- Joined
- Apr 18, 2019
- Location
- Upstate New York
@Rhea Cole and I have lots of folks in Murfreesboro. I bet if we tried we'd find we are related.
I am not directly related to the M'boro Coles. The Rhea's in the Viola area & Northcutt Cove are my mom's folks.@Rhea Cole and I have lots of folks in Murfreesboro. I bet if we tried we'd find we are related.
I was thinking the small city of Dayton, Tennessee being the heart of Rhea County.I am not directly related to the M'boro Coles. The Rhea's in the Viola area & Northcutt Cove are my mom's folks.
Issac H Bonsall, serving in middle Tenn was handed the task of making photographs of maps in the field and then send the plates to his partner in Cinncinati where they massed produced them.For a commander to be successful having good maps for planning could make the difference between being successful and not being successful. The problem was there were not always good maps of the area of operations. Sending out scouts were helpful but the scouts could make mistakes and miss important details. Even experienced topographic engineers made errors.
This made me wonder how maps were reproduced during the Civil War. I would take it that there were some navigational charts of coat lines, bays, and rivers. There must have been battles where lack of proper maps had a great impact on the outcome of the battle.
Are you familiar with the photographer used to reproduce Merrills maps?Thank you @NedBaldwin
I am not aware of one. It is awfully wonky. I would suggest an online search. Fair warning, I might be one of the sources you find. One of the problems you will encounter is that the sun prints were not durable. The book with the largest collection of A of the C maps is the Official Atlas.Rhea, What are the best books on AoC map making?
This is an excellent example of the maps that West Point grads were trained to create. The revolutionary A of the C topography unit pioneered the reproduction & dissemination of maps. They cranked out over 20,000 maps with a sun powered photo copier they could make multicolored prints.Lt. James H. Wilson was a topographical engineer for General Grant in 1862. He created—I assume he had a team with him— maps of the towns along the Memphis & Charleston RR in Tennessee: Collierville, LaFayette Station(now Rossville) & Moscow.
His map included the RR mile markers which are still present today. He included an unfinished RR spur in Moscow that today is a street. In Collierville he labels homes with owner’s name and business like a cotton press.
These maps have been useful for studying cavalry battles along this RR. I have used Google Earth and projected the 1862 map over the current RR to see how accurate the scale was on his map of Collierville. Right now, I cant think of any obvious error.
James H. Wilson rose thru the ranks and became a cavalry corps commander in 1865 who forced General Forrest to surrender.
Lt. Wilson's map of Collierville with some hand-written annotation added later.
Note the small flags along the MCRR that are numbered to indicate railroad mileage markers.
View attachment 403536
Thank you Rhea and DixieRifles. Dixie, what is the source for the excellent Wilson RR maps -- LOC?Lt. James H. Wilson was a topographical engineer for General Grant in 1862. He created—I assume he had a team with him— maps of the towns along the Memphis & Charleston RR in Tennessee: Collierville, LaFayette Station(now Rossville) & Moscow.
His map included the RR mile markers which are still present today. He included an unfinished RR spur in Moscow that today is a street. In Collierville he labels homes with owner’s name and business like a cotton press.
These maps have been useful for studying cavalry battles along this RR. I have used Google Earth and projected the 1862 map over the current RR to see how accurate the scale was on his map of Collierville. Right now, I cant think of any obvious error.
James H. Wilson rose thru the ranks and became a cavalry corps commander in 1865 who forced General Forrest to surrender.
Lt. Wilson's map of Collierville with some hand-written annotation added later.
Note the small flags along the MCRR that are numbered to indicate railroad mileage markers.
View attachment 403536
Most likely. We found another hand-drawn sketch of our town that depicts a brigade encampment in the LOC.Dixie, what is the source for the excellent Wilson RR maps -- LOC?
In my search for Bonsall photographs l came across some early photographs taken by Bonsall of Murfreesboro, the abroplates are here in Arkansas City.Issac H Bonsall, serving in middle Tenn was handed the task of making photographs of maps in the field and then send the plates to his partner in Cinncinati where they massed produced them.
That sure sounds like describing the modern Army.This is an excellent example of the maps that West Point grads were trained to create. The revolutionary A of the C topography unit pioneered the reproduction & dissemination of maps. They cranked out over 20,000 maps with a sun powered photo copier they could make multicolored prints.
Are the photos of Murfreesboro available online?In my search for Bonsall photographs l came across some early photographs taken by Bonsall of Murfreesboro, the abroplates are here in Arkansas City.
Way cool. I am a retired forester and I took mapping, photogrammetry, and surveying courses as part of my undergrad degree. I, too, had to make a topo map in the field but we got to use a few ancient surveying tools. At the tail end of my career (with a large federal land management agency) I ended up as a GIS specialist (got in pretty much at the beginning) and did that for ten years. So I appreciate map making and definitely admire those who made those beautiful maps back in the day. That took some real skills.I took 20 to 25 hours of cartography, aerial photo interpretation, photogrammetry, etc. as electives to my geosciences degree. We enjoyed the vantage point offered by aircraft and spy satellite photography. However, we did utilize field exercises where we were dropped off on foot in Mark Twain National Forest and assigned to rough in a topo map from visual observation. It was the mid-70s and almost every skill I acquired was replaced by computers within five years after I graduated. Many of those who completed their degree in the field ended up working at Defense Mapping Agency in St. Louis. I imagine accurate topo mapping was very difficult for those cartographers back in the mid-19th century.
I did not know about sun powered reproduction of maps.This is an excellent example of the maps that West Point grads were trained to create. The revolutionary A of the C topography unit pioneered the reproduction & dissemination of maps. They cranked out over 20,000 maps with a sun powered photo copier they could make multicolored prints.
You have now....I did not know about sun powered reproduction of maps.
A "neat" looking map doesn't make it more accurate.The difference between a trained cartographer & a civil engineer's version of the same territory speaks volumes.
The superiority of the A of the C's topographical unit over the Irish engineer is thought provoking.
Gotta hand it to you, creating a gratuitous put down for Merrill's maps is quite an accomplishment. Union cavalry was ordered to concentrate at Rover. Try finding Rover on Gen. Polk's map. That is what these examples are about, not how neat they were... which they are in both the original & modern meaning of the word.A "neat" looking map doesn't make it more accurate.