BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: Faces of Discord -- Bound For Freedom's Light

DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: Faces of Discord -- Bound For Freedom's Light:

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Description of Pictures: Bound for Freedoms Light: African Americans and the Civil War
February 1, 2013, through March 2, 2014
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the National Portrait Gallery will present “Bound for Freedom’s Light: African Americans and the Civil War.” This installation will focus on the roles that individual African Americans played during the course of this hard-fought conflict. In addition to highlighting the Civil War experiences of famous men and women such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Martin R. Delaney and Sojourner Truth, “Bound for Freedom’s Light” will include compelling stories of others whose names may be less familiar. Among those featured will be Gordon, who escaped enslavement on a Louisiana plantation to join a black regiment and fight for the Union cause; and Robert Smalls, the South Carolina bondsman who freed himself and his family by seizing control of a Confederate ship and delivering it safely into Union hands.
“Bound for Freedom’s Light” will include vintage photographs and historic prints, the majority drawn from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. The installation’s curator is Ann Shumard, curator of photographs at the museum.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. FDBIND_130129_02.JPG: Setting up for the new exhibit
2. FDBIND_130201_009.JPG: Individual African Americans played pivotal roles throughout the Civil War. In the South, where six states authorized their governors to enroll bondsmen for nonmilitary service, the labor of enslaved African Americans provided vital support to the Confederacy from the earliest days of the conflict. In the North, where the Union army did not open its ranks to black enlistments until 1863, a number of African American men initially contributed to the war effort by working as teamsters, cooks, and laborers or by serving in the navy; black women, such as Harriet Tubman, offered their services as nurses. And when refugees from slavery found protection behind Union lines, many of these "contrabands" also joined the fight for the Union and emancipation. The photographs and artists' renderings in this exhibition highlight the Civil War experiences of African Americans ranging from Frederick Douglass to a former slave known simply as Abraham. The lack of Confederate images of African Americans reflects the scarcity of such material. Unless otherwise noted, all objects are from the National Portrait Gallery.
3. FDBIND_130201_022.JPG: Benjamin F. Butler, 1818-1893: Shortly after assuming command of Fort Monroe, in present-day Hampton, Virginia, in May 1861, General Benjamin F. Butler faced a dilemma. Three slaves -- Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory, and James Townsend -- had arrived at the Union-held fort, seeking protection after escaping from a Confederate work detail, and a Confederate officer was demanding their return under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Law. Butler refused, noting that as Virginia had seceded from the Union, he was "under no constitutional obligations" to return the slaves to "a foreign country." Instead, he would exercise his right to seize enemy "property" and retain the refugees as "contraband of war." Butler's improvised solution to the fugitive slave question was allowed to stand by his superiors in Washington. It would be more than a year before the Confiscation Act of 1862 formally declared that slaves seeking refuge behind Union lines were to be deemed captives of war and granted their freedom. Mathew Brady Studio, c 1861
4. FDBIND_130201_030.JPG: Robert Smalls, 1839-1915: In the early hours of May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls made a dramatic escape from slavery by commandeering a Confederate ship and delivering it safely into the hands of the U.S. Navy. As an enslaved worker in Charleston, South Carolina, Smalls became a skilled deckhand and wheelman aboard the Planter, a cotton steamer that was converted into a Confederate transport vessel in 1861. Determined to make a bid for freedom, Smalls and his enslaved shipmates absconded with the Planter after the ship's white captain and crew went ashore for the night. Under cover of darkness, Smalls and his men picked up several family members before guiding the Planter safely past Confederate positions and handing over the vessel to the commander of the Union blockading squadron, positioned just outside Charleston Harbor. Hailed as a hero in the North, Smalls received a monetary award from Congress and later served as the Planter's pilot after it became a Union gunboat. Wearn and His Studio, c 1868
5. FDBIND_130201_038.JPG: Proclamation of Emancipation: Despite his personal distaste for slavery, Abraham Lincoln entered the presidency pledging to leave America's "peculiar institution" untouched in those states where it existed. But by the summer of 1862, Lincoln had come to view the emancipation of all slaves within Confederate-held territory as both a military and a moral necessity. He shared a preliminary version of his Emancipation Proclamation with member so his cabinet in July, and released it publicly on September 22, 1862. Although Lincoln's proclamation applied only to slaves within the rebellious states, Frederick Douglass declared that it had "thrown a moral bombshell in the Confederacy." When Lincoln signed the much-anticipated final version of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, it was widely regarded as "the death-warrant of slavery." Produced to commemorate Lincoln's historic edict, this decorative print includes the text of the Emancipation Proclamation, accompanied by contrasting images of war and peace, slavery and freedom. William Roberts, after Mathew Brady, 1864
