 This was a technique used by many enslavers to discourage the "frequent bloody uprisings" that were carried out by "kidnapped Africans".While bodily dismemberment of various kinds was employed to instill terror, Dr. Erasmus D. Fenner noted postmortem decapitation was particularly effective.US soldiers have committed decapitations in various invasions and/or conquests, including of the Native Americans, the Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam.