Our Scouts and Guides in 1863 at Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Attributed to McPherson & Oliver American

1863

Not on view

At war’s start, Lincoln did not want to arm free men of color or former or runaway slaves in the war effort. Eventually, his military strategists and prominent abolitionists persuaded him to accept the enlistment of African American soldiers. By late 1863 some 37,000 had enlisted in the Union army, in fifty-eight segregated regiments known as the United States Colored Troops. Another 3,200 served in the Union navy on fully integrated warships. This portrait of two former slaves employed as Union army guides and scouts was made in a picture tent at an encampment along the Mississippi River.

Artwork Details

Title: Our Scouts and Guides in 1863 at Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Artist: Attributed to McPherson & Oliver (American, active New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1860s)
Date: 1863
Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions: Image: 3 3/8 × 2 3/16 in. (8.6 × 5.5 cm)
Sheet: 3 3/8 × 2 3/16 in. (8.6 × 5.5 cm)
Mount: 4 in. × 2 1/2 in. (10.2 × 6.4 cm)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2019
Object Number: 2019.523
Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

By McPherson & Oliver

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Iron Clad "Essex," Baton Rouge, Louisiana, McPherson & Oliver American, Albumen silver print from glass negative — Iron Clad "Essex," Baton Rouge, Louisiana
McPherson & Oliver
May 1863

Gordon, A Runaway Mississippi Slave, or "The Scourged Back", McPherson & Oliver American, Albumen silver print from glass negative — Gordon, A Runaway Mississippi Slave, or "The Scourged Back"
McPherson & Oliver
April 2, 1863

Returned to lender

[Sailors on the Deck of the U.S.S. Hartford]

Multiple artists/makers

1864

[Display of Hats and Accessories of 1868], Pine & Bell American, Albumen silver print from glass negative — [Display of Hats and Accessories of 1868]
Multiple artists/makers
1868

The Town on the Hill, New Almaden, Carleton E. Watkins American, Albumen silver print from glass negative — The Town on the Hill, New Almaden
Carleton E. Watkins
1863

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