December 22, 1863
Branding A Deserter. - Yesterday afternoon at the Atheneum the letter D was branded upon the left hip of Marshall Marks, a deserter from Company D, 11th West Virginia Infantry. Marks is quite a youth and appears to be in bad health. He is a native of Western Virginia, and at the time of the Jones raid he was at home on furlough. His parents are rebels, and he asserts that through their influence he was induced to join Jones' command and go off to Dixie. Only a few days afterwards he was captured by the Federal forces, tried by court martial, sentenced to be branded on the left hip, to forfeit all pay and allowance and to be kept in military confinement during his term of enlistment. There was barely a perceptible tremor in Marks' frame when the hot brand touched his skin, but after that he did not move a muscle.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: December 1863