I was obliged to be present at a flogging parade--the only one, I am glad to say, I have ever had to attend, although the barbarous and degrading custom of flogging in the army was not done away with until nearly thirty years later.[5] A few years before I joined the service, the number of lashes which might be given was limited to fifty, but even under this restriction the sight was a horrible one to witness.

The parade to which I refer was ordered for the punishment of two men who had been sentenced to fifty lashes each for selling their kits, and to a certain term of imprisonment in addition.

They were fine, handsome young Horse Artillerymen, and it was hateful to see them thus treated.
Besides, one felt it was productive of harm rather than good, for it tended to destroy the men's self-respect, and to make them completely reckless.

In this instance, no sooner had the two men been released from prison than they committed the same offence again.

They were a second time tried by Court-Martial, and sentenced as before.