Iconic Image 3

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This month's iconic image is...

The Scourged Back 

Intro:

This photograph depicts a former slave turned soldier who is showing horrible scars from a beating he received while he was being held on a Louisiana plantation. This photo would come to symbolize the agony of American slavery and help to rally many Freedmen to enlist in the Union army and navy. It would also help to open the eyes of the American populace and help turn the tide of the American Civil War.

Part I

This photograph is believed to have been taken in March of 1863. At this point, the American Civil War had been raging for at least two and a half years. The war had been mostly fought on two fronts in the states of Virginia and Tennessee (Eastern front and Western Front). In Virginia, the Confederate army had was clearly winning against the invading Union armies. In Tennessee however, the Union (or Federal) army was winning in their push south of Tennessee and capturing numerous Confederate outposts on the Mississippi River. In other words, the war had reached a bitter stalemate with casualties rising into the tens of thousands.

Things began to change when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This declared that all enslaved people in the Confederate states were hereby free (this did not include the slaves in Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland). This gave many enslaved people in the South the courage to escape from their plantations and make a run to Union lines. One of them, was a young man named Gordon.

Part II

Gordon (sometimes called, Peter) was a slave from a 3,000 acre plantation in Louisiana. After he learned that Union soldiers had captured Louisiana's capitol (Baton Rouge), he escaped from the plantation and made a ten day run to Union lines. Despite being vigorously pursued by hunters (with bloodhounds), Gordon successfully evaded recapture by rubbing his body with onions. This confused the bloodhound's scent. After fleeing more than 80 miles, Gordon finally made it to Baton Rouge and stumbled into a Federal camp.

After arriving in the camp, Gordon was taken to it's hospital. During the examination, the surgeons noticed a large number of horrible keloid scars on Gordon's back that extended from his buttocks all the way to his shoulders. After being asked what had happened to him, Gordon explained that he had received a severe beating (although he did not say why) only a year earlier. His story of being nearly beaten to death quickly spread through the camp and eventually reached the ears of a photographer, named William D. McPherson.

McPherson was a member of the abolitionist movement and saw an opportunity photograph the truth about slavery in the United States. He and an assistant named, Oliver, asked Gordon to pose for a picture so that his story could be shown to the rest of the northern states, Gordon agreed. He then sat very still in a chair with a look of complete impassiveness on his face. McPherson and Oliver were able to take two solid images. 

Epilogue

The photograph was quickly developed and distributed in the Harper's Weekly newspaper (the most widely read newspaper journal at the time). The effect on the public was monumental. Hundreds of thousands of people saw for the very first time, the brutal reality that was slavery. This photograph ultimately help change public opinion about slavery and convinced thousands of young men (white and black) to enlist in the Union army and navy. One journalist wrote, "This photograph should be multiplied by 100,000 and scattered all over the United States". 

After the photograph was taken, Gordon eventually enlisted in the Union army. He served at the Siege of Port Hudson and was honorably discharged in 1865. From there, Gordon disappeared from all sources. His ultimate fate is unknown. What remains is the photograph. To this day, this photograph is the only one of it's kind that speaks of the agony that was slavery in the United States. It speaks for all that suffered under that brutality and ultimately played a roll in inspiring the Union to win the Civil War.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/302544

https://www.abhmuseum.org/the-scourged-back-how-runaway-slave-and-soldier-private-gordon-changed-history/

https://www.history.com/news/whipped-peter-slavery-photo-scourged-back-real-story-civil-war