Executions

[61Cadillac]

I watch old episodes of the Twilight Zone at night in bed as I fall asleep and last night saw "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" This made me curious if is any database of military executions during the war? How prevalent were they really? I often randomly pull a volume of the Official Records from my library to read and I have yet read an account of a military execution. Made me curious as to how frequent they were and if they were actually used to deter other soldiers from desertion, spying thievery or other execution level offenses.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Just read this in the September 26, 1863 of Harper's Weekly:

Mr. Waud writes: "The crime of desertion has been one of the greatest drawbacks to our army. If the men who have deserted their flag had but been present on more than one occasion defeat would have been victory, and victory the destruction of the enemy. It may be therefore fairly asserted that desertion is the greatest crime of the soldier, and no punishment too severe for the offense. But the dislike to kill in cold blood—a Northern characteristic—the undue exercise of executive clemency, and in fact the very magnitude and vast spread of the offense, has prevented the proper punishment being applied. That is past; now the very necessity of saving life will cause the severest penalties to be rigorously exacted. The picture represents the men who were sentenced to death in the Fifth Corps for desertion at the moment of their execution. Some of these had enlisted, pocketed the bounty, and deserted again and again. The sentence of death being so seldom enforced they considered it a safe game. They all suffered terribly mentally, and as they marched to their own funeral they staggered with mortal agony like a drunken man. Through the corps, ranged in hushed masses on the hill-side, the procession moved to a funeral march, the culprits walking each behind his own coffin. On reaching the grave they were, as usual, seated on their coffins; the priests made short prayers; their eyes were bandaged; and with a precision worthy of praise for its humanity, the orders were given and the volley fired which launched them into eternity. They died instantly, although one sat up nearly a minute after the firing; and there is no doubt that their death has had a very salutary influence on discipline."

wish the author had narrowed the men executed down to more than just the 5th corps, I want to know the names of the men. I looked at the list from the link of a previous poster but there are a lot of men who were executed for desertion between Aug 1, 1863 and Sept 18, 1863.

Sorry. I meant to reply to this earlier.
The five deserters executed on August 29th, 1863 were John Folancey, George Kuhne, John Rionese, Emil Lai and Charles Walter, all recruits from the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. The transcribed list posted earlier shows his execution as taking place on August 20th, 1863 but that is an error. The digital copy of the official list I posted shows his execution date as August 29th, 1863 and the General Court-martial Order (54, AOPT) authorizing his execution and those of his fellow recruits was only issued on August 23, 1863, 3 days after his supposed death as recorded on the transcribed version.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Did both armies use a graded scale for the type of penalty imposed, say first offense forfeiture of pay 2nd offense execution. Since desertion can be punished with execution did both sides you the same metric to differentiate between awol and desertion.

No official graded scale was used by the Union Army that I am aware of. A lenient policy was tried first, failed and was replaced by a more severe policy which also failed.

 

[nc native]

There were a few executions that took place during (or in connection with) the Gettysburg campaign alone; for example:

Thread 'Execution of a 19th Indiana Soldier During a Halt on the March to Gettysburg'

Oct 6, 2020

On June 12, 1863, elements of the Union First Corps marched away from their camps along the Rappahannock to begin the campaign that would culminate in the battle of Gettysburg. That same day, just several hours into the march, a halt was made near Hartwood Church. There, much of the corps was assembled for the express purpose of observing the execution by firing squad of Private John P. Wood, a member of Company F of the Iron Brigade's 19th Indiana regiment. Such executions, although relatively rare, left an indelible impression among all who witnessed them. Below are some recorded...

• Tom Elmore
• Replies: 9
• Forum: Gettysburg

• 

Thread 'Slocum, Lincoln and the Execution of Three Deserters on June 19'

Mar 25, 2020

Three deserters from the Union Twelfth Corps "were convicted upon incontestable evidence" by a court martial, and were sentenced to be shot between noon and 4 p.m. on June 19, 1863. The entire corps, then encamped around Leesburg, Virginia, was assembled to observe their fate, and serve as a warning. Major General Henry W. Slocum was anxious to carry out the sentence promptly, because he anticipated a telegram from President Abraham Lincoln at any moment, commuting their sentence. Three graves had already been dug. At precisely noon the firing squad performed their solemn duty.

Less...

• Tom Elmore
• Replies: 1
• Forum: Gettysburg

• 

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/hunted-down-after-gettysburg.197505/#post-2575837 (by @NH Civil War Gal - see also post #4)

On June 25th 1863 during the march to Gettysburg the 18th Virginia Infantry had the task of executing one of their men who had deserted and was captured not long afterwards. John Riley of Company E faced a firing squad of twelve men from his regiment. He had his hands tied behind him and was forced to kneel down besides an open coffin. Six of the twelve rifles had ammunition in them. John Riley was hit six times and according to an eyewitness, " the poor unfortunate received six bullets, four of them could have been covered by half a sheet of note paper and the other two were not far off."