This is 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. In May 1861, several more states formally seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America, including Tennessee on May 16th and Virginia on May 23rd. …
This is 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. On April 12, 1861, the first salvos of the American Civil War were fired with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, situated in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, by Confederate …
This is 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. On the eve of the Civil War, few detailed maps existed of areas in which fighting was likely to occur. Uniform, large-scale topographic maps, such as those produced …
This is the first 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. The first post will provide on overview of pre-war mapping, and maps depicting secession. Following posts will proceed chronologically from the first shots fired at …
A recent Library of Congress Blog post entitled “Trending: The Mother of Mother’s Day” reminded me of one of my favorite Civil War maps. Although Mother’s Day as we know it (greeting cards, flowers, breakfast in bed, etc.) did not exist, a Confederate soldier sought to immortalize his mother – on a battle map. On …
In school, we all learned about Paul Revere and his famous April 18, 1775 ride through the Massachusetts countryside warning of an impending British armed force marching from Boston, MA to the small towns of Lexington and Concord. But, of course, there is much more to the story, including the British commander of all troops …
