Civil War History - The South & Western TheatersCheck this forum for all South and Western Theater Questions. Included are the Western, Pacific, Trans-Mississippi, & Lower Seaboard and Gulf Approach Theaters.
I know they had them back then, but where would you find them now?
A guy on another forum posted that he had such maps for Arkansas, but I have been unable to contact the guy.
I have exhausted all of my leads for obtaining any Woodruff or Jackson county, AR maps from the 1860's. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I would write the West Point Library and ask them; failing the the Library of Congress may be the best bet.
I know what you're talking about as I have seen a couple from what is today SD around the Sisseton area.
Good Luck
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
There are some out there -- at least there were. If you find a source, I'd certainly appreciate hearing about it.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
I know they had them back then, but where would you find them now?
A guy on another forum posted that he had such maps for Arkansas, but I have been unable to contact the guy.
I have exhausted all of my leads for obtaining any Woodruff or Jackson county, AR maps from the 1860's. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Hmm, I wouldn't make too many bets on the quality of maps available circa 1860, particularly in the South. In general, they were few and bad/out of date. They might have actually been better out West (Arkansas, etc.) where the Federal government might have been doing the mapping as the country expanded. They were quite good and readily available in the North.
For example, when McClellan proposed the movement to the Peninsula, the Federal government had no recent maps of the area available. None could be purchased commercially that were any better. When the Army did move there, terrain features (such as major rivers) were often found to be displaced, misdescribed, or missing from the maps.
Unfortunately, the maps the state of Virginia/the Confederacy had were no better. The Union actually ended up with better maps, because the Topographical engineers drew them up as they advanced, then photographed and replicated them to the various commands. Of course, those only went as far as the Union lines reached. Beyond that, the terrain remained "terra incognita" as far as the maps were concerned.
This is in the area of Jamestown and Williamsburg -- the oldest settled areas in the country (except for parts of Florida after we got it from the Spanish). Lee had no maps to speak of for the Wilderness, which had been America's first iron-producing area, stretching back to about 1720. That sort of condition is why Jackson and Lee had mapmakers on staff -- and the shortage of mapmaking talent was why they had to pick and choose what they assigned them to, limiting his coverage.
For example, Jackson's matchmaker, Hotchkiss, was available in the Winter of 1862-63. Lee could have had him map the nearby Wilderness if he had felt that was the best use to put him to. But instead Hotchkiss was assigned to developing a series of maps covering the route up the Shenadoah and the Cumberland to Harrisburg. Clearly Lee and Jackson were not thinking defensively here and had a repeat of the 1862 invasion in mind for 1863. The downside of that was that they had no decent maps for the Wilderness when they fought at Chancellorsville -- even though it would have been a clear advantage to have had them.
The battle map I have is very good quality and matches many landmarks almost as good as the topos of today. This map comes from a Union commanding officer. Surely there are/were maps of Woodruff County and Jackson County since this area had some importance in the war in Arkansas.
When and if I find anything out about how to obtain such maps I will let you all know.
According to "A Guide to Civil War Maps in The National Archives," published by the National Archives and Records Admistration, their holdings might be a good place to look.
The maps listed in this reference, listed under "Arkansas" are these; There are 11 shown under "General Information" including several manuscript maps. They were not listed by county, but by a description - "A map from the Engineer Office, Department of Arkansas ... showing towns and roads in the area west of the White River between De Valls Bluff and the Arkansas Post."
Under Battlefields and Defenses, there are another 15 maps shown, and under Arkansas Fortifications, another 33, including "works that were started but never completed."
Those maps are found in Record Group 77, Records of the Office of the Chief Engineer.
The War Department Collection of Confederate Records, Record Group 109, has 6 maps of reconnaissance in Arkansas.
I would say that the National Archives could be a good place to look. If you want more info on the descriptions of the maps listed, I'd be happy to give you a "word for word," but I'm not exactly sure if this is at all what you are looking for.
Another place to check, Arkansas Historical Commission and State Archives - One Capitol Mall, Little Rock, AR 72201 - (501) 682-6900
OR
Arkansas State Library. One Capitol Mall, 5th Floor, Little Rock, AR 72201 (501) 682-1527.
This weekend I will be going the the state archives.
I called yesterday to get prices for copies of maps. The lady told me on the phone that it's $12.00 a foot with a 5 dollar set-up fee. I forgot to see how much it would cost if I brought my own onion skin paper.
Hopefully they will have something that I can use.
Apperently I picked the day that they were shorthanded and had some inexperienced people working.
I didn't care too much for how the system worked on maps. You look through a card catalog with a vague description, the date published and the number of the map. You write the numbers down of the maps that you want to look at and then hand the list to a guy to go in the vault and get for you..... that's if you can find the guy. I asked for assistance and got very little.
I had planned to stay longer, but I made a mistake of taking my wife with me. She's bored to tears and is nagging.
I guess the system there works if they are fully staffed and you go to stay for the long haul.
I did find one map from Steele that was just what I wanted, but was for a different area that I couldn't use. It was well drawn with the roads, trails and such.
Might go back over there one day and camp out in the research room.
Shame they can't have copied maps that are smaller all on a huge roladex. This way you could see what the maps are and then request the ones you want. I bet they would make more money since the other way is a hassle. I would pay good money to obtain a map of what I want of the area I want.
I will tell you that if you do get the chance to go then go. And don't take anyone with you that can't occupy their own selves and you need to plan to stay for the day. They have ALOT of books on Civil War right down to the OR's in print. It's a very neat place to go to research history as they have lots of it.
CivilWarTalk.com -
A free and friendly Civil War community. 
Civil War engineer and surveyor county maps?? 
I forgot to see how much it would cost if I brought my own onion skin paper. 
Linear Mode
