395
●
(MILITARY—CIVIL WAR.)
Escaped Slave Private Gordon.
Carte-de-
Visite, on its original mount, showing the badly beaten and keloid-scarred back of Private
Gordon. (WGC)
Np, circa 1864
[8,000/10,000]
ONE OF THE RAREST AND CERTAINLY MOST ICONIC IMAGES OF THE CIVIL WAR
.
This
photograph of Private Gordon, his back a mass of keloid scars, caused an outrage when it
appeared in the pages of Harpers Weekly under the caption “Gordon Under Medical
Inspection.” Private Gordon (we don’t know any other name) had attempted to escape and was
beaten with a bull-whip. He was able to make it across the Union lines circa 1863 where this
and one other photograph were taken. Both are notoriously rare.
