But the most notable example of this sweeping removal effort is the famous photograph known as “The Scourged Back,” taken in 1863 during the Civil War, and showing Peter (sometimes called Gordon), who had escaped a Louisiana plantation and reached Union lines after a harrowing flight of about eighty miles. The image, taken at a Union military camp by photographers McPherson & Oliver, shows Peter’s back gruesomely scarred from years of whipping—a visual testament to the violence of slavery.