Southworth & Hawes
1845
The Branded Hand of Captain Jonathan Walker

Daguerreotype, 1/6 plate
Massachusetts Historical Society
© Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA, USA / The Bridgeman Art Library Nationality / copyright status: American / out of copyright
 
The inscription on the back of the case reads:
 
"This Daguerreotype was taken by Southworth Aug. 1845 it is a copy of Captain Jonathan Walker's hand as branded by the U.S. Marshall of the Dist. of Florida for having helped 7 men to obtain 'Life Liberty, and Happiness.'
SS Slave Saviour Northern Dist.
SS Slave Stealer Southern Dist."
 
The Daguerreian Society provides the following information:
 
The lateral reversing typical of a daguerreian image is corrected in a wood-engraving that appeared on the title page of "Trial and Imprisonment of Jonathan Walker, At Pensacola, Florida, for Aiding Slaves To Escape From Bondage, with an Appendix, containing a sketch of his life" (Boston: Published At The Anti-Slavery Office, 25 Cornhill. 1845.)
 
A variant wood-engraving also appears with an extensive poem entitled "The Branded Hand" in the 16 September, 1845, "Salem Gazette" (Salem, Massachusetts.) The article mentions that the engraving was "copied from a Daguerreotype picture belonging to Dr. Bowditch."
 
LL/35013