County Map of Florida [and Mobile, Alabama]

Florida and Mobile, Alabama shortly after the American Civil War.

This interesting map of Florida was published in Philadelphia in 1872 by Samuel Augustus Mitchell. It shows a detailed overview of the Sunshine State during the Reconstruction Era. The general progress by which Florida was settled and developed during the 19th century is clearly evident within the image. Settlement density and transportation routes are robust within the panhandle, but as one travels south the county configurations become larger and towns significantly more scarce. Geographic features dominate the landscape, especially swampland, and annotations reference mangrove and pine woods, Indian hunting grounds, and other exotic features. The locations of several forts and one battlefield are noted, harkening back to earlier conflicts with local Native American tribes.

An inset map in the lower left offers a street plan of Mobile, Alabama, colored by wards. Labeled locations of interest include hotels, the courthouse, transportation depots, and the customs house. The port city was one of the largest and most important in the region in the years following the Civil War.

Samuel Augustus Mitchell was one of the most prominent American mapmakers of the 19th century and initially got involved with cartography as a school teacher who was frustrated with the quality of available maps. He collaborated with skilled engravers and produced high-quality maps and atlases that contained the most up-to-date information available. This attention to detail, combined with his tremendous publication output, made him and his successors one of the most influential cartographic firms of the era.