Holy fucking shit those are really thick and outward.
Because of the grayscale color it almost looks like a bad weld job and metal just dripped all over. It's so hard coming to terms with just how deep those must have been in order to scar up that much and probably often not just deep
In this transcript Peter mentions "salt brine, which Overseer put in my back."[8] This practice, sometimes called salting, was attested in many accounts of slave torture reported over many decades.[16] Other substances, including turpentine, hot-pepper juice, and dripping candle wax, were also used
Let's also not let Lincoln get away from this discussion. He absolutely did huge harm to the radical reconstruction movement, although Johnson turned that to 11. He also has an awful record in regards to indigenous peoples. (As has every president)
Five or six months after the scourging...the frightful laceration was partially healed, and only scars remained. But what must the whipping have been to leave such scars! The back looks like a plate of iron, eaten by acids and corroded by rust; or like a walnut-table honey-combed by worms... Bits as big as the hand seem to have been cut out of the flesh. No wonder that, at this distance of time, the man looks thin and ghastly, though he was a strong man, and must be a man of fine physique and presence....This card-photograph should be multiplied by the hundred thousand, and scattered over the states. It tells the story in a way that even Mrs. Stowe cannot approach; because it tells the story to the eye. If seeing is believing—and it is in the immense majority of cases—seeing this card would be equivalent to believing things of the slave states which Northern men and women would move heaven and earth to abolish.
I had thought the salt brine was a crude antiseptic, I hadn't realised it was intended to hurt. Perhaps both?
Note that the overseer who did the whipping in this case was terminated by the slaves owner, so while I'm sure this wasn't that uncommon, it wasn't the case for every slave.
As someone who forms keloid scars, I'm pretty sure they're keloids. Keloid formation is more common amongst Africans than Caucasians. I get fairly hefty scars from even mild abrasions, this poor guy got cut deep, plus the bit about salting. I feel guilty if I kill an insect. I can't imagine the depravity of someone who would do something like this.