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Description

Major C.H. Boyd's Copy of Atlanta Campaign Map.

Major Charles Harrod Boyd's Copy of this rare map of the Atlanta Campaign, issued on September 1, 1864. The map was likely issued to Boyd in conjuction with his field duties as a mapmaker in the Army of the Cumberland.

The map extends from Chattanooga, Tennesees to Jonesboro, Georgia, and provides in elaborate detaile the topographical features of the region, towns, railroad lines and troop movements. The map notes that it was prepared "from information furnished by Capt. O.M. Poe Chief Engr. Genl Sherman's staff and from Gen'l Sherman's Published Report.

Given the format of the map (issued dissected with the standard marbled boards and title utilized by the Coast Survey for the publication of field maps during the Civil War, it is likely that this map was produced very shortly after September 1, 1864 and certainly well before the conclusion of the war, as Major C.H. Boyd is still listed as an Officer in the Army of the Cumberland and had not yet returned to duty with the US Coast Survey after the war.

The dominant feature of the map is the depiction in Blue (Union) and Red (CSA) of the troop movements during the Atlanta Campaign. The map depicts the routes taken by various named Union Commanding Officers (Schofield, Thomas, McPherson, Hooker) through the region, with areas in red noting the taking (with dates) of certain strategic locations by Union forces from the Confederate States Army, culminating with the Capture of Atlanta and Jonesboro, on September 1, 1864.

The note at the bottom left identifies the various commanding officers working under W.T. Sherman.

Charles Harrod Boyd

Graduated from Brown University in 1854, with the degree of Ph.D. in 1854. He entered the US Coast Survey as an aide, October 1, 1855; was made a sub-assistant June 1, 1863, and an assistant July 1, 1869. He performed astronomical and topographical duties until the start of the Civil War in 1861.

With the commencement of the war, Boyd was assigned to conduct a series of assignments at sea and ashore, including the Port Royal expedition under Commodore Dupont in 1861 and from December 1862, under General Barnard on the fortifications near Washington, D.C.

In late 1863 he was assigned to the staff of Maj. Gen. George Thomas as part of the Army of the Cumberland, with the rank of Major, where he remained until the completion of the war.

Following the War, Boyd returned to the U. S. Coast Survey, where for the next thirty years he was involved in various projects, including surveys of the Mississippi River delta.

Rarity

The map is apparently very rare. We located no other examples on the market in the past 30 years.

Condition Description
Dissected and laid on linen, with original covers. With inscription of C.H. Boyd, Army of the Cumberland.
United States Coast Survey Biography

The United States Office of the Coast Survey began in 1807, when Thomas Jefferson founded the Survey of the Coast. However, the fledgling office was plagued by the War of 1812 and disagreements over whether it should be civilian or military controlled. The entity was re-founded in 1832 with Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler as its superintendent. Although a civilian agency, many military officers served the office; army officers tended to perform the topographic surveys, while naval officers conducted the hydrographic work.

The Survey’s history was greatly affected by larger events in American history. During the Civil War, while the agency was led by Alexander Dallas Bache (Benjamin Franklin’s grandson), the Survey provided the Union army with charts. Survey personnel accompanied blockading squadrons in the field, making new charts in the process.

After the Civil War, as the country was settled, the Coast Survey sent parties to make new maps, employing scientists and naturalists like John Muir and Louis Agassiz in the process. By 1926, the Survey expanded their purview further to include aeronautical charts. During the Great Depression, the Coast Survey employed over 10,000 people and in the Second World War the office oversaw the production of 100 million maps for the Allies. Since 1970, the Coastal and Geodetic Survey has formed part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and it is still producing navigational products and services today.