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1890 Vorzet Map of Antietam, Harper's Ferry, and Cedar Mountain, U.S. Civil War

Antietam-vorzet-1890
$187.50
Cedar Mountain (Virginie). Harpers Ferry et South Mountain. Antietam (Maryland). - Main View
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1890 Vorzet Map of Antietam, Harper's Ferry, and Cedar Mountain, U.S. Civil War

Antietam-vorzet-1890

The Bloodiest Day in U.S. Military History.

Title


Cedar Mountain (Virginie). Harpers Ferry et South Mountain. Antietam (Maryland).
  1890 (undated)     14.25 x 10.75 in (36.195 x 27.305 cm)     1 : 50000

Description


This is Ernest Dumas-Vorzet's map of the 1862 Civil War Battles of Cedar Mountain, Harpers Ferry, and Antietam, issued to illustrate the 1890 book Histoire de la Guerre Civile en Amérique.
A Closer Look
The sheet is divided into three sections, with the largest, of Antietam, occupying roughly the bottom two-thirds. Throughout, detail is provided on terrain, elevation, waterways, roads, railroads, fortifications, and other features, including the names of property-holders.

These sites themselves saw some of the heaviest and bloodiest fighting of the American Civil War (1861 - 1865). The Battle of Cedar Mountain (August 9, 1862) was a transitional battle between the Union's failed Peninsula Campaign and the Second Bull Run or Manassas Campaign, which also went badly for the Union. Afterward, Gen. Robert E. Lee attempted an invasion of Maryland, which included a side campaign against the Union arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Although best known as the side of the October 1859 raid by abolitionist John Brown and his associates, often seen as one of the clearest harbingers of the coming conflict, the arsenal was the site of multiple battles during the ensuing war, which completely destroyed the town of Harper's Ferry. Perhaps the most significant was fought on September 12 - 15, when a critical mistake by the Union commander allowed the Confederates to surround the city and arsenal with artillery, resulting in the surrender of the entire garrison (over 12,000 men), the largest mass surrender of Union troops in the war.
The Battle of Antietam
The single bloodiest day in U.S. history, the September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam claimed a combined total of 22,717 casualties and has the distinction of being the first field army-level engagement in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War to take place on Union soil. The battle was fought between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek. The battle is referred to by both names, although the Battle of Sharpsburg is used primarily in the southern United States. The victor is unclear as both sides suffered huge casualties yet had something to celebrate. The Union Army successfully stopped the Confederate invasion of Maryland but squandered its numerical advantage, fumbled attacks, and was unable to fully defeat Lee, who successfully retreated to fight another day. Historians deem this a strategic, if costly, victory for the Union. Perhaps the most significant outcome of the battle was Lincoln's decision to follow the victory with the Emancipation Proclamation, which prevented both England and France from officially recognizing the Confederacy.
Publication History and Census
This map was drafted by Ernest Dumas-Vorzet, engraved by Louis Wuhrer, printed by Becquet, and published by Michel Lévy in Paris for the 1890 French edition of Philippe d'Orléans' Histoire de la Guerre Civile en Amérique. The atlas supplement, of which this map was part, was issued only with the 1890 French publication and not included in any of the earlier English editions. The entire work, in this edition, is uncommon in institutional collections, with only 3 identified in OCLC. Most examples lack the atlas, which in OCLC, is specifically identified only at the Boston Athenaeum.

CartographerS


Ernest Dumas-Vorzet (18?? - 18??) was a French line and letter engraver active in Paris in the late 19th century. He engraved the lettering on nautical charts for the Dépôt des Cartes et Plans de la Marine. His later work is often associated with Émile Delaune (18?? - 19??) and Hachette et Cie. He is likely the father of Edouard Dumas-Vorzet, a French publisher and cartographer. More by this mapmaker...


Frédéric Louis Charles Wuhrer (1844 - 1925) was a French cartographer, engraver, and artist. He lived in the town of Buc, France, where he purchased the former Town Hall. Wuhrer is better known as a landscape artist, with a strong record at auctions. Little is known of his engraving work, but the Bibliothèque nationale de France has over one hundred pieces in their collection attributed to his name. Learn More...


Louis-Philippe-Albert d'Orléans, Comte de Paris (August 24, 1838 - September 8, 1894) was a French prince, scholar, officer in the American Civil War (1861 - 1865), and unofficially King of France (February 24, 1848). Louis-Philippe-Albert was the grandson of French king, Louis Philippe I of the house of Orléans. With the advent of the French Second Republic (1848 - 1852), Louis-Philippe-Albert and his family fled to the United States. Louis-Philippe-Albert became an outspoken journalist who, when the Civil War broke out, volunteered to serve in the Union Army, being instantly appointed assistant adjutant general under General George McClellan with the rank of captain. During his service, he used the abbreviated name Philippe d'Orléans. He served in the Peninsular Campaign, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater, but resigned from service in July 1862. Later, he wrote a History of the Civil War in America, published in 1875. He returned to Europe in 1864, where in England, he married his paternal first cousin, Princess Marie Isabelle d'Orléans (1848–1919), Infanta of Spain. In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War and the downfall of Napoleon III, they were allowed to return to France, and many of their properties were restored. He renounced all claims to the French throne in 1873 but was still considered by some Orléanists as Philippe VII of France. In 1886, the prince and his family again went into exile in London, where he died in 1894. Learn More...


Michel Lévy (1821 - May 4, 1875) was a French publisher and founder of the Michel Lévy Frères publishing house. Born in Phalsbourg in the Moselle to a bookseller (colporteur), he began selling books in Paris at the age of fifteen under the name Michel Lévy Frères. Although his brothers Kalmus (Calmann) and Nathan were sometimes involved in his business, Michel was the primary bookseller and later publisher. Initially, Lévy focused on works relating to the theater, but later expanded into literature, periodicals, and other fields. By the 1860s, Michel Lévy Frères was one of the major publishers in France, putting out works by the likes of Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, and Victor Hugo. Michel Lévy was inducted into the Légion d'Honneur in 1873, but died unexpectedly two years later. Afterwards, his brother took charge of the firm, then renamed Calmann Lévy (sometimes as Calmann-Lévy), and it continued its success as a leading publisher in France. In 1893, Calmann turned over the business to his three sons, Georges, Paul, and Gaston, who ran it until the Second World War, when Gaston was interned by the Nazis and the publishing house was renamed Editions Balzac. After the war, the firm continued and still exists today as a subsidiary of Hachette. Learn More...

Source


Orleans, Louis-Philippe-Albert d', Histoire de la Guerre Civile en Amérique, par M. le comte de Paris, (Paris: Michel Lévy) 1890.    

Condition


Good. Some margin discoloration upper left corner. On original linen.

References


LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 80. Library of Congress G1201.S5 P3 1890. OCLC 877854590, 877854591, 877854589 (one sheet cataloged three times).