The United States Army abolishes flogging as a punishment
As the number of civilians flocked into Civil War service grew, the United States Army finally abolished flogging. An attempt had been made earlier in the century but the punishment had been reinstated in 1833 for desertion. Congress had abolished flogging in the Navy in 1850, after a public campaign by Herman Melville, although other corporal punishments were retained. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
John W. Chambers, Fred Anderson, eds., The Oxford Companion to American Military History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 359.