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Posted by: Ryan Moore
Over the years of this writer’s service at the Library of Congress, veterans and their families have sent me questions about maps that show the locations of U.S. forces in Thailand during the Vietnam War. Chief among the reasons that they have sought this information is because some American personnel were exposed to Agent Orange …
Posted in: Asian History, Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
The Union ambitiously tunneled 511 feet to reach the Confederate lines during siege of Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864. Unique to this Civil War battle, they set off a massive explosion that created a 170-by-120-feet crater beneath the Confederate lines and stormed the defenses in a failed effort, known as the Battle of the Crater. Thereafter, the Confederates worried …
Posted in: American History, Military History, National Parks
Posted by: Mike Klein
Most historians consider the Italo-Ottoman War, 1911-12, as a prelude to World War I. Although it has fallen into obscurity, some relics, such as this compelling panoramic map of the war’s first major engagement, may revive our interest. Italy’s claims to North Africa were rooted in Roman times. Over the millennia, the provinces of Tripolitania …
Posted in: Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
To visit Arlington National Cemetery is to know these United States more deeply. It is a place of remembrance and a microcosm of American history. Beneath the shade of firs, maples, oaks and many other trees, the necropolis gently sprawls across 624 acres. The site is in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from …
Posted in: American History, Military History
Posted by: Ed Redmond
During the winter of 1776-1777, two key battles became an important turning point for George Washington’s Continental Army and the American struggle against the vaunted British Empire. In this blog post we will explore three maps that depict the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, all from different collections in the division and drawn by various …
Posted in: American History, Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
At 11 am on November 11, 1918, the long and terrible fighting that was known as the Great War ended. The final hour of the final day of World War I, as it is known today, was documented by the United States Army on a large 36″ x 32″ map sheet. The mapmakers used a …
Posted in: Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
The Geography and Map Division has processed the map collection of an American vice admiral who served in both Europe and the Pacific during World War II. The Morton L. Deyo World War II map collection consists of maps related to Deyo’s role as a naval task force commander, and these once secret materials show …
Posted in: Biography, Military History
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
Matthew Fontaine Maury has been hailed as, among other names, the “Scientist of the Seas” for his contributions to understanding ocean navigation in the mid-19th century. His expertise is evident in his large body of work, and particularly in his maps. But while Maury left an indelible mark on the fields of oceanography and geography …
Posted in: Biography, Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
The Orange Free State and the Transvaal (officially the South African Republic) were independent countries in southern Africa in the 19th century established largely by Dutch/Afrikaans-speaking settlers known as the Boers (Boer translates to “farmer” in Dutch). Occupying areas in what is today South Africa, the Boers of the 19th century were pastoral and religiously-oriented, …
Posted in: African History, Borders, Military History