The Scourged Back: How Runaway Slave and Soldier Private Gordon Changed History
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Scholar-Griot: Frank H. Goodyear, III
Assistant Curator of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Photography Initiative
How mass produced and widely distributed images helped the abolitionist movement
Frank H. Goodyear, III
During the Civil War, photography heroicized the leading politicians and military officers, memorialized sites where the war was waged, and — remarkable for the time — revealed how violent and deadly the battles between Union and Confederate forces actually were. It also played an influential role in broadening the national debate about slavery.
The Scourged Back: This slave named Gordon ran for 80 miles to join the Union Forces in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in March 1863. This famous photo of the welts on his badly "scourged back" was taken while he was being fitted for a uniform.
As this famous photograph suggests, photography was capable of communicating powerful ideas about the so-called “peculiar institution” — ideas that ultimately undermined the prevailing notion that slavery was a benign tradition.
The photograph pictures the runaway slave Gordon exposing his scourged back to the camera of two itinerant photographers, William D. McPherson and his partner, Mr. Oliver. Gordon had received a severe whipping for undisclosed reasons in the fall of 1862. This beating left him with horrible welts on much of the surface of his back. While the plantation owner discharged the overseer who had carried out this vicious attack, for the next two months as Gordon recuperated in bed, he decided to escape.
In March 1863 he fled his home, heading east towards the Mississippi River. Upon learning of his flight, his master recruited several neighbors and together they chased after him with a pack of bloodhounds. Gordon had anticipated that he would be pursued and carried with him onions from the plantation, which he rubbed on his body to throw the dogs off-scent. Such resourcefulness worked, and Gordon — his clothes torn and his body covered with mud and dirt — reached the safety of Union soldiers stationed at Baton Rouge ten days later. He had traveled approximately eighty miles.
In the North, nearly all black people supported military service. The Federal government had little trouble convincing men of African descent to enlist. They viewed the war as a golden opportunity to crush the institution of slavery, to stand on the same level and in the same uniform as the white man, and to dispel the oppressive notions of prejudice that haunted the black population. (National Park Service, History E-Library) In the South, many blacks escaped to Union encampments, where they were considered "contraband." Some men, liked Gordon, enlisted, while other men, women, and children worked as laborers in the camps.
While at this encampment Gordon decided to enlist in the Union Army. As President Lincoln had granted African Americans the opportunity to serve in segregated units only months earlier, Gordon was at the front of a movement that would ultimately involve nearly 200,000 African Americans. It was during his medical examination prior to being mustered into the army that military doctors discovered the extensive scars on his back. McPherson and Oliver were then in the camp, and Gordon was asked to pose for a picture that would reveal the harsh treatment he had recently received.
The photographic team mass-produced and sold copies of Gordon’s portrait in the small and popular format of the time, known as the carte-de-visite. The image provoked an immediate response as copies circulated quickly and widely. Samuel K. Towle, a surgeon with the 30th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers working in Baton Rouge, sent a copy of the photograph to the Surgeon-General of the State of Massachusetts. In his accompanying letter he wrote: “Few sensation writers ever depicted worse punishments than this man must have received, though nothing in his appearance indicates any unusual viciousness — but on the contrary, he seems INTELLIGENT AND WELL-BEHAVED.” Within months commercial photographers in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and London were issuing this image on their own studio mounts. This particular copy was made by the famous New York portrait photographer Mathew Brady.
Recognized as a searing indictment of slavery, Gordon’s portrait was presented as the latest evidence in the abolitionist campaign. An unidentified writer for the New York Independent wrote: “This Card Photograph should be multiplied by 100,000, and scattered over the States. It tells the story in a way that even Mrs. [Harriet Beecher] Stowe [author of the 1852 book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin] can not approach, because it tells the story to the eye.” Abolitionist leaders such as William Lloyd Garrison referred to it repeatedly in their work.
On July 4, 1863 Harper’s Weekly reproduced the image as a wood engraving with the article, “A Typical Negro.” Two other portraits of Gordon — one “as he entered our lines,” and the other “in his uniform as a U.S. soldier” — were also included. Together these three images and the accompanying article about his harrowing journey and the brutality of Southern slaveholders transformed Gordon into a symbol of the courage and patriotism of African Americans. His example also inspired many free blacks in the North to enlist.