6. FDBIND_130201_049.JPG: Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895: Convinced that a peaceful end to slavery was impossible, Frederick Douglass embraced the Civil War as a fight for emancipation and was dismayed when President Lincoln first chose to cast the conflict solely as a struggle to preserve the Union. In speeches and in print, Douglass called upon the president to wage a war for liberation and to enlist black troops in the cause, arguing that the North was fighting "with only one hand" by refusing to accept African American recruits. When Lincoln changed his strategy and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Douglass was jubilant. He vigorously promoted black enlistment but briefly suspended these efforts in August 1863 out of concern over the unequal treatment of black soldiers. Although a meeting with Lincoln convinced him that conditions for black troops would improve, Douglass was bitterly disappointed when Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's pledge to commission him as a Union army officer went unfulfilled. George Francis Schreiber, c 1870
7. FDBIND_130201_058.JPG: Gordon, life dates unknown: In March 1863, a man known only as Gordon escaped from slavery on a Louisiana plantation and after a harrowing journey found safely among Union soldiers encamped at Baton Rouge. Before enlisting in a black regiment, he was examined by military doctors, who discovered horrific scarring on his back -- the result of a vicious whipping by his former overseer. This photograph documenting Gordon's condition created a sensation when it reached the public, and quickly became one of the most powerful proofs of slavery's brutality. As one journalist declared, "This Card Photograph should be multiplied by 100,000 and scattered over the States. It tells the story in a way that even Mrs. [Harriet Beecher] Stowe can not approach, because it tells the story to the eye." Sergeant Gordon was later reported to have fought bravely in the Union assault on Port Hudson, but nothing further is known about his life. Mathew Brady Studio, after William D. McPherson and Mr. Oliver, 1863
8. FDBIND_130201_097.JPG: Martin R. Delaney, 1812-1885: When the Emancipation Proclamation formally opened the door to African American service in the Union army, Martin R. Delaney -- a longtime activist in the struggle for black equality -- worked energetically to recruit solders for black Union regiments. Troubled by the fact that these units were led by white officers, Delany approached President Lincoln in February 1865 with a proposal to create a fighting force under the command of black officers, whose ranks would be filled largely by emancipated slaves. After Lincoln approved the plan and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton endorsed it, Delany became the first black major to receive a field command when he was commissioned to lead the 104th Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops. He was ordered to Charleston, South Carolina, to establish a training camp and recruit black officers and foot soldiers, but the war ended before Delany or his troops saw action on the battlefield. Unidentified artist, c 1865
9. FDBIND_130201_106.JPG: Lincoln in Richmond: With victory for the Union all but certain after the fall of Richmond on April 3, 1865, Abraham Lincoln traveled by boat to the former Confederate capital on April 4, accompanied by a party that included his young son Tad, Admiral David Dixon Porter, and a small contingent of marines. Within moments of disembarking, Lincoln was recognized by a liberated bondsman who shouted, "Bless the Lord, there is the great Messiah! Glory, Hallelujah!" As the president walked from the waterfront to the Virginia statehouse, thousands of the cities newly freed men, women, and children rushed to see the man they greeted as their liberator. As one contemporary observed, "Probably no mortal ever received such a greeting of prayers and tears and blessing as that which was conferred upon Abraham Lincoln by [those] whom the war had emancipated." Created by an eyewitness, this drawing captures the jubilation of that moment. Lambert Hollis, 1865
10. FDBIND_130201_116.JPG: Unidentified slave/body servant with unidentified Confederate captain: When joining the Confederate army, many southern slaveholders reported for duty accompanied by a personal slave or body servant, who often remained with them for the duration of the war. These attendants provided significant support to the Confederacy by performing a variety of tasks that otherwise would have fallen to low-ranking white recruits. Slaves were officially barred from serving as soldiers in the Confederate army until March 1865, when the Confederate Congress finally voted to authorize such enlistments in a desperate bid to bolster its army's ranks in the final weeks of the war. Only a handful of Civil War-era images depicting African Americans in Confederate uniforms are known to exist. In this portrait, the young slave/body servant who stands in the background wears a kepi and is outfitted in a neatly tailored eight-button Confederate shell jacket with tape trim and matching trousers. A.J. Riddle, reproduced from the original carte de visite, c 1862-63
