"Gwine to da Field," (Hopkinson Plantation, Edisto Island, South Carolina)

A native of New Hampshire, Henry Moore operated a gallery in South Carolina where a regiment of New Hampshire troops was stationed during the Civil War. In addition to taking portraits, Moore recorded buildings, vessels, island scenery and the local population of formerly enslaved people. Because photographs of former slaves in what had been their everyday environment were surprisingly uncommon after the War, Moore’s photographs garnered significant attention. Published in 1865 in the professional journal Philadelphia Photographer, this image of people working on a plantation was accompanied by the following commentary: “[The photograph] we present in this issue can never more be taken…the jaded donkey and the sable field-hands with their implements all explain themselves. When they were taken, they were slaves; now they are free men and women.”