Records of Gordon’s military service during the Civil War are incomplete. Harper’s Weekly reported that he served as a Union guide in Louisiana, and that during one expedition he was taken captive by Confederate forces, beaten, and left for dead. Yet, he supposedly survived and returned to Union lines.
The Liberator reported that he served as a sergeant in an African American regiment that fought bravely at the siege of Port Hudson, an important Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River twenty miles north of Baton Rouge. This battle on May 27, 1863 marked the first time that African American soldiers played a leading role in an assault on a major Confederate position. Their heroism was widely noted and helped convince many skeptics to accept the enlistment of African Americans into the U.S. Army.
There are no further records indicating what became of Gordon. Yet, this famous image of him lives on as a searing testament of slavery’s brutality and the fortitude displayed by so many African Americans during this period.
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I have a lantern slide of this photograph. Can you point me in the right direction to learn about the slide and its value?
I would contact the Library of Congress and/or the National Archives. Also the new African American museum being build on the Mall in Washington DC might have an interest in your slide.
You say the reason for the whipping was unknown. However we do have a clue from the testimony Gordon gave to the Union soldiers when they discovered. Gordon hysterically tells them about a murder of his wife and or several other people on the Pantation. Gordon was apparently married to a young slave that cheated on him. Could he in a fit of rage murdered his wife and perhaps her lover as well. This happen as the Plantation owner was away and I guess the overseer in charge was pretty unset that his happened on his watch. The owner fired the overseer but could have this happened because Gordon was an escaped prisoner set to be tried for murder ?
One question please Mr Wiggins when did slaves receive trials on plantations and who would have been on the jury surely you jest punishment would have fast just as this beating was
Thank you for your question, Mr. Wilder. Enslaved people had no right to trial. They were the property of their owners, just like owners’ cattle, plows, and buildings. There were no trials or juries on plantations. Many forms of violence were used to keep enslaved blacks working 12-18 hours a day, at least 6 days/week. Beatings/whippings were the most common, but there were also other forms of torture used, both physical and psychological, including the threat of being sold “down the river,” to a new, harsher plantation far away from one’s spouse, children, and friends.
One hundred and fifty years later the abolitionist propaganda remains in full bloom. The scars on the man’s back more likely than not were caused by an accident on the plantation, not by a “whip.” But it’s good romance to believe in, if you are inclined to ignore reality. Find another image of one more African slave connected to an American plantation in the seventy years slavery was a legal institution in the United States. Good luck.
Mr. Ryan, at the time of the Civil War, photography was still in a very early stage. Cameras were quite heavy and the process for developing their images was not yet very portable either. Most pictures were taken in studios, as formal portraits. Few enslaved people would have had the means to have their pictures taken. Matthew Brady was one of the few photographers to bring the camera out of the study and into the field, to the battlegrounds and encampments of the Civil War. There are some other photographs of enslaved people working on plantations and as “contraband” who escaped to the Union lines. But I don’t think it’s surprising that there are few other photos that show the mistreatment of the enslaved. It does seem to be extremely important to you, though, to deny the realities of the 256 years of slavery in the USA, despite the thousands of documents like inventories of the possessions of slaveholders in their wills, for example, or in insurance documents. There are also many references to their slaves by masters in their letters to their wives and friends. There are advertisements about slave auctions and about fugitive slaves. There are other surviving artifacts, such as shackles and whips. Enslavement, in other words, is very well documented, including the violence inflicted upon the enslaved. Even if you imagine that slave masters were unfailingly benevolent, would you yourself want to be worked at hard labor for no pay, and be compelled to do so for your entire life from toddlerhood to death, no matter how nice your boss is? Isn’t that lack of liberty itself a form of violence visited upon both body and mind?
This an example of the silliness of Civil War History passed down to us. There are no “records” of “Gordon’s” military service because he did not serve. The keloid scars on the man’s back are not the result of a “whipping.” They were caused either by acne or by an farming accident, e.g., burning in a sugar cane fire or a steam scalding. Ask any board certified Dematologist for an expert medical opinion. No, the man did not run from a plantation on the west side of the Mississippi “80 miles” to Baton Rouge. From January 1863 onward Grant’s armies occupied the entire space “Gordon” was supposed to be in as a slave. The consequence was that all the slaves left the plantations and went within the Union lines at Milliken’s Bene and at Baton Rouge, to Grant’s chagrin. When Banks’ 19th corps 1st Division marched through the subject area in March 1863, the soldiers found the plantations deserted. Four officers of the 30th Mass Vols had the protographers take their photographs on the same day the photographers snapped the picture of Gordon’s back, and one of them sent it home to Boston.
