Official Civil War maps, 1893: TEXAS coast & forts; PETERSBURG; Galveston

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Official Civil War maps, 1893: TEXAS coast & forts; PETERSBURG; Galveston:
$26.95

Official maps of the Civil War
in 1864:
Coast of Texas
Petersburg campaign
Marietta; James River, etc.
1893This is a lovely antique map plate published as part of the comprehensive Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-65. [See below for the history behind the Official Records, and its Atlas.]The map measures 18.5 x 29 inches in size and is in beautiful condition. It was lithographed in attractive color by Julius Bien & Co.This particular map is PLATE LXV of the Atlas. It was published in 1893, and is blank on the reverse side. It is over 120 years old. The sheet will be shipped folded once, as originally published.The overall page presents ten individual maps, detailing the defenses of the Texas coast, and scenes of action during the Richmond Campaign and Atlanta Campaigns in 1864. The three largest maps are the ones of most interest. The largest map is of the COAST of TEXAS (map #10), which stretches across most of the bottom of the sheet, and measures 21.5 x 8 inches in size. The area it covers goes from Matamoras and Brownsville in the west, past Galveston Bay and Sabine City and Beaumont in the east. It also has an inset which shows small diagrams of 14 forts along the Gulf coast of Texas, with numbers keyed to their location on the main map. The other inset shows Galveston at a larger resolution.The two large maps (#1 & #9) show positions in the action at PETERSBURG, and measure 7.5x8 inches and 5.5x8 inches in size.The subjects of all ten maps are as follows:* 1 - Sketch of Road Between Bermuda Hundred and Enemy’s Line of Intrenchments on the North and PETERSBURG on the South.* 2 - “Thomas and Schofield.” [Marietta, Ga., and west]* 3 - “Garrard.” [Atlanta to Marietta]* 4 - Schofield Crossing the Chattahoochee.* 5 - [untitled, shows Schofield & Hooker lines near Marietta & Kenesaw Mtn.]* 6 - Sketch of Defensive Works at Deep Bottom, Va.* 7 - Section Through Dutch Gap, James River, Va.* 8 - Plan of Dutch Gap Fortifications, James River, Va., Sept. 10, 1864.* 9 - Sketch of Road from Pontoon-Bridge at Point of Rocks to PETERSBURG, Showing Line of Works Captured by 18th Army Corps.* 10 - COAST OF TEXAS and Its Defenses, 1864. [with two background of this item: The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies work was a massive undertaking by the U.S. Government intended to document the events of the Civil War in tremendous and scrupulous detail. Authorized by Congress in 1866, the first text volume didn’t come out until 1880, and the entire project took over three decades to finish. The complete Official Records series comprised 128 volumes, many of them running well over 1,000 pages apiece, with the final volume published in 1902. The books consisted entirely of written material (reports, orders, official correspondence, etc.) produced by both armies during the course of the war. As a Preface noted, “Nothing is printed in these volumes except duly authenticated contemporaneous records of the war.”These text volumes were augmented by the Atlas to Accompany the Official Records. This Atlas was produced over the period of 1891-1895, to illustrate troop movements and battle actions described in the books. The maps were published under the direction of the Secretary of War and Major George B. Davis of the U.S. Army, and were compiled by a staff led by Capt. Calvin D. Cowles of the 23rd U.S. Infantry. By the conclusion of this project, 178 plates had been produced, presenting a total of 821 Civil War maps, as well as a smaller number of drawings and engravings.These large illustrative plates were issued periodically, with each new group contained loosely in a portfolio wrapper. As a note on the portfolio cover explained: “NOTE.—The ATLAS will be issued in parts of five plates each. The parts, as they appear, will be sent by mail to those persons designated to receive the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, in accordance with the terms of the Act of Congress of August 7, 1882.”The maps were lithographed by the firm of Julius Bien & Co. of New York. Julius Bien (1826-1909) was one of America’s leading lithographers and mapmakers of the 19th Century. Among the many other works he did for the U.S. government, Bien produced the wonderful prints of western scenery which illustrate the Pacific Railroad Surveys, a set of 12 large volumes which were published in the 1850s to inform Congress about the best possible routes for constructing a transcontinental railway.I obtained this map of Civil War importance in an sale put on by the Dauphin Co. (Pa.) Historical Society in the mid-1980s, when the group sold off items in their archives which weren’t directly related to the local history of the County.[gsp297] _gsrx_vers_837 (GS 7.0.15 (837))