This is part of a series of posts documenting the cartographic history of maps related to the American Civil War, 1861-1865. The posts will appear on a regular basis.
One of the most iconic naval battles of the Civil War was the four-hour duel between the ironclad vessels USS Monitor and the CSS Merrimac, which took place off of Hampton Roads, Virginia on March 8th and 9th, 1862. While the battle ended in a virtual draw, historians have pointed to it as the end of the wooden warship era and the beginning of heavily armored ships.
The map shown below, entitled “Scene of the late Naval Engagement…,” does not directly depict the battle, but both vessels are shown and it was likely prepared for newspaper publication to accompany articles on the naval engagement. The first image includes the woodblock, while the second takes us closer into the map itself.
Across the state, in the spring of 1862, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson began his “Valley Campaign,” an attempt to drive Union forces occupying parts of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and push them out of Virginia. The opening salvo of the successful Valley Campaign was the March 23, 1862 Battle of Kernstown, Virginia, located in northern Shenandoah Valley, a few miles south of Winchester, VA.
The two maps shown below represent a preliminary manuscript map and a finished manuscript map of the battlefield extending from Winchester south along the Valley Turnpike, through Kernstown. Both maps were prepared and signed by noted Confederate cartographer “Jedidiah Hotchkiss, Topographic Engr. Valley D[ivision].” The preliminary draft provides a listing of Confederate infantry, cavalry, and artillery units, including abbreviations and strikeouts, while the finished manuscript map has a more complete table, decorative border, and ornate title block. Both maps use hachures to signify relief.


Three days after the Battle of Kernstown, on March 26th 1862, Jackson ordered Hotchkiss to prepare “a map of the Valley from Harpers Ferry to Lexington, showing all the points of offence and defence in those places.” Hotchkiss began working on his best known map almost immediately and continued to work and refine it over the course of the Civil War. Hotchkiss’ masterpiece is prepared with a 3/4-inch grid that allows one to “scale” the map and produce larger scale maps as needed. The Jedediah Hotchkiss Papers are housed in the Library’s Manuscript Division.
