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What are some facts about Peter (enslaved man)?
Who was poor Peter & how did he get enslaved?
Why did a picture of a escaped enslaved man 'Whipped Peter' savagely scar?
How did Peter and other enslaved people escape?
Peter (fl. 1863) (also known as Gordon, or "Whipped Peter", or "Poor Peter") was a self-emancipated, formerly enslaved man who was the subject of photographs documenting the extensive scarring of his back from whippings received in slavery.
- Subject of photos of his scarred back, widely circulated during the American Civil War
- Overview
- HISTORY Vault: Black History
The widely circulated image of the enslaved man's wounds helped turn white Northerners against slavery.
A picture can speak volumes. In the case of an escaped enslaved man who came to be called "Whipped Peter," an 1863 photo of his savagely scarred back helped raise a national outcry against the cruelty of slavery.
By the time Peter had made it to a Union encampment in Baton Rouge in March 1863, he had been through hell. Bloodhounds had chased him. He had been pursued for miles, had run barefoot through creeks and across fields. He had survived, if barely. When he reached the soldiers, Peter’s clothing was ragged and soaked with mud and sweat.
But his 10-day ordeal was nothing compared to what he had already been through. During Peter's enslavement on John and Bridget Lyons’ Louisiana plantation, Peter endured not just the indignity of slavery, but a brutal whipping that nearly took his life. And when he joined the Union Army after his escape from slavery, Peter exposed his scars during a medical examination.
Raised welts and strafe marks crisscrossed his back. The marks extended from his buttocks to his shoulders, calling to mind the viciousness and power with which he had been beaten. It was a hideous constellation of scars: visual proof of the brutality of slavery. And for thousands of white people, it was a shocking image that helped fuel the fires of abolition during the Civil War.
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Sep 30, 2022 · In March 1863, a man in torn clothes, barefoot and exhausted, stumbled across the Union Army’s XIXth Corps in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That man was known only as Gordon, or “Whipped Peter,” a slave from St. Landry Parish who had escaped his owners John and Bridget Lyons who held roughly 40 other people in bondage.
- Morgan Dunn
Nov 26, 2022 · Yes. The Emancipation true story reveals that during his medical examination, runaway slave Peter stated that he was whipped "two months before Christmas" in 1892 by the plantation's overseer, Artayou Carrier, when his master, Capt. John Lyons, was not present. In the film, the overseer is renamed Jim Fassel and portrayed by Ben Foster.
In a daring bid for freedom on March 24, 1863, an enslaved man named Peter embarked on a treacherous journey toward liberty. Peter fled his 3,000-acre Louisiana plantation. He made his way eastward, seeking refuge along the Mississippi River. His master and neighbors used bloodhounds to track him down, but Peter’s ingenuity saved him.
8 December 2022. By Chelsea Bailey,BBC News, Washington. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images. The movie, Emancipation, is based on the photo and story of Gordon/"Whipped Peter" A photograph of...
Peter ( fl. 1863) (also known as Gordon, or " Whipped Peter ", or " Poor Peter ") was a self-emancipated, formerly enslaved man who was the subject of photographs documenting the extensive scarring of his back from whippings received in slavery.
