As proclaimed by its author, this atlas "examines the Civil War in a way never before attempted." It is the first Civil War atlas not to focus on military affairs. Martis has produced three atlases dealing with the U.S. Congress:
The Historical Atlas of U.S. Congressional Districts, 1789-1983 (Free Press, 1982),
The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989 (Macmillan, 1989), and
The Historical Atlas of State Power in Congress 1790-1990 (Congressional Quarterly, 1993). He now turns his attention to documentation of the Congress of the Confederacy.
This work contains 45 maps (most of them in color) and 48 statistical tables, along with considerable accompanying text that explains the significance of the maps. The work is divided into six chapters, including introductory and concluding ones. Of the remaining chapters, one documents the provisional Confederate Congress of 1861-62. Another explores the characteristics of the Confederate districts, including such factors as slave population, land value, prior political sentiment, and extent of Union occupation during the course of the war. Yet another chapter illustrates electoral behavior; since there were no formal political parties in the Confederacy, Martis looks at such factors as the return of incumbents, or the prior political affiliation and support for succession of the various congressmen. A final chapter documents and illustrates a number of key votes, as well as patterns of high or low support for the key issues of conscription, impressment, and the support of the government of Jefferson Davis. There are four appendixes, including one that presents the complete extant Confederate electoral returns.
This is an impressive and meticulously documented work. The maps are attractive and easy to read; at times, however, reference to the text is necessary to make complete sense of them. The maps labeled "Confederate Support," for example, illustrate high or low support for efforts by Davis and the Central Confederate government to expand their power in response to wartime conditions. The text carefully documents the history and the various characteristics of the Confederate Congress, particularly those aspects subject to geographic analysis. For example, Martis shows how the large number of representatives from occupied districts was an important element of the Confederate Congress. These representatives, sheltered from retaliation from their constituents who were behind Union lines, supported many drastic measures by the Confederate government that may have prolonged the war.
The only other reference work to focus on the Confederate Congress is the Biographical Register of the Confederate Congress (Louisiana State Univ., 1975), which, despite a few simple maps and some tables, serves a very different purpose. The recent Encyclopedia of the Confederacy [RBB F 1 94] documents political aspects of the Confederacy but does not provide detailed analysis of the Congress and has relatively few maps not dealing with military matters. This work is highly recommended for large public libraries and academic libraries and for any library with a serious interest in the Confederacy.
