"The Hotchkiss Map Collection" contains cartographic items
by Hotchkiss (1828-1899), who made detailed battle maps, primarily of
the Shenandoah Valley, some of which were used by Generals Lee and Jackson
for their combat planning and strategy. Several of the maps have annotations
of various military officers, demonstrating their importance in the
military campaigns. The collection also includes maps made or used by
Hotchkiss during his postwar years, including maps with information
about railroads, minerals and mining, geology and history. Most of them
focus on Virginia and West Virginia, but also cover other states and
even the world.
One such map, Hotchkiss' masterpiece, "Map
of the Shenandoah Valley," prepared at the request of Stonewall
Jackson and presented to the Library by Mrs. Christian in 1964, shows
the offensive and defensive points of the Shenandoah Valley from the
Potomac River to Lexington, Va. Hotchkiss also filled several notebooks
with topographic and strategic drawings. The collection consists of
341 sketchbooks, manuscripts and annotated printed maps. This online
presentation includes all the materials in the Hotchkiss Map Collection,
some of which also appear in the complementary American Memory collection
"Civil
War Maps, 1861-1865."
