page_title: Photographers of the American Civil War
section_title: McPherson & Oliver
hierarchical_section_title: Photographers of the American Civil War / Southern photographers / McPherson & Oliver
caption_attribution_description: English: Rare CDV of the Escaped Slave "Gordon" Displaying His Scars.
context_page_description: The American Civil War was the most widely covered conflict of the 19th century. The images would provide posterity with a comprehensive visual record of the war and its leading figures, and make a powerful impression on the populace.
  Something not generally known by the public is the fact that roughly 70% of the war's documentary photography was captured by the twin lenses of a stereo camera. The American Civil War was the first war in history whose intimate reality would be brought home to the public, not only in newspaper depictions, album cards and cartes-de-visite, but in a popular new 3D format called a "stereograph," "stereocard" or "stereoview." Millions of these cards were produced and purchased by a public eager to experience the nature of warfare in a whole new way.
context_section_description: William D. McPherson (? – October 9, 1867) and Mr Oliver (?–?)  The southern photographers were active in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the 1860s. McPherson & Oliver's business was exclusively Confederate, until Union forces occupied Baton Rouge in May 1862. Like other Southern photographers in occupied cities, the pair quickly adapted to the occupation. This arrangement had the benefit of being able to procure photography supplies through special arrangements with the military. McPherson & Oliver are probably best known for "The Scourged Back", their sensational, widely published portrait of "Gordon", an escaped slave from a Louisiana plantation, who came into the Union lines at Baton Rouge. The pair went to Port Hudson, La. in the summer of 1863 and photographed the hard-fought siege of that city. After the fall of Port Hudson on July 8, McPherson & Oliver photographed the captured, Confederate fortifications. In August 1864, following the capture of Fort Morgan on Mobile Bay, Alabama, McPherson & Oliver made a comprehensive photographic record of that installation. In 1864 they moved to New Orleans and operated a gallery at 133 Canal Street. In 1865 they dissolved their partnership. McPherson carried on with his own gallery at 132 Canal St. until his death from yellow fever in 1867. Samuel T. Blessing, who survived the epidemic, administered McPerson's estate.
caption: CDV The Scourged Back of "Gordon" an escaped slave from Louisiana - McPherson & Oliver, 1863
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