Bust-length portrait of the formerly enslaved and later South Carolina congressman who commandeered and harbored fifteen enslaved people on the Confederate steamer, "Planter," consequently escaping to freedom across the Charleston Bay in May 1862. Smalls, a "Planter" crew member who impersonated the Confederate Captain, surrendered the vessel to a flotilla of the Union Blockade after navigating passed several Confederate fortifications. The nationally publicized escape sparked a military campaign to recruit African American volunteers in South Carolina. Small, attired in a white shirt and a dark-colored jacket, looks at the viewer., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by McAllister & Brother, 728 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia., See account of escape with illustrations in Harper's Weekly, June 14, 1862, p. 372. (LCP **Per H, 1863)., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date
1862
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits -sitter-Small [(3)5750.F.44b]
Three-quarter length portrait showing the severely scarred back of the former enslaved and Union soldier, Gordon, taken in Louisiana and sent to the Surgeon General of Massachusetts., Image reproduced as wood engraving with accompanying article in Harper's weekly, July 4, 1863, p. 429. (LCP **Per H, 1863.) Name of photographer supplied by article., Title and publication information supplied by William Darrah's Cartes-de-visite in nineteenth century photography (Gettysburg: William C. Darrah, 1981), p. 148., Manuscript note attributing original publisher on verso of P.8925.4: "Gordon" by C. Seaver, Jr. Seaver, Jr., a Boston photographer, published the carte-de-visite in support of the abolitionist movement., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War Miscellanies [5786.F.157c]. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886. Accessioned 1982 [P.8925.4]., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator
M'Pherson and Oliver, photographer
Date
[ca. 1863]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Gordon [5786.F.157c; P.8925.4]
