Whipped Peter: The Photo That Shocked America In March 1863, a man named Peter escaped from a Louisiana plantation and ran 40 miles to Union Army lines in Baton Rouge. When military doctors examined him before enlistment, they discovered massive keloid scars covering his back—the result of a brutal whipping by overseer Artayou Carrier. Photographers William McPherson and Oliver captured the horrific image on April 2, 1863. That photograph, known as "The Scourged Back," became one of the most wid