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Category: American History

Brown, red, and yellow tinted map illustration of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, with a circular frame around them

Places in Civil War History: Tennessee Secession and Fortress Monroe

Posted by: Ed Redmond

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. …

Brown, red, and yellow tinted map illustration of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, with a circular frame around them

Places in Civil War History: Fort Sumter and Virginia Secession

Posted by: Ed Redmond

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 …

Brown, red, and yellow tinted map illustration of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, with a circular frame around them

Places in American Civil War History: Preparation for War

Posted by: Ed Redmond

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 …

Brown, red, and yellow tinted map illustration of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, with a circular frame around them

Places in American Civil War History: Maps Depicting Prologue to War and Secession, March 1861

Posted by: Ed Redmond

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 …

Brown, red, and yellow tinted map illustration of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, with a circular frame around them

The State Formerly Known as Deseret

Posted by: Carlyn Osborn

By the end of 1847, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) had put down roots near the Great Salt Lake in present day Utah. Originally organized by Joseph Smith in 1830, the LDS Church and its adherents continuously moved their headquarters for over a decade: from the Burned Over District in New …

Brown, red, and yellow tinted map illustration of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, with a circular frame around them

The Changing Mexico-U.S. Border

Posted by: Carlyn Osborn

Stretching nearly 2,000 miles from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mexico-U.S. border is the world’s single most crossed international boundary. With over a billion dollars worth of goods moving between the countries every day and 11 million people living within the border region, the history of the Mexico-U.S. boundary line is worth …