1861 Stanford Map of the United States at the start of the Civil War

Transitory map of Confederate secession at the start of the Civil War.

This is an 1861 Edward Stanford map of the United States depicting the Union and Confederacy at the outside of the American Civil War (1861 - 1865). It was published in Great Britain to capitalize on British interest in the conflict, which threatened their booming textile industry and thus national economic stability. The 'Southern Confederated States' are outlined in red. Keeping current to the fast-paced events, Stanford includes the ephemeral Confederate state of Arizona in an unusual configuration.

A Closer Look

Illustrating the country near the Civil War’s outset, Stanford uses color to emphasize the national divide. States and territories are labeled, including the unincorporated territory of Dacotah (although it isn't configured as we would expect). Cities and towns are labeled along with many Army forts. Although not marked as a seceded state, Confederate Arizona appears in the southwestern portion of the country, splitting what had been the New Mexico Territory in half. Population statistics and a key to the map appear below the bottom border.

The seceded states are outlined in red and correspond to what would have been the most up-to-date information available in England at the time of publication, roughly late April 1861. The Confederate States include Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Arkansas and Tennessee are still part of the Union. This map had a very short life, as the final states seceded by the 10th of June, within a month of its issuance.

Other points of interest

• New Mexico Territory and Arizona Territory:At this time, New Mexico Territory extends above Arizona Territory, following the so-called Baylor Line.
• Utah Territory:Oversized in its 1860s configuration, prior to the two major reductions in size that Congress would enact over the following years.
• Nevada Territory:Truncated, the Las Vegas area (then unnamed) remained part of the New Mexico Territory.
• Washington and Oregon Territories:Both extend eastward to the Rocky Mountains, predating the establishment of the Idaho Territory.
• Nebraska Territory:Vast, stretching from Kansas to Canada and from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains - encompassing the future states of Montana and Wyoming.

Confederate Arizona

Confederate Arizona was a territory claimed by the Confederate States of America from 1861 until 1865. The idea of an Arizona Territory dates back as early as 1856, when the government of New Mexico began expressing concerns about its ability to effectively govern the southern part of the territory, as it was separated from Santa Fe by the Jornada del Muerto, a particularly unforgiving stretch of desert. The New Mexico territorial legislature acted on these concerns in February 1858, approving a resolution in favor of creating an Arizona Territory, with a north-south border to be defined along the 32nd meridian (from Washington). Impatiently waiting for Congress to approve the creation of the new territory, 31 delegates met at a convention in Tucson in April 1860 and drafted a constitution for the 'Territory of Arizona', which was to be organized out of the New Mexico Territory south of the 34th parallel. The convention elected a territorial governor and a delegate to Congress. Congress, however, was reluctant to act. Anti-slavery Representatives knew that the proposed territory was located below the line of demarcation set forth by the Missouri Compromise for the creation of new slave states, and they were not inclined to create yet another slave state. Thus, Congress never ratified the proceedings of the Tucson Convention, and the provisional territory was never considered a legal entity.

At the beginning of the Civil War, support for the Confederacy ran high in the southern parts of the New Mexico Territory. Local concerns drove this sentiment, including a belief that the war would lead to an insufficient number of Federal troops to protect the citizens from the Apache, while others simply felt neglected by the government in Washington. Also, the Butterfield Overland Mail Route (an overland mail and stagecoach route from Memphis and St. Louis to San Francisco) was closed in 1861, depriving the people of Arizona of their connection to California and the East Coast.

