A group of 5,000 Christian children being evacuated from Turkey by the Near East Relief. Photograph by Major Charles D. Morris of the Near East Relief.

Note: Contrary to assertions made in numerous publications, this photograph does not represent a "death march", a "deportation" or a "white massacre", but a peaceful evacuation of Christian orphans, either Greek, Armenian or both, from central Turkey. The evacuation effort pictured above was conducted by the Near East Relief sometime between 1922 and 1923.
The photographer, Major Charles Dexter Morris (1883-1954), was a member of the Near East Relief in Turkey and previously was the Director of the Department of Public Information for the American Red Cross Commission in Europe. Morris graduated from Yale University in 1906 and before entering the Red Cross worked at the Sun newspaper in New York and then in the Associated Press Bureaus of New York and London. In 1923 Morris was decorated by King George of Greece for his work with the Near East Relief. On his return to the United States he joined the International News Service. Morris is now buried in Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Portville, New York. Major Charles Dexter Morris, son of Dr. Jacob Morris and Sarah Gillingham, had married Arminta I. Miles (1882-1969).

Source: (1) Barton, James L., Story of Near East Relief, Macmillan, New York, 1930 (Caption: "In 1922-23 Near East Relief evacuated 22,000 children from orphanages in interior Turkey to Syria and Greece. These two pictures show part of the 5,000 children from Kharput en route on donkey back and foot") & (2) Chater, Melville, "History’s Greatest Trek", The National Geographic Magazine, November 1925, Volume XLVIII, National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., 1925, p. 537 (Caption: "A section of the trekking train of 5,000 Christians who made their tragic way from Kharput to the sea; Although Kharput, in central Asia Minor, is only 160 miles by air line from Trebizond, on the Black Sea, these unhappy refugees were forced to pursue a circuitous route which stretched 500 miles"). The November 1925 edition of The National Geographic is thought to be the earliest publication containing a print of this photograph.
Two other examples of early publications that printed the photograph (albeit with misleading captions) are: (i) Horton, George, The Blight of Asia, Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1926, p. 44 (Caption: “The Long Line That Leads to Death; Deportation of Christians from their homes to the arid wastes to die.”). (ii) Προκοπίου, Σωκράτης Α., Σαν Ψέμματα και σαν Αλήθεια, Αθήνα, 1928, p. 189 (Caption: “Από τάς τραγωδίας των Λευκών Σφαγών, Πόντοι εκτοπιζόμενοι στήν Ερζερούμ καί στό Διαρβεκίρ" [From the tragedy of White Massacres: Deported Pontians in Erzeroum and Diarbekir]).