1890 Vorzet Map of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Environs, U.S. Civil War

KentuckyTennessee-vorzet-1890
$350.00
Kentucky et Tennessee. - Main View
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1890 Vorzet Map of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Environs, U.S. Civil War

KentuckyTennessee-vorzet-1890

One of the First Union Victories of the Civil War.
$350.00

Title


Kentucky et Tennessee.
  1890 (undated)     17.5 x 24.75 in (44.45 x 62.865 cm)     1 : 1500000

Description


This impressive 1890 map of Kentucky, Tennessee, and portions of neighboring states was prepared by Ernest Dumas-Vorzet for his Histoire de la Guerre Civile en Amérique. Among the larger maps in the atlas volume of the work, it highlights a large portion of the Western Theater, a bright spot for the Union early in the war.
A Closer Look
Coverage ranges from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Vandalia, Illinois (the state's capital from 1818 to 1837) at the top to the northern portions of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia at the bottom, and from the Mississippi River in the west to the Great Smokey Mountains and Cumberland Mountains in the east. Cities, towns, waterways, mountains, railways, roads, forts, and other features are recorded in tremendous detail. This region corresponds to much of the Western Theater of the U.S. Civil War, where the Union saw significantly better results than in Virginia in the early part of the war. A small inset at the top-left displays the battlefield of Mill Springs (here as Mill Spring), at the center towards the right, one of the first Union victories of the war.
The Battle of Mill Springs
The Battle of Mill Springs, also known as the Battle of Fishing Creek, the Battle of Logan's Cross Roads, or the Battle of Somerset, took place in southeastern Kentucky along the Cumberland River on January 19, 1862. Although the conflict had begun months before and had seen large battles in the east in the summer of 1861, the Western Theater was defined by much smaller and more haphazard conflicts while armies were slowly mustered or built out of ragtag outfits. By the start of 1862, the Union was ready to attempt to secure the border state of Kentucky, the loss of which would have posed a major problem for the Union (as President Lincoln stated at the time, 'to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game'). Union forces under Gen. George H. Thomas moved to drive the Confederates across the Cumberland River. Similar to the Battle of Shiloh four months later, albeit on a smaller scale, at Mill Springs the Confederates tried to quickly attack Thomas' troops before they were fully reinforced and resupplied, making progress early before running into stiff resistance, facing a Union counterattack, and having to retreat. The battle was one of the first, arguably the first notable Union victory of the war, providing a badly-needed morale boost to the Union cause. Afterward, Union forces moved into Tennessee and gained further victories at Forts Henry and Donelson and then at Shiloh.
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 being identified in OCLC, and is scarce to the market. Most examples lack the atlas, which in OCLC appears only at the Boston Athenaeum. Very little market history.

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. Laid on contemporary linen. Slight toning on original centerfold.

References


LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 80. OCLC 877854568.