Mapping the Civil War: Featuring Rare Maps From the Library of Congress

Featuring rare maps from the Library of Congress. Captions by Brian Pohanka, Foreword by Richard Stephenson. 176 pp., cloth, dj., maps in color, photos. And illus.

In the early days of the Civil War, generals stumbled about with bad maps or none at all. Soon enough, both sides established topographical corps and engaged cartographers, who produced thousands of field surveys, military maps, nautical charts, and general maps of regions and resources. Wartime needs led to new techniques, such as sunprinting and the use of photographic processes, which made it possible to produce maps quickly and in multiple copies for both military and commercial needs. Nelson tells the general story of wartime mapmaking well, if briefly, but in 12 chapters on individual campaigns he fails to show how maps affected strategy or tactics. Given the richness of the collection in the Library of Congress, it is surprising how few maps are presented here. Mapping the Civil War barely sketches the contours of the vital role maps played in winning the war. For major Civil War collections only.
- Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.