Research

Laurie Publishes New Book on Famous Civil War Era Image

Bruce Laurie, professor emeritus of history at UMass Amherst, has recently published a new book, “‘Chaotic Freedom’ in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image,” through the University of Massachusetts Press, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Review. 

In this new book, Laurie uncovers the people and events that created a famous image which testified to the evils of slavery. He tells the tale of three men, two Yankee soldiers from western Massachusetts who were serving the Union Army in Louisiana, and a man named Peter, whose scarred back horrified all who saw it. The two soldiers were so shocked by what had been done to Peter, they sought to capture the image and document slavery’s cruelty, the likes of which was all too common among those fleeing bondage in Louisiana. Meticulously researched and briskly told, this short volume unearths the story behind an iconic image

Laurie is also the author of “Rebels in Paradise: Sketches of Northampton Abolitionists.”