Bull Run ... Ball's Bluff... Secessionville ... Antietam ... Champion's Hill ... Chickamauga. To the Northern public during the Civil War they were exotic names of unfamiliar places where husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers fought and died. Hungry for information from these far-off battlefields, Americans began buying daily newspapers in record numbers. Competition among publishers grew keen. Correspondents reporting from the field soon began supplementing written dispatches with battlefield maps, and before long newspapers were seeking new ways to portray topography and battle lines in clear, effective images. In Civil War Newspaper Maps David Bosse shows how nineteenth-century advances in printing and engraving technology, coupled with an unprecedented public demand for information, led to the development of a means of mass communication still in use today - the quickly produced newspaper battlefield map. Bosse's introduction offers a concise overview of the subject, including how correspondents got maps to their papers from the field, press-military relations during the war, and the economic problems of map printing. Following the text is an atlas of forty-five newspaper maps printed by the Northern daily press. Each map is accompanied by a summary of the military operation it illustrates and a commentary on the map itself, including an evaluation of its accuracy based on comparison with other historical and cartographic sources. Arranged chronologically, the maps cover nearly every theater of the war and represent a unique historical record of one of the pivotal events in American history.

During the course of the Civil War, Northern daily newspapers printed over 2,000 separate maps depicting campaigns and military operations. Although they are important primary documents, these maps have been largely overlooked by historians and enthusiasts because of the difficulty in locating them. This cartobibliography is the first finding aid to the war's journalistic cartography. The book lists all known Civil War maps published in eighteen daily newspapers in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. Entries consist of map title, scale, dimensions, author (when known), engraver (when known), and notes on sources of information and geographic coverage. Maps are grouped by newspapers, which are arranged alphabetically, and listed chronologically under each newspaper. A thorough geographic, subject, and personal name index provides access to the entries.

From the first shots fired at Fort Sumter in 1861 to the final clashes on the Road to Appomattox in 1864, The Atlas of the Civil War reconstructs the battles of America's bloodiest war with unparalleled clarity and precision. Edited by Pulitzer Prize recipient James M. McPherson and written by America's leading military historians, this peerless reference charts the major campaigns and skirmishes of the Civil War. Each battle is meticulously plotted on one of 200 specially commissioned full-color maps. Timelines provide detailed, play-by-play maneuvers, and the accompanying text highlights the strategic aims and tactical considerations of the men in charge. Each of the battle, communications, and locator maps are cross-referenced to provide a comprehensive overview of the fighting as it swept across the country. With more than two hundred photographs and countless personal accounts that vividly describe the experiences of soldiers in the fields, The Atlas of the Civil War brings to life the human drama that pitted state against state and brother against brother.