The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1867-07-05
MILITARY BARBARITY.
The Case Of Flogging at Fort sedg-
wick-An American Citizen Receives
Cae Hundred Lashss.
Fort SedgWick. Tnnn IG 1877

Fort Sedgwick, June I6, 1867.
The case of which am writing presents
unusually interesting facts. A stranger.
afflicted with an incurable disease which
| incafaclated him for manuel labor, came
up the road ". ?. R. r. about week
ago, and lotered around Wilson's Rancho.
on Poles Greek. On tho l4th inst. this
man, whose name was Hendricks, was ac-
costed by two men dressed in citizen s
clothes. They requested him to buy them
bottle of whiskey, which he consented to
do. They furnished him the requisite
funds, and he Immediately proceeded to a
store, bought the whiskey, aud gave it to
them. About two hours afterward this
man Hendricks. was arrested and brought
down to Col. Dodge quarters in the camp
OF the Both infantry, before Col Dodge,
who accused him of selling whiskey to SOL
dicrs. Hendricks solemnly asserted that
he did not know they were soldiers, and
that if he had known they were soldiers he
most certainly would not have sold or given
them any whiskey. Col. Dodge, without
trial by court martial, ordered him to re-
ceive one hundred lashes. At noon on the
following day, extensive preparations hav-
ing been made for the complete and effec-
tive carrying out of the sentence, the cul-
prit was brought from the guard house to
the place Of torture. A rude cross, firmly
planted iii the ground, attracted the atten-
ton of the man, on which he looked with
dismay. Lieut. Lantz, of Co. L, of the
30th infantry, commanded the squad de-
tailed to attend the punishment Gathered
around to witness this most unusual and
un-American scene, were some 200 soldiers
and a small group OF citizens. When all
was ready, Lieut.. Lantz ordered him to be
stripped, which, was Immediately done,
with the exception of short, thin shirt,
which barely reached his naked hips. He
was then firmly bound, with his face to the
cross. Alta given signal two soldiers armed
with plated thongs, who stood on his right
and left, raised their whips aloft and
brought their whistlihg, kissing lash full
on the naked body, which sprang convuls-
lively upward, as if touched with red hot
irons. A broad, deep, red vale marked
the spot on which the lash had fallen, but
in second it was lost to sight by the blows
which fell thick and fast on the unfortunate
man. Gradually the deep red wales as
slmed blackish color, and in a short time
crimson drops of blood rolled. down his ma
ked legs, filing his shoes, and were splash
ed over the garments Of the spectators. -
Toward the seventy-ifth stroke the flesh
around the hips hung in shreds, as if torn
by an animal claws, From the middle Of
the back to within six inches of the knees.
the body was perfectly raw and black. At
last citizen named Seward of New Jules
burg, entreated Lieut.. Lentz to stop The
mans screams were awful; he bounded
from side to side, spasmodically upward,
and hung upon the cross. His lacerated
body was perfectly frightful. After los
lashes had been administered Lantz gave
the order to desist. The orderly sargeant t
says he counted 50 lashes, but two or three
bystauders say they counted los. Leaning
heavily on the cross, after being unbound,
Hendricks managed to dress himself, after
which he was sternly ordered to leave the
camp and the military reservation Of Fort
Sedgwick. Turning one look toward Lieut.
Lantz, he limped painfully away toward
the sand bluffs to the northward.