Oh dear. The unreliable author of this letter to the editor of New York Tribune, calling himself Bostonian, is in direct response to Harper’s. Most historians accept Harper’s account of this story. Harper’s Weekly published the images of the scourged back along with woodcut block prints and an accompanying article in July of 1863; naming the man with the scourged back as GORDON. Harper’s does not mention where it obtained the images, because the CDVs had been in wide circulation two months prior to their publication. The unknown photographer made at least three prints of the scourged back (see triptych). According to extensive research the combined effect of minor changes in the photos' composition made the final image “noticeably more arresting…having developed prints for the first two images, the photographer saw the potential for a more dramatic image and recalled Gordon to the studio, recreating the image with slight improvements.” It was this final image that became the basis for the image in Harper’s Weekly. The illustrations accompanying the Harper’s article were most likely done by a man named Vincent Colyer. Researchers have also named him as the likely author of the article. Colyer was a war correspondent who had published an illustrated book titled, Report of the Services Rendered by the Freed People to the United States Army, which included many moving accounts of escaped slaves. Colyer’s book provided a composite for both Harper’s and the Bostonian’s contradictory yet equally sensational accounts of the purported escape - nearly verbatim. The story of “Peter/Gordon” is one of the most obvious propaganda pieces produced during the war. Despite the numerous and obvious fabrications researchers have pointed out, here you are hoping nobody notices.
