1863 U.S. Coast Survey Map of the Entrance of the Chesapeake Bay
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Description: A scarce example of the 1863 U.S. Coast Survey nautical chart or maritime map of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. This Civil War Era map covers from the York River east to Cape Charles and south as Far as Cape Henry, Norfolk, and Portsmouth. Includes the Hampton Roads, Fortress Monroe, and the town of Hampton. Offers innumerable depth sounding throughout. Text to the left and right of the map proper includes sailing instructions, notations on light houses, magnetic variations, tide and currents. Title of chart in the lower center.
This map was made at the height of the American Civil War. At the time, the Union, from its stronghold at Fort Monroe, was determined to control naval access to the Chesapeake Bay and its adjacent river systems. This chart provided crucial information to the Union Naval officers who enacted a blockade of the Chesapeake. Military action based from Fort Monroe eventually drove President Jefferson Davis from the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, effectively ending the War.
The triangulation and topography for this map was accomplished by E. Blunt and J. Farley. The Topography is the work of J. J. S. Hassler, G. D. Wise, J. Seib, and J. Mechan. The Hydrography was completed by a party under the command of J. J. Almy. The whole was compiled under the supervision of A.D. Bache, director of the U.S. Coast Survey. Engraved by J. Knight, A. Sengteller, H.S. Barnard, and J. C. Kondrup for the 1863 edition of the U.S. Coast Survey Superintendent's Report
Date: 1863 (dated)
Source: Bache, A. D., Report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, Washington, 1863.
Cartographer: The Office of the Coast Survey, founded in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of Commerce Albert Gallatin, is the oldest scientific organization in the U.S. Federal Government. Jefferson created the "Survey of the Coast," as it was then called, in response to a need for accurate navigational charts of the new nation's coasts and harbors. The first superintendent of the Coast Survey was Swiss immigrant and West Point mathematics professor Ferdinand Hassler. Under the direction of Hassler, from 1816 to 1843, the ideological and scientific foundations for the Coast Survey were established. Hassler, and the Coast Survey under him developed a reputation for uncompromising dedication to the principles of accuracy and excellence. Hassler lead the Coast Survey until his death in 1843, at which time Alexander Dallas Bache, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, took the helm. Under the leadership A. D. Bache, the Coast Survey did most of its most important work. During his Superintendence, from 1843 to 1865, Bache was steadfast advocate of American science and navigation and in fact founded the American Academy of Sciences. Bache was succeeded by Benjamin Pierce who ran the Survey from 1867 to 1874. Pierce was in turn succeeded by Carlile Pollock Patterson who was Superintendent from 1874 to 1881. In 1878, under Patterson's superintendence, the U.S. Coast Survey was reorganized as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C & GS or USGS) to accommodate topographic as well as nautical surveys. Today the Coast Survey is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA. Click here for a list of rare maps from the U. S. Coast Survey.
Size: Printed area measures 36 x 25.5 inches (91.44 x 64.77 centimeters)
Condition: Good. Map exhibits typical wear, verso reinforcement, repair, and toning along original fold lines. Blank on verso. Margin extension left side.
Code: ChesapeakeEntrance-uscs-1863 (to order by phone call: 646-320-8650)
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