Can somebody please explain this expression from a Mark Twain story:
‘Sedgemoor trade-mark, white sleeve badge’?Here is the context:
Among other things he said that my character was written in my face; that I was treacherous, a dissembler, a coward, and a brute without sense of pity or compassion: the ‘Sedgemoor trade-mark,’ he called it—and ‘white-sleeve badge.’
Thank you…
Answer
Sedgemoor was the battle where the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion was defeated; those rebels who fought there and escaped (and, according to the officer, showed signs of it, a Sedgemoor trademark) were traitors.
In the days before identifiable uniforms (particularly when an army was raised rapidly without a store of equipment) a badge on the sleeve was a common way of showing which army you belonged to. I do not suppose that anybody in the present day knows whether Monmouth’s rebels actually wore such a white sleeve-patch (Mark Twain certainly didn’t), but for the purpose of the story that seems to be the likeliest accusation.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Batuhan Tas , Answer Author : Tim Lymington
