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Story
September 23, 1864
The Daily Register
Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia
What is this article about?
Editorial in the Chicago Times denounces a U.S. Provost-Marshal General's order from August 19, 1864, to brand accepted recruits and substitutes with 'I' on their back to curb bounty jumping, likening it to the marking of slaves and criminals, and decrying the degradation of American freemen.
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The Last Infamy---American Freemen to be Branded by Order of the Provost-Marshal General.
[From the Chicago Times.]
Degrading as is the condition of a free people reduced to a slavery which leaves their fortunes, liberty and lives at the mercy of a single capricious will, it is not so completely and utterly infamous as the position now occupied by this people. Profound as is the ignominy attending the condition of a people who have become slaves, there is still a lower deep, and into this we have fallen. That condition is that occupied by the galley slave-the criminal --the infamous outcast upon whom society puts the indelible mark of its abhorrence. That such is the position now occupied by men who once bore the proud name of American freemen, let the following testify :
Prov. Marshal General's Office,
WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 1864.
Dr. Z. H. Whitmore, Surgeon Board of Enrollment, Springfield, Ill.
Doctor: In addition to my suggestion to mark all rejected recruits and substitutes, I would suggest THAT ALL ACCEPTED RECRUITS AND SUBSTITUTES BE MARKED THUS-"I"-IN SMALL "D" BACK.
"This will, I think, prevent, to a great extent, the practice of bounty jumping."
"Your friend,
"J. H. Baxter, Surg. U. S. Vols.
"Chf. Med. Of. Prov. Mar. Gen'l s Bureau."
The farmer brands his cypher upon his hog, the slave-driver, in case of an incorrigible slave, brands a letter upon his hand: the French, in their days of barbarism, branded the famous T.F.P. upon the shoulder of the galley slave; but to-day the only white men on earth who are forced to undergo what civilization long since rejected as too scandalous and ignominious, are the people who call themselves Americans. Is it not utterly shameful that men to whom was descended the heritage of Washington and the patriots of the revolution should to-day be not only the abject slaves of a coarse, brutal tyrant, but that his minions should brand upon their backs marks which have ever distinguished the vilest criminals? If the once proud sovereigns of this country must become impoverished and lose their lives in obedience to the miscreant at Washington, can they not be allowed to seek poverty and find their graves without bearing upon their bodies the infamous brand of criminals ?
[From the Chicago Times.]
Degrading as is the condition of a free people reduced to a slavery which leaves their fortunes, liberty and lives at the mercy of a single capricious will, it is not so completely and utterly infamous as the position now occupied by this people. Profound as is the ignominy attending the condition of a people who have become slaves, there is still a lower deep, and into this we have fallen. That condition is that occupied by the galley slave-the criminal --the infamous outcast upon whom society puts the indelible mark of its abhorrence. That such is the position now occupied by men who once bore the proud name of American freemen, let the following testify :
Prov. Marshal General's Office,
WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 1864.
Dr. Z. H. Whitmore, Surgeon Board of Enrollment, Springfield, Ill.
Doctor: In addition to my suggestion to mark all rejected recruits and substitutes, I would suggest THAT ALL ACCEPTED RECRUITS AND SUBSTITUTES BE MARKED THUS-"I"-IN SMALL "D" BACK.
"This will, I think, prevent, to a great extent, the practice of bounty jumping."
"Your friend,
"J. H. Baxter, Surg. U. S. Vols.
"Chf. Med. Of. Prov. Mar. Gen'l s Bureau."
The farmer brands his cypher upon his hog, the slave-driver, in case of an incorrigible slave, brands a letter upon his hand: the French, in their days of barbarism, branded the famous T.F.P. upon the shoulder of the galley slave; but to-day the only white men on earth who are forced to undergo what civilization long since rejected as too scandalous and ignominious, are the people who call themselves Americans. Is it not utterly shameful that men to whom was descended the heritage of Washington and the patriots of the revolution should to-day be not only the abject slaves of a coarse, brutal tyrant, but that his minions should brand upon their backs marks which have ever distinguished the vilest criminals? If the once proud sovereigns of this country must become impoverished and lose their lives in obedience to the miscreant at Washington, can they not be allowed to seek poverty and find their graves without bearing upon their bodies the infamous brand of criminals ?
What sub-type of article is it?
Historical Event
What themes does it cover?
Misfortune
Justice
What keywords are associated?
Bounty Jumping
Recruit Branding
Civil War Policy
Provost Marshal
American Freemen
What entities or persons were involved?
J. H. Baxter
Z. H. Whitmore
Where did it happen?
Washington
Story Details
Key Persons
J. H. Baxter
Z. H. Whitmore
Location
Washington
Event Date
Aug. 19, 1864
Story Details
The Provost-Marshal General orders branding of accepted recruits and substitutes with 'I' on the back to prevent bounty jumping, decried as an infamous degradation of American freemen akin to marking criminals and slaves.