abolished after the start of the Civil War. The outbreak of the Civil War was, in fact, instrumental in the elimination of flogging when it was. The vast majority of opposition to the elimination of flogging came from the Southern States and the officers from those states. When the Civil War broke out, those states left the Union (and Congress) and the Southern officers left the armed forces. Which meant virtually all opposition to the abolishment of flogging was gone from both Congress and the armed services.

After the Civil War ended and the Southern States were once again part of the Union, the abolishment of flogging was a fait accompli.

As for "branding, marking, and tattooing", I haven't looked into that...but I'm going to venture a guess that the abolishment of these issues coincided with that of flogging on 8/5/1861.

Rocks & Shoals: Naval Discipline in the Age of Fighting Sail (Bluejacket Books): James E. Valle:...

Rocks & Shoals: Naval Discipline in the Age of Fighting Sail (Bluejacket Books) [James E. Valle] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Using a wealth of material from old logbooks and diaries along with verbatim transcripts of general courts-martial and courts of inquiry