Wooden horse (device)
A wooden horse, Chevalet (as it was called in Spain), Spanish donkey or cavalletto squarciapalle is a
Torture device
The first variation of the wooden horse is a triangular device with one end of the triangle pointing upward, mounted on a
The
The device was used during the American Civil War by Union guards against their Confederate prisoners:
There were some of our poor boys, for little infraction of the prison rules, riding what they called Morgan's mule every day. That was one mule that did the worst standing stock still. He was built after the pattern of those used by carpenters. He was about fifteen feet high; the legs were nailed to the scantling so one of the sharp edges was turned up, which made it very painful and uncomfortable to the poor fellow especially when he had to be ridden bareback, sometimes with heavy weights fastened to his feet and sometimes with a large beef bone in each hand. This performance was carried on under the eyes of a guard with a loaded gun, and was kept up for several days; each ride lasting two hours each day unless the fellow fainted and fell off from pain and exhaustion. Very few were able to walk after this hellish Yankee torture but had to be supported to their barracks.
— Milton Asbury Ryan, Co. G, 8th MS RegimentHistory Channel documentary Eighty Acres of Hell describes a torture device, "the mule", on which Confederate prisoners were forced to ride until they passed out; many were crippled for life.[5]The device was also used by Union officers as an entertaining way to discipline troops,
freedmen and women after the Civil War.[7]References
- ^ Bonello, Giovanni (2007). "Notes for a History of the Judiciary at the Time of the Order". judiciarymalta.gov.mt. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2020-02-21.
- ^ "chevalet". merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
- ^ The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Volume 28. Creighton University. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
- ^ Ryan, Milton Asbury. "EXPERIENCE OF A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER IN CAMP AND PRISON IN THE CIVIL WAR 1861-1865" (PDF). The Villages Civil War Study Group. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
IMDb- ^ Harper's Weekly, November 26, 1864
ISBN 9780060937164.External links
Media related to Spanish donkey at Wikimedia Commons | |-[Film clip of wooden horse torture] [[1]]