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1862 Abbot and Humphreys Map of the Peninsula Campaign during U.S. Civil War

YorktownWilliamsburg-abbot-1862
$237.50
Campaign Maps Army of the Potomac Map No. 1 Yorktown to Williamsburg Prepared by Command of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, U.S.A. - Main View
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1862 Abbot and Humphreys Map of the Peninsula Campaign during U.S. Civil War

YorktownWilliamsburg-abbot-1862

Illustrates the beginning of the Peninsula Campaign during the American Civil War from Fort Monroe to Williamsburg.

Title


Campaign Maps Army of the Potomac Map No. 1 Yorktown to Williamsburg Prepared by Command of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, U.S.A.
  1862 (dated)     34.5 x 22.75 in (87.63 x 57.785 cm)     1 : 63360

Description


This is an 1862 separate-issue Henry Larcom Abbot map of part of the Virginia Peninsula during the American Civil War. Commissioned by Union Major General George B. McClellan to illustrate his Peninsula Campaign, the map depicts the region from the James River to the York River and from Williamsburg to Fortress Monroe and Chesapeake Bay. The first in a series of three maps, the sites of both the Siege of Yorktown and the Battle of Williamsburg (the first major battle of the Peninsula Campaign) are both illustrated.
The Beginning of the Peninsula Campaign
McClellan and the Union Army landed at Fort Monroe (near the bottom of this map) and began marching toward Yorktown. His original plan called for a naval blockade of Yorktown along with a land-based siege, but after the unexpected appearance of the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia, naval supremacy was doubtful at best. Thus, in order to spare his navy for another fight, McClellan opted for a land-only approach. Even so, after his army had surrounded Yorktown, Confederate forces managed to escape the siege, which led to Williamsburg, Virginia, becoming the site of the first major pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign. Although illustrating the theater of war, very few notations are present that indicate the current state of the fighting between Union and Confederate forces. Earthworks along the roads southeast of Williamsburg, known as Fort Magruder, and along the roads leading to Yorktown, are the only features that indicate combat. Roads, rivers, forests, and individual buildings are illustrated. Private homesteads are even labeled, along with several churches and mills. However, no notations of military maneuvers or other specifics about the campaign are present, which is the case for the other two maps in this series.
Publication History and Census
This map was compiled by Henry Larcom Abbot under the direction of Brigadier General Andrew Atkinson Humphreys and engraved by William Henry Dougal and published by the army in 1862.

CartographerS


Henry Larcom Abbot (August 13, 1831 - October 1, 1927) was an engineer and career officer in the United States Army. Born in Every, Massachusetts, Abbott graduated second in his class at West Point in 1854. Commissioned as a brevet second lieutenant on July 1, 1854, Abbot had initially wanted to join the Artillery, but a friend convinced him that the Engineers was a better option. By 1855, Abbot had been assigned to Lieutenant Robert Williamson's Pacific Railroad Survey in California and Oregon. Abbot also participated in several studies of the Mississippi River, including a notable study of the river's flow from the confluence with the Ohio River south to the Gulf of Mexico. Abbot was assigned to Brigadier General Irvin McDowell's forces at the outbreak of the American Civil War and was wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run. later, he served as a topographical engineer with the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign, where he earned a brevet promotion to major at the siege of Yorktown. After the Peninsula Campaign, Abbot was transferred to command a heavy artillery unit, though that appointment did not last long as he was soon sent to Washington, D.C. to command a brigade defending the capital. In May 1864, Abbot was sent to command the artillery during the siege of Petersburg, and by December he was placed in command of all siege artillery in the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James. After the war, Abbot remained in the army and served with the Army Corps of Engineers. He was placed in command of an engineer batallion at Willet's Point, New York, where he founded the army's Engineer Engineer School of Application, the first of its kind in the United States. After retiring from the army in 1895, Abbot continued to work as a civil engineer and was even employed as a consultant on the lock system for the Panama Canal. More by this mapmaker...


William Henry Dougal (January 30, 1822 - October 17, 1895) was an American artist and engraver. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Dougal was apprenticed to Sherman and Smith, New York City-based engravers, at the age of 15. He was working independently as an engraver in Washington, D.C. by 1844, receiving his first large commission to engrave the plates for the reports of the Wilkes expedition. He spent 1849-1850 in San Francisco as the owner and operator of a livery and grocery store. Dougal returned to Washington, D.C. by late 1850, where he worked for the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, a position he held until his death in 1895. Dougal married Mary Virginia Adler in 1851, with whom he had seven children. Learn More...

Condition


Very good. Toning along original centerfold. Exhibits transference. Blank on verso.

References


Rumsey 3879.000. OCLC 953568145.