These factors led the people of the southern New Mexico Territory, or the Arizona Territory, to formally call for secession, and a convention adopted a secession ordinance on March 16, 1861, with a subsequent ordinance ratified on March 28, establishing the provisional territorial government of the Confederate 'Territory of Arizona'. The Confederate Arizona Territory was officially proclaimed on August 1, 1861, following Lieutenant-Colonel J. R. Baylor's victory over Union forces in the First Battle of Mesilla, and the territory was officially recognized by the government of the Confederacy on February 14, 1862. However, by July 1862, Union forces from California, known as the 'California Column' were marching on the territorial capital of Mesilla. Sent to protect California from a possible Confederate incursion, the 'California Column' drove Confederate forces out of the city, allowing them to retreat to Franklin, Texas. The territorial government fled as well and spent the rest of the war in 'exile'. First, they retreated to Franklin, then, after Confederate forces abandoned Franklin and all of West Texas, to San Antonio, where the 'government-in-exile' would spend the rest of the war. Confederate units from Arizona would fight for the rest of the war, and the delegate from Arizona attended both the First and Second Confederate Congresses.

British Interest in the Secession

The rise of the Confederacy and the impending American Civil War was a matter of the greatest interest in England. On one hand, most British citizens deplored the practice of slavery, which had been abolished in the British Empire since 1833. On the other hand, the large and influential British textile industry relied heavily on cotton imports from the southern states, and there was legitimate concern that failure to recognize the Confederate Secession would disrupt supply and lead to economic instability. They were right, and the subsequent Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861 - 1865) corresponded exactly with the Civil War. (Within a year, Lancashire mill workers went from being the most prosperous in Britain to the most impoverished.) This map would have been of the utmost interest to parties on both sides of the debate. In the end, although it was a close vote, the British Parliament never recognized the Confederacy.

Class Distinctions in Britain and Support for the Confederacy

Sympathies in Britain towards the American Civil War were generally broken down according to class and social rank. Quoting historian Douglas Gardner in his review of R. J. M. Blackett's Divided Hearts: Britain and the American Civil War,

The more conservative - and Conservative - members of British society, drawn mostly from the aristocracy and the upper reaches of the middle classes, tended to be supporters of the Confederacy in the American conflict and scornful of the possibilities of liberalism or democracy at home. Many of the spokespeople for this group accepted and publicized the Southern apology for slavery as the basis of a properly hierarchical society. Those in the middle - Liberals whose spokespeople often were dissenting ministers or members of the growing professional groups - tended to support the Union but held and displayed a variety of views on race, slavery, and democracy. Working-class spokespeople tended to abhor slavery as another system of human exploitation, and they, for the most part, stood firm to these beliefs even during the Cotton Famine and other war-related economic dislocations. Less certain was the loyalty of workers (as opposed to their spokespeople) to the antislavery cause.

Publication History and Census

This map was created and published by Edward Stanford's Geographical Establishment on May 13, 1861. Although the printing does not change, we note examples of the map that do not include North Carolina as a seceded state (it seceded on May 20), suggesting that Stanford was updating the map even as it was being printed. The map had a very ephemeral lifespan and had to be replaced as the war developed, and more states seceded. It was replaced less than a month later in June with Stanford's New Large-Print Map of The United States of North America. We note approximately 8 examples cataloged in OCLC - several are duplicate entries for the same item. Scarce to the market.

Cartographer

Edward Stanford (May 27, 1827 - November 3, 1904) was one of the most prolific map publishing firms of the late 19th century. The company began as a partnership in 1848 between the 21 year old Edward Stanford and the established map dealer Trelawney Saunders. By 1853 the partnership had dissolved and Edward Stanford took full control of the business. A subsequent series of expansions and exciting new map issues finally led to the production of Stanford's masterwork, "Stanford's Library Map of London". This map is still available and remains somewhat accurate. At the time of publishing it was hailed by the Royal Geographical Society as "the most perfect map of London that has ever been issued". In 1882 Edward Stanford Sr. passed the firm on to his son, Edward Stanford Jr. who continued in his father's proud tradition. Today the Stanford firm still publishes maps and remains one of the most important and prolific cartographic publishers in the world.   Further Details...

Condition

Good. Archival verso repairs to some fold lines and fold intersection points. Discoloration near title. Attached to original binder.