Those birds-eye-view maps by David Greenspan sparked many a kid's life-long interest in the CW.
I was inspired to get a copy of this book- and in particular, a copy of the original edition- by listening to CivilWarTalk Radio. I listened to a number of episodes where historians talked about the influence of this book on them. And the David Greenspan maps are incredible along with many photographs well known to us- Brigadier General J.E. B. Stuart (p.156); Private
Edwin Francis Jemison (p.167); and the dead Confederates in front of the Dunker Church (p. 208).
On a personal note, this book was the first place I'd ever seen a reference to something it took me years to understand: the entity of Washington County, District of Columbia. I was born and raised in DC and I wasn't taught this in school.
On pg. 111, there is an 1862 DC map with the words "Washington County" written on it. I always wondered why it said this because I had never heard of any reference to it before. All I knew about were the four quadrants of the city (NW, NE, SE, SW) and that was it. On my own, I learned that during the war, and most of the 19th Century, the District of Columbia was three separate jurisdictions- the urban Washington City, DC; the rural farmland of Washington County, DC; and the separate place of Georgetown, DC, which dates back to the 1750s when it was still part of Maryland. So at one time, you could mail a letter to/from 1234 Whatever Street, Georgetown, DC. And you can still actually do that, as long as you've got the zip code on the envelope. I have no idea if there were three separate governments, police forces, etc.
I grew up in what was Washington County. It's funny because the area always had a suburban, distinct feel to me than from busy downtown, even though the rural farm country was long gone. It wasn't until 1871 when the three parts were merged and became all Washington, DC.
Attached is the link to the map. If you click on it twice, you can zoom in and get a lot of detail. You may also notice the original width of the Potomac River before it was dredged to create the National Mall.
http://ghostsofdc.org/2012/12/03/1862-map-washington/
And when I was a kid, I used to sleep with books on my bed.
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