discipline

Peter Knupfer (PKNUPFER@KSUVM.BITNET)
Thu, 7 Oct 1993 14:51:41 ECT

Eric Johnson wonders why Denzel Washington's character wasn't executed for
desertion. One answer gets to the heart of how we should view films like
-Glory-: the directors didn't want him dead, they needed his character and
they needed to demonstrate what a hard case he was, the better to illuminate
the long road he would have to travel. They did want to drive home the more
severe conditions in black regiments while illustrating the humiliation meted
out to USCT in particular and to blacks in general, and whipping served the
purpose perfectly. They could have stuck Washington on a wooden horse or
executed him, but would such scenes as effectively convey the message that
Washinton was a runaway slave and that the white North would see to it that
he knew his place?

As for the determination of punishments, I don't think the UCMJ existed back
then -- the services operated under the Articles of War just revised at the
start of the conflict, if my memory's right on this. Lieber's General Order
100 expanded the concept of the war and prescribed harsh and broad penalties
for guerilla warfare, mistreatment of POWs, etc.

Some of the accounts read onto the list remind me of depictions of discipline
in the English navy and army just before this period. And the general subject
brings to mind Royster's discussion of the nation's propensity toward violence
as the war began, in -The Destructive War-. Americans were pretty used to `
beating each other up before secession gave them a reason to organize the
activity. Thanks for a very interesting discussion.

Peter Knupfer
Kansas State University
pknupfer@ksuvm