Jesse L. Berch, quartermaster sergeant, 25 Wisconsin Regiment of Racine, Wis. [and] Frank M. Rockwell, postmaster 22 Wisconsin of Geneva, Wis.

Source: Ball, James Presley, photographer. Jesse L. Berch, quartermaster sergeant, 22 Wisconsin Regiment of Racine, Wis. and Frank M. Rockwell, postmaster 22 Wisconsin of Geneva, Wis. / J. P. Ball's Photographic Gallery, No. 30 West 4th St., betw. Main and Walnut Sts. Cincinnati, O. Wisconsin United States, 1862. Sept. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2008678814/.

Date: 1862

Text/Transcription:

This photograph documents the heroic escape of an eighteen-year-old enslaved woman from Kentucky aided by two Union Army soldiers. The picture follows the conventions of abolitionist rescue iconography, where portraits of fugitives and their supporters were featured. In this instance, two members of the 22nd Wisconsin Volunteers brandished weapons to demonstrate their determination to defend her liberty as they escorted her to safety. James Presley Ball (1825-1904), a Black photographer and abolitionist in Cincinnati, posed the two soldiers and the young fugitive before her final destination to Wisconsin.