John Rogers, a popular white American sculptor, was best known for his tabletop plasters depicting everyday American life. A strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln, abolition, and the Union, Rogers earned national acclaim in abolitionist circles for his sympathetic sculptures depicting anti-slavery themes and Civil War scenes.

Here a wounded Union Army scout in a swamp has been discovered by a Black man attempting to escape slavery. Injured and weak, the soldier leans on his companion for support—an inversion of the common paternalistic narrative of enlightened and benevolent white people lifting Black people up from bondage. Near the Black man’s foot, a poisonous copperhead snake is ready to strike, likely referencing the Democratic “Copperheads” who opposed the Civil War and sought a peace agreement that would allow the South to retain its slavery system.