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ILMER. FACSIMILE CONFEDERATE MAP. JUNE 1863. ----TITLE: Map of Goochland Co. VA. Surveyed under the Direction of A.H. Campbell, Capt. Engr s . ----PUBLICATION DETAILS: Map drawn by Assistant Engineer Charles E. Cassell and dated June 1863. 24" by 36" sheet size on acid-free poster stock, reproduced in black and white from the collection of the original (with all faults) held by the Virginia Historical Society (now The Virginia Museum of History and Culture). Never folded. Would be shipped rolled up. ----DESRIPTION: This is number 39 of 94 numbered and boxed reproductions were made from manuscript maps of the early 1860s which include a wealth of topographic detail - roads, bridges, railroads, waterways, and major buildings, and also identify farms and plantations by owners surnames on Virginia and North Carolina County maps. Surveyed and drawn during the period 1861 to 1865. Several of the maps are multi-sheet. ----GILMER: The originals were produced by the Engineer Bureau of the Confederate States War Department under the supervision of its chief, Jeremy Francis Gilmer (1818-1883). Gilmer, a West Point graduate and engineer in the prewar United States Army, became Chief of the Engineer Bureau of the Confederate War Department in September 1862. He was stationed at Richmond with the rank of Brigadier General. He held the position of Chief Engineer through the end of the Civil War, rising to the rank of Major General. ----CAMPBELL: Alfred H. Campbell graduated from Brown University in 1847. He is credited as a civil engineer on maps of San Francisco Bay completed in 1850 under the direction of Cadwalader Ringgold. In 1853 and 1854 Campbell accompanied another expedition under Captain A.W. Whipple from Fort Smith, Arkansas, via Albuquerque, to San Pedro, California to survey a potential Pacific Railroad. Then, in 1854 and 1855, Campbell was part of Lieutenant John G. Parke's expedition from San Francisco Bay to Los Angelos, San Diego, and on to El Paso and San Antonio. By 1861, Campbell had quite an impressive resume, and was serving as the superintendent of the Pacific Wagon Roads Office in Washington. Clearly, Campbell had connections in the North and the South, but he sided with the Confederacy. ----CASSELL: Charles Emmet (Emmett) Cassell (1838-1916) was born in Portsmouth, Virginia and trained as a naval architect. He received a degree in engineering from the University of Virginia at age 15. He served the entire Civil War in the Confederate Army Engineering Corps, rising from private to captain, including service under General George Pickett. After the war he traveled to South America and served in the Chilean Navy. He returned to the United States and practiced architecture in St. Louis and Baltimore. ----THE RETREAT: On April 2, 1865, President Davis, his Cabinet, and the Confederate defenders abandoned Richmond on the recommendation of General Robert E. Lee. Davis and his cabinet fled south (but avoiding Petersburg) on the last open railroad line, the Richmond and Danville. The retreating Confederate soldiers were ordered to set fire to bridges, the armory, and warehouses containing supplies as they left. The fire spread out of control, and large parts of downtown Richmond, except for the Capitol, were destroyed. ----SAVING THE MAPS: Gilmer saved a number of the maps produced under his supervision from the flames that destroyed a large portion of Richmond in 1865. The bulk of the society's collection of sixty-seven of these so-called "Gilmer Maps" are among those salvaged by the general himself. His daughter, Louisa Porter (Gilmer) Minis donated sixty-three to the society in 1911, the other four came into the collection by other means. Above the map title there is a manuscript note by Gilmer s daughter referring to her gift. ----CONDITION: Like new. The apparent loss of the image on the lower right is due to poor light balance, not a fault of the map. ----N2240(39). Seller Inventory # N2240(39)
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