11. FDBIND_130201_134.JPG: Sojourner Truth, c 1797-1883: Abolitionist and former slave Sojourner Truth was overjoyed when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Eager to assist the many refugees from slavery who had flocked to the nation's capital, Truth traveled there from her home in Michigan in the autumn of 1864. After meeting with Lincoln, she remained in Washington, where she initially helped to raise funds for the Colored Soldiers' Aid Society. In December, Truth accepted an appointment from the National Freedmen's Relief Association to serve as "counselor to the freed people" at Freedman's Village -- the camp established by the federal government at Arlington Heights, Virginia. Working there for more than a year, she was warmly praised by the camp's superintendent for "the great service rendered to the Freedmen and their families." Truth provided similar support to the newly established Freedmen's Bureau, laboring tirelessly to collect much-needed provisions for patients in its Freedmen's Hospital. Mathew Brady Studio, c 1864
12. FDBIND_130201_152.JPG: Abraham, lifedates unknown: Among the more remarkable stories of escape from slavery during the Civil War was that of Abraham, who was quite literally "blown to freedom." After failed attempts by the Union army to take the southern stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the early months in 1863, General Ulysses Grant initiated a siege of the city that lasted from May 22 to July 4. During the final days of that siege, Union soldiers tunneled beneath earthen fortifications erected by Confederate forces and twice detonated powerful explosives. During the second blast, on July 1, seven enslaved workers used by the Confederates to dig countershafts were buried by debris. But one man -- identified only as Abraham -- was blown clear and fell to earth behind the Union lines. Though badly bruised, Abraham eventually recovered from his injuries. He remained with Union troops and later served as a cook on General James McPherson's staff. Unidentified artist, 1863
13. FDBIND_130201_160.JPG: The Riots at New York: When antidraft rioters took to the streets of New York on July 12, 1863, William Jones was among the first of the city's free black residents to fall victim to the mob's murderous rampage. Sparked by anger over a draft lottery instituted as part of the federal Conscription Act and fueled by incendiary, anti-emancipation rhetoric, hostile mobs first attacked and torched the office where the lottery had taken place. The rioters then turned their fury on New York's free black population. After looting and burning the Colored Orphan Asylum, where 233 children barely escaped with their lives, roving mobs proceeded to attack African Americans in their homes and on the street. By the time police and military units quelled the rioting, at least twelve persons of color had been killed, including William Jones, who lost his life when he was beaten and hanged by rioters, who then set fire to his body. Theodore R. Davis, 1863 Published in Harper's Weekly, August 1, 1863
14. FDBIND_130201_167.JPG: Come and Join Us Brothers: After the Union army opened its ranks to black enlistment in 1863, the recruitment of African American troops began in earnest and took many forms. Prominent activists such as Frederick Douglass, Martin R. Delany, and Harriet Tubman exhorted blacks to join the fight for freedom, and recruiting posters and handbills were circulated. Sojourner Truth adapted the performed a stirring song in tribute to the First Michigan Colored Regiment proclaiming, We are going out of slavery, we are bound for freedom's light; We mean to show Jeff Davis how the Africans can fight! In Philadelphia, the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments published this handsome print with the admonition "COME AND JOIN US BROTHERS." Based on a photograph, it features a company of U.S. Colored Troops who posed with their white commanding officer in the setting of Camp William Penn, one fo the Union army's principal training camps for African American recruits. P.S. Duval & Son Lithography Company, c 1864
15. FDBIND_130201_179.JPG: Our Colored Troops: In the summer of 1862, Union general Benjamin F. Butler addressed a pressing need for reinforcement troops. Acting on his own authority as the military governor of Louisiana, he approved the formation of the First Regiment of Louisiana Native Guards, to be composed entirely of free black recruits. Some of those joining this new regiment had previously served the Confederacy as members of a short-lived, all-black militia unit known as the Louisiana Native Guards. They had been left behind, however, when white Confederate militia regiments abandoned New Orleans to Union forces in April 1862. Mustered into Union service in September 1862, Butler's Native Guards later performed heroically at the Battle of Port Hudson (July 1863), despite devastating enemy fire. When Harper's Ferry published these images of the First Louisiana Native Guards, it noted that although several of the company's officers could easily be mistaken for white, they all carried "African blood" in their veins. John R. Hamilton, 1863 Published in Harper's Weekly, February 28, 1863
