Map of the United States & Canada

A detailed overview of the United States published shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War.

Issued just months after the first shots were fired upon Fort Sumter in South Carolina, this map of the United States provides a detailed overview of the Northern and Southern states at the outset of the conflict. The image highlights the accessibility of the railroad network throughout the country, and two inset maps of the Midwestern and New England states vividly illustrate the North’s favorable advantage in rail lines; especially with double tracks and standardized gauges.

The South, however, boasts a long coastline with a myriad of navigable rivers and harbors, which would ultimately make the ongoing Union blockade extremely difficult to successfully maintain. The western portion of the country shows the temporary Confederate Territory of Arizona (split from the New Mexico territory the year of publication), a short-lived configuration of the Washington Territory and a vast, newly incorporated Dakota Territory.

Population tables (including the ratio of slaves to freed persons), an index of the country’s military forts, and a list of dates of secession are provided in the negative space and give detailed contemporary statistics on the wartime situation. The image was drawn by J.H. Goldthwait and published in New York by G.Q. Colton in 1861. Printed by Lang and Laing.