1782 / 1900 Map of New York City During the American Revolutionary War

Quite a remarkable discovery of exceptional size, beauty, and rarