"Maps and the Civil War" Topic
8 Posts
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Tango01 | 18 Mar 2020 9:16 p.m. PST |
"The story of maps in the Civil War is really more the story of the lack of maps in the Civil War. It might be too much to claim that maps could somehow have changed the outcome of the war one way or the other. However, the effect maps (again really the absence of maps) had during the war is undoubted and can be repeatedly demonstrated. It was the unusual, strictly sectional nature of this particular civil war that made maps far more of a factor for the Union. It was the Union forces that had by far the greater need for maps and it was the Union forces that were helpless without them. The Confederate army was operating in familiar surroundings and in the midst of a strongly supportive population. The poignant stories of Rebel soldiers dying on their own doorsteps or in their own fields indicate that within the ranks of their armies were men who knew the location of fording sites, the destination of roads, and the grade of mountain passes. They also had the advantage of a legion of spies in the local population. The sympathetic locals were not merely informing the Confederates, they were also misleading the Federals. It was an enormous advantage for the Confederates and under different leadership might possibly have been decisive. Familiarity with the "topography" – which means the collective physical and cultural features of a given place: the rivers, the roads, the land forms, the population, the crops – is critical in any military operation. The lack of such knowledge is often catastrophic because familiarity with the theater of operations is a double-edged sword. A topographically informed commander knows what he can and cannot do. He also knows pretty well what his opponent can and cannot do. An opponent without reliable map knowledge is thus hobbled both offensively and defensively and ends up fretting blindly, wondering where the blows will fall…" Main page link Amicalement Armand |
Trajanus | 19 Mar 2020 8:20 a.m. PST |
One of the best map stories is how Meade was determined to ensure that the AoP would have proper maps for the 1864 Campaign in Virginia and that there would enough of them for all levels of command. These were duly drawn and mass produced using the latest printing techniques, then distributed throughout the Army much to everyone's satisfaction. It took about a week to discover, when in the middle of the Wilderness fight, that all these splendid and plentiful copies were, in fact, inaccurate! |
StoneMtnMinis | 19 Mar 2020 10:07 a.m. PST |
Knowledge of the area was extremely important, as witness Lee stumbling around Pennsylvania. When not fighting over familiar terrain he became mortal as the Union genrals in Virginia. |
Tango01 | 19 Mar 2020 12:51 p.m. PST |
Thanks!. Amicalement Armand |
Holdfast | 22 Mar 2020 5:06 a.m. PST |
The Northern newspapers appear to have printed maps of Pennsylvania in late June 1863 which were more accurate than those Lee had. However, they don't seem to have been seized and distributed. Jed Hotchkiss was doing his best but he was a one man band as far as I can learn. |
Trajanus | 22 Mar 2020 7:25 a.m. PST |
I'd love someone to do a TV documentary on 19th Century map making. When you look at the online stuff at the Library of Congress its mind blowing how much detail there is on some of it. OK part of it is full blown topographical surveying but its all based on pencil and paper work, lugging your tripod around. Makes you wonder how they did any of it while there was a war on! |
Blutarski | 22 Mar 2020 4:07 p.m. PST |
Another prodigy of survey and cartography was the British 19th century survey of India – a remarkable effort. B |
donlowry | 23 Mar 2020 8:32 a.m. PST |
One reason Lee took Trimble along on his raid into Pennsylvania was that Trimble had worked on railroads in Pennsylvania and thus knew the geography. |
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