16. FDBIND_130201_188.JPG: Page from Harper's Weekly, July 4, 1863: Published on Independence Day 1863, in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, this issue of Harper's Weekly featured several articles concerning recent action in the field by black troops fighting for the Union cause. The uppermost image represents the June 1863 raid along the Combahee River by the Second South Carolina Volunteers (Colored) -- led by Colonel James Montgomery, with assistance from Harriet Tubman -- that freed hundreds of slaves and resulted in the confiscation or destruction of Confederate-held property and supplies. The portraits at the bottom of the page illustrate an account of Gordon's escape from bondage and his subsequent military service. Based on photographs, the images document Gordon's metamorphosis from fugitive slave to U.S. soldier, punctuated by a view of his horribly scarred back. Top image: Unidentified artist, after Surgeon Robinson. Bottom image: Unidentified artist, after McPherson and Oliver. 1863
17. FDBIND_130201_196.JPG: Harriet Tubman, 1820-1913: Harriet Tubman led scores of slaves to freedom and facilitated the flight of many others after his own escape from bondage in 1849. When the Civil War began, Tubman fully committed herself to the Union cause. She traveled to South Carolina in 1862 to provide nursing care to U.S. soldiers and former slaves, and soon became a trusted army scout and spy. Operating with great effectiveness in Confederate-held territory, Tubman conducted daring reconnaissance missions, including one along the Combahee River in June 1863 that resulted in the capture of vast quantities of supplies and the liberation of more than 750 slaves. John G. Darby, c 1868
18. FDBIND_130201_245.JPG: African American Union soldiers: Photographers did a brisk business throughout the Civil War as countless troops posed for portraits to be presented to loved ones, who could only wait and hope for their soldier's safe return. In these handsomely packaged images, two unidentified African American soldiers -- a private (left) and a corporal (right) -- proudly face the camera. Unidentified artists, c 1863
19. FDBIND_130201_266.JPG: Storming Fort Wagner: The first black regiment to be organized in a northern state, the 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment included recruits from twenty-five states as well as Canada. In late May 1863, under the leadership of its white commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the 54th was ordered to the South Carolina coast in preparation for action aimed at taking the city of Charleston. Called upon to lead the Union assault on Fort Wagner, the heavily fortified Confederate bastion that guarded Charleston's main shipping channel, the 54th spearheaded the bold attack that began at dusk on July 18, 1863. Despite withering Confederate fire that decimated their ranks and killed Colonel Shaw, the men of the 54th bravely mounted two assaults before they were driven back by the fort's defenders. Although a defeat for Union forces, the admirable performance of the 54th laid to rest any lingering doubts about the fitness for battle of African American soldiers. Kurz & Allison Lithography Company, 1890
20. FDBIND_130201_282.JPG: Emancipated Slaves: In December 1863, a small group of emancipated children and adults from New Orleans took part in a fundraising campaign in the North to benefit Louisiana's first free public schools for liberated slaves. Initial support for these schools had come from the Union army. When additional funds proved necessary, the National Freedmen's Association joined with the American Missionary Association and several Union officers to sponsor a fundraising tour featuring former slaves who were now attending school for the first time. The three adults and five children -- several of whom had light skin and were of mixed racial heritage -- traveled with their chaperones to Philadelphia and New York City, where they visited several photography studios and posed for a number of images. The resulting portraits were marketed to the public with the assurance that the proceeds from their sale would be "devoted to the education of colored people." Myron H. Kimball, 1863
21. FDBIND_130201_303.JPG: Stampede among the Negroes in Virginia -- Their Arrival at Fortress Monroe: Soon after the first fugitive slaves were granted protection as "contraband of war" by General Benjamin F. Butler at Union-held Fort Monroe (Virginia) in May 1861, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper presented its readers with a double-page spread of images documenting recent events at the fort. In vignettes created by the newspaper's "Special Artist," refugees from slavery are shown making their escape from bondage, arriving at Fort Monroe, being mustered into service, and making themselves useful in a variety of ways, from preparing rations to digging trenches. At the upper right, a slaveholder is seen attempting to reclaim thirty fugitives from his estate, while at the upper left, he is shown relinquishing those bondspeople in the presence of General Butler, after refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the federal government. By the time these scenes were published, as many as 500 fugitives had found safety at Fort Monroe. Unidentified artist, 1861 Published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 8, 1861
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