events
US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.

Related Wikipedia articles
Eddie Slovik
American soldier (1920–1945)
Private Edward Donald Slovik was an American soldier who was court-martialed and executed for desertion during World War II. He was the first and only US serviceman to have met such a fate since the American Civil War, though in 1902, during the American-Philippine War, two…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Capital punishment
Legal killing of a person as punishment for committing a crime
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in such a manner is called a death sentence,…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Desertion
Abandonment of military duty without authorization
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave, which are temporary forms of absence.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
American Civil War
1861–1865 conflict in the United States
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union. The central conflict leading to war was a dispute over whether slavery should be permitted to expand into the…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)