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

Nelson, Christopher (text), and Pohanka, Brian (Captions)

ISBN 10: 1563730014 / ISBN 13: 9781563730016

Published by sTARWOOD Publishing, Washington, DC, 1992

About this Item

Glued binding. Paper over boards. 176 p. Endpaper map. Illustrations (some in color). Library of Congress Classics. Bibliography. Index. From a Library of Congress website: The collection "contains approximately 2, 240 Civil War maps and charts and 76 atlases and sketchbooks that are held within the Geography and Map Division, 200 maps from the Library of Virginia, and 400 maps from the Virginia Historical Society. The maps, charts, and atlases depict battles, troop positions and movements, engagements, and fortifications. Also included are reconnaissance maps, sketch maps, coastal charts, and theater of war maps. The vast majority of the maps were prepared by Federal forces or by commercial firms in the North, but there are also a substantial number by Confederate military authorities and a few by Southern publishers. The largest group among the Confederate works are the 341 manuscript maps and sketch books that make up the Hotchkiss Map Collection. Assembled by Major Jedediah Hotchkiss, who served as topographic engineer with the Army of Northern Virginia." Very good in very good dust jacket. Library of Congress Classics sticker on front of DJ. DJ has slight wear and soiling.

Seller Inventory # 70427

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mapping the Civil War: Featuring Rare Maps from the Library of Congress
• Publisher: sTARWOOD Publishing, Washington, DC
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1563730014
• ISBN 13: 9781563730016
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Presumed first edition/first printing.

About this title

Synopsis

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.

Reviews

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.