ENGINEER BUREAU'S MILITARY WAR MAP OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, INCLUDING RICHMOND, PETERSBURG, AND APPOMATTOX

Engineer Bureau, War Department. Portions of Virginia and North Carolina, Embracing Richmond & Lynchburg, Va. and Goldsboro & Salisbury, N.C. New York: J. Schedler, 1864. Four leaves in one folio, approximately 45 1/2 x 38 in. when assembled.

A large and visually impressive Civil War era map depicting a strategically vital swath of Virginia and North Carolina, encompassing some of the most consequential terrain of the eastern campaigns. Among the locations shown are Richmond, Petersburg, Lynchburg, Appomattox Court House, Averasboro, and Bentonville, together with an extensive network of rivers, mountains, railroads, and plank roads that defined both the movement of armies and the logistics of war. The map’s breadth and detail stress the military importance of this corridor, where transportation routes and topography alike shaped the conduct of operations.

The imprint and crest in the lower right corner indicate the map was produced under the auspices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Founded in 1802 under Thomas Jefferson, the Corps played an indispensable role in the Civil War, particularly in the Eastern Theater, where its officers were responsible not only for the design and construction of roads, bridges, forts, and batteries, but also for the precise surveying and mapping upon which effective campaigning depended. 

A significant map and document of military strategy during the Civil War. Encompassing Richmond and Petersburg in Virginia, as well as Goldsboro and the approaches to Bentonville in North Carolina, it charts terrain intimately connected with the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, the Appomattox Campaign, and Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign. The inclusion of places such as Appomattox Court House, Averasboro, and Bentonville lends the map particular resonance. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Broadsides, Ephemera, Printing, Posters, Handbills, Documents, Newspapers] [Map, Maps, Cartography, Cartographic Art] [West Point, United States Military Academy at West Point] 

Small rips at creases.