Another gross misstatement of fact in the comments. The African held as a slave certainly did have the right to a jury trial. Someone here might actually spend some time getting educated as to the reality and let the fantasy go.
Amazing how romantic myth manufactured by the abolitionists remains with us 150 years after the event. Ask any board-certified dematologist, “What probably causes the kelloid scars,?” And she will answer, “Acne.” The scars plainly are not welts or stripes. This man was not whipped. Get over it.
Wow really, acne. Acne does not cause welts like that sir. You would have to post your photo of such to be believed. What would that right to a jury be like, certainly not one with his peers.
Very scary.
Please document your claim as to the “right to a jury trial” of a piece of property then known as a slave. That documentation MUST be from a source that meets the “industry” standard for historical research, not manufactured by someone or entity to meet or justify beliefs. I dare saw, no legitimate source will be found as to a door, chair, horse, dog, potato, tree, etc., pieces of property, to wit: a slave in the United States, having had a right to a jury trial. As regards keloids, if one is to be credible, one cannot nit pick information. Keloids form from the “healing” of a wound. That wound can be from something as serious as surgery, as cosmetic as ear piercing, and decidedly from the wounds created by being inhumanely whipped/beaten by an overseer. The sky is blue and on some days gray but not purple, no amount of disinformation can change that. “Romantic myth” as applied to any aspect of slavery as was practiced in the United States is an extreme contradiction unless of course one wallows in the practice of revisionist history or simply make things up to justify ones biases.
Joseph, please submit a picture of back acne that looks like welts from a severe whipping. Any photograph will do.
search for cystic acne and you’ll see how severe it can be and the type of scars as a result. this type of acne can be very severe on a person’s back.
That’s pure speculation. I’ve worked in healthcare for 25 years and have never seen acne do this. This is from trauma. Your doing the revising of history
25 years in health care and you’ve never seen csytic acne?
Thank you Joseph Ryan. These modern day historians are all about the agenda and not about the truth. Thank you for speaking up. I heard you even if they didn’t.
gordon (aka whipped peter) kept a journal. in that journal he states;
“I was sort of crazy. I tried to shoot everybody… I burned up all my clothes… I never was this way (crazy) before. I don’t know what make me come that way (crazy)… They told me I attempted to shoot my wife the first one.”
perhaps his punishment was deserved and even lenient. it was the plantation overseer that beat him. the plantation owner fired the overseer when he returned home.
Leo, can you give us a link to Gordon’s journal, wherever it is kept, so that we can attempt to verify your citation of it? I’m also wondering where you got the information about the overseer who”beat” Gordon and that he was fired. This is the first time I’ve heard that part of the story, so I’m very curious about the source. I think it’s interesting that, in this comment, you acknowledge that Gordon was beaten, presumably by an overseer. To my eyes, his back shows scars of a pretty extensive whipping. Was it deserved – even lenient? What I see in Gordon’s back is a terrible long lashing with a web, or many whippings over time. No matter how and when Gordon got those scars, they do not look to me at all like “lenient punishment.”
In the text,it states” Few sensation writers ever depicted worse punishments than this man must have received”, my wonders were,did they have any medicine or any type of treatment to cure or help Gordons injuries?
