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They were three brothers, members of a pacifist Hutterite sect in South Dakota. Arrested for being conscientious objectors during World War I, they were sent to Alcatraz, at that time a military prison. When the brothers refused to don uniforms, because it symbolized submission to the army, they were chained to their cell bars, arms crossed and standing, for eight hours a day.
Fed only bread and water, the brothers were given no blankets, beds, or other furniture, and were occasionally whipped when chained. Rats roamed their cells, moisture from a cistern dampened their walls, and the only lights were in the corridor. Finally transferred after four months to another military prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, they were marched uphill and, sweaty, forced to undress and stand in the chilly night air for several hours. Two of the brothers died several days later, and when the widow of one showed up and asked for his coffin to be opened to view his body, she was horrified to find it clothed in the military uniform he had refused to wear while alive.
That’s just one example of the brutality and callousness of what might be the bleakest period in American history—the years 1917-1921, the subject of American Midnight: The Great War, A Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis, the latest book from noted historian Adam Hochschild.