Gordon under Medical Inspection

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A glass plate photographic "magic lantern" slide depicting the bare back of an enslaved man with multiple raised scars. The slide has a black and gold paper sleeve and is in a plain wooden slide mount. There is a short crack in the lower left corner of the upper glass plate. The image depicts a man, often identified as "Gordon," or "Private Gordon," and sometimes as "Peter," seated with his shirtless back to the camera. His proper left hand is on his left hip, his elbow extended, and his face is turned to the left. Along the right side of the sleeve is printed [ORIGINAL WAR VIEWS - 1861-1865] and on the left is [Taylor & Huntington - Hartford, Conn.].

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