Feb 21, 2008 - Sale 2137

Sale 2137 - Lot 43

Price Realized: $ 3,840
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION--PHOTOGRAPHY.) The Scourged Back. Carte-de-visite of Private Gordon whose back was horribly disfigured with keloid scars from repeated whippings; some slight fading and discoloration in the upper left corner. Np, circa 1863

Additional Details

A notorious image, shown here on a carte-de-visite. Gordon was an escaped slave who enlisted in the Union army, and was captured on Christmas day, 1863. See William Gladston's "Men of Color," pages 78 and 79. This image appeared in the July 4th, 1863 issue of Harpers' Weekly.