1862 Johnson Map of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Confederate Arizona

This is the 1862 Civil War edition of A. J. Johnson's map of California and the territories of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Confederate Arizona - considered one of the scarcest and most historically significant of A. J. Johnson's southwest series due to its illustration of the ephemeral Confederate state of 'Arrizona'.

Confederate Arizona

In 1861 'Arrizona' was an alternate name for the lands added to the New Mexico territory by the 1854 Gadsden Purchase. With only a small population and minimal political influence this region was largely ignored by the New Mexico territorial government in distant Santa Fe. Arizona applied several times to be granted independent territorial status, but its low population and the fact that it would, by position, become a slave state, caused the request to be repeatedly denied. At the outbreak of the Civil war, Arizonans recognized an opportunity to appeal to an alternate body for their political representation and threw in their lot with the secessionist southern states. Around this time the Union began to withdraw troops from the region in fear that Santa Fe would be attacked by Confederate soldiers operating out of Texas. In Texas itself the Confederate Col. John Robert Baylor, recognizing a strategic opportunity, led his troops into Southern Arizona. In a series of brilliant tactical maneuvers, Baylor defeated the much larger Union garrison and seized Fort Fillmore and Mesilla. Shortly thereafter, Baylor declared himself Territorial Governor of the Confederate Territory of Arizona including 'all that portion of New Mexico lying south of the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude.' The Confederate Territory of Arizona lasted less than a year before it was seized by the Union Army and dismantled in favor of the current configuration, with the Arizona – New Mexico border situated along a north-south axis. Some have suggested that the current border between Arizona and New Mexico was chosen for no other reason than that it differed from the Confederate border. However, it is far more likely that this border was influenced by the prospect of a Southern Pacific railroad route. If the Confederate boundaries had remained the railroad would have would have run only through Arizona, thus denying New Mexico the political and business opportunities that would have inevitably followed. A longitudinal border, however, allowed both territories to be enriched by the Southern Pacific Railroad. This is one of the few maps issued during this short and politically volatile period to specifically depict the Confederate Territory of Arizona.

Other Points of Interest

This example also varies from the previous state of the map in that the California – Nevada border has been corrected to a straight line between Pyramid Peak (where several Mormon settlements are noted) and Fort Moliare.

Elsewhere, Utah and Arizona are split up along the 116th meridian, far west of where it sits today. Fillmore City is shows as the capital of Utah though Salt Lake City also appears. In Colorado, the Gold Region near Colorado City is prominently depicted. Throughout, this map is full of interesting and sometimes erroneous notations regarding natural features, Native American tribes, proposed railroads, mail routes, explorer's tracks, and treaty lines. In the desert region near modern day Quartzite, Arizona, a note reads 'in the vicinity of this place a tract of country is found which is said by Trappers to be exceedingly and fertile and abundantly timbered and well-watered.' Johnson also notes silver deposits in this same area. 'Vegas' appears roughly in its current location though at the time there was little there but a natural water source and an abandoned Mormon fort. The famed Pony Express Route is delineated as it passes through Nebraska, Utah, and Nevada on its way to California.

Publication History and Census

This map was published in 1862. According to Ira Lourie, the map remained unchanged in the 1863 (v. 6) variant, but verso content was added. As a whole, Johnson's southwest series is among the most interesting of his atlas maps, being updated multiple times a year from 1860 to the late 1880s. In all, there are 27+ variants. The present example, was published in New York by A. J. Johnson and Ward as plate numbers 58 and 59 in the 1862 edition of Johnson's New Illustrated Family Atlas.