November 10, 1863---A Union war criminal is promoted

NOVEMBER 10, 1863:       

In what must rank as one of the most bizarre military tribunals in U.S. history, Private James Reilly of the famous 54th Massachusetts U.S.C.T. was accused of having intercourse with a mare, and was court-martialed. Although Reilly was exonerated and returned to active duty, a unit medical officer, Dr. Charles Briggs, decided to take matters into his own hands, and forcibly circumcised Reilly (without using any anaesthetic) as a punishment. Briggs then cauterized Reilly’s penis with a red-hot branding iron. Although Briggs was charged with a crime, he was never prosecuted. Indeed, he was ultimately promoted to Unit Surgeon. His atrocity went unpunished, a horrifying if forgotten testament to the different treatment meted out to white soldiers and black in the Union Army.

November 9, 1863---John Wilkes Booth's "Marble Heart."

NOVEMBER 9, 1863:          

President Lincoln was a devotee of the theatre. He preferred escapist comedies and swashbuckling action-adventures. Mary Lincoln, however, preferred melodramas and tragedies. Tonight, she convinced her husband to attend a performance of “Marble Heart,” a drama starring the famed actor John Wilkes Booth.