[…] back, inspired the movie. One of the graphic images known as “The Scourged Back” had a profound impact on the perception of slavery in the […]
[…] back, inspired the movie. One of the graphic images known as “The Scourged Back” had a profound impact on the perception of slavery in the […]
[…] back, inspired the movie. One of the graphic images known as “The Scourged Back” had a profound impact on the perception of slavery in the […]
[…] the film. One of many graphic photographs generally known as “The Scourged Again” had a profound impact on the notion of slavery within the […]
[…] Photography during the Civil War was used to heroize military leaders and leading politicians and memorialize battlefields. The images taken revealed how violent and horrific the war was for both the Union and the Confederacy. Photography also played an influential role in expanding the awareness of slavery and the brutality therein, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] plantation the place he was enslaved whereas recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photograph was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after working 80 […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] plantation the place he was enslaved whereas recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photograph was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after operating 80 […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. This photo was taken while he was being fitted for uniforms after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] the plantation where he was enslaved while recovering from a horrific beating, Goodyear wrote for America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. The photo was taken when he was being fitted for a uniform after running 80 miles to […]
[…] inspired by the man who sat for the photograph — whose name was actually Gordon, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The Apple TV+ film is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] inspired by the man who sat for the photograph — whose name was actually Gordon, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The Apple TV+ film is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] inspired by the man who sat for the photograph — whose name was actually Gordon, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The Apple TV+ film is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] inspired by the man who sat for the photograph — whose name was actually Gordon, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The Apple TV+ film is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] by the man sitting in front of the picture — whose name was actually Gordon, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The Apple TV+ movie is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] by the man sitting in front of the picture — whose name was actually Gordon, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The Apple TV+ movie is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] inspired by the man who sat for the photograph — whose name was actually Gordon, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The Apple TV+ film is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] plays Peter, who is inspired by a man sitting down to take a picture. His name was actually Gordon. America’s Black Holocaust MuseumThe Apple TV+ movie will be directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] inspired by the man who sat for the photograph — whose name was actually Gordon, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The Apple TV+ film is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] akit az a férfi ihletett, aki a fényképhez ült – akinek a neve valójában Gordon volt. Amerika Fekete Holokauszt Múzeuma. Az Apple TV+ filmet Antoine Fuqua rendezi William N. Collage forgatókönyve […]
[…] inspired by the man who sat for the photograph — whose name was actually Gordon, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The Apple TV+ film is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by William N. […]
[…] and to combat Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one writer at the time even suggested that the image of Gordon was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved individuals have been handled nicely. In accordance with America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one author on the time even recommended that the picture of Gordon was extra highly effective than […]
[…] and to combat Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one writer at the time even suggested that the image of Gordon was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] e para combater a propaganda sulista que afirmava que os escravos eram bem tratados. De acordo com Museu do Holocausto Negro da América, um escritor da época até sugeriu que a imagem de Gordon era mais poderosa do que o famoso […]
[…] and to combat Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one writer at the time even suggested that the image of Gordon was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] of slavery and to combat Southern propaganda that claimed enslaved people were treated well. By America’s Black Holocaust MuseumIn fact, one writer at the time suggested that the image of Gordon was stronger than Harriet Beecher […]
[…] and to counter Southern propaganda that claimed enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, a writer of the time, also suggested that Gordon’s image was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] and to combat Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one writer at the time even suggested that the image of Gordon was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved individuals had been handled properly. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one author on the time even recommended that the picture of Gordon was extra highly effective than […]
[…] fight Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved folks have been handled effectively. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one author on the time even urged that the picture of Gordon was extra highly effective than […]
[…] and to combat Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one writer at the time even suggested that the image of Gordon was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] and to combat Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one writer at the time even suggested that the image of Gordon was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] and to combat Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one writer at the time even suggested that the image of Gordon was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved individuals had been handled properly. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one author on the time even instructed that the picture of Gordon was extra highly effective than […]
[…] Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved folks had been handled properly. In accordance with America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one author on the time even steered that the picture of Gordon was extra highly effective than […]
[…] and to combat Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one writer at the time even suggested that the image of Gordon was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] and to combat Southern propaganda claiming that enslaved people were treated well. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, one writer at the time even suggested that the image of Gordon was more powerful than Harriet […]
[…] la propaganda sureña que afirmaba que las personas esclavizadas eran bien tratadas. De acuerdo a Museo del Holocausto Negro de Estados Unidos, un escritor en ese momento incluso sugirió que la imagen de Gordon era más poderosa que la […]
[…] was not be the only time Gordon successfully escaped after being severely beaten. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, during one voyage with the Union Army, Gordon was captured by Confederate soldiers, tied up, […]
[…] was not be the only time Gordon successfully escaped after being severely beaten. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, during one voyage with the Union Army, Gordon was captured by Confederate soldiers, tied up, […]
[…] was not be the only time Gordon successfully escaped after being severely beaten. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, during one voyage with the Union Army, Gordon was captured by Confederate soldiers, tied up, […]
[…] was not the only time Gordon successfully escaped after being severely beaten. According to America’s Black Holocaust MuseumDuring a trip with the Union Army, Gordon was captured by Confederate soldiers, bound, beaten, and […]
[…] was not be the only time Gordon successfully escaped after being severely beaten. According to America’s Black Holocaust Museum, during one voyage with the Union Army, Gordon was captured by Confederate soldiers, tied up, […]
[…] The marks on his back resembled that of the enslaved man Gordon, whose iconic photograph “The Scourged Back” survives today as a testament to the brutality of […]