Joe, Have you ever heard of prisoners of war or Southern Sympathizers being branded when captured? My husband's great-grandfather was captured, branded, and held in an out building. He managed to escape. I related this story to a friend of mine, and he said it got him to wondering. He purchased a small branding iron with the letter "p" and now wonders if this might be a human branding iron. Have you heard of such incidences? Rose Mary Lankford

----- Original Message ----- From: "the lankfords" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 5:50 PM Subject: [MO-CW] Branding prisoners > Joe, > > Have you ever heard of prisoners of war or Southern Sympathizers being branded when captured? My husband's great-grandfather was captured, branded, and held in an out building. He managed to escape. I related this story to a friend of mine, and he said it got him to wondering. He purchased a small branding iron with the letter "p" and now wonders if this might be a human branding iron. Have you heard of such incidences? > > Rose Mary Lankford > Sorry for the delay in answering but I think I finally have the bugs out of the system. I have many letters to reply to. Branding took place on prisoners on both sides, but it was never condoned by the upper command & did not take place everywhere. It was common to brand one's own soldiers for infractions as well. The first thing that pops into my mind, is when a soldier was accused of being a coward during an action. If found guilty, there were many punishments that could & were metered out. Branding a C on the man was one. The letter T for thief, if he was caught stealing was another. (This was also used for traitor as well) All kinds of harsh retributions were handed out during the conflict, but you do not hear of many brandings, but they did occur. Desoto Joe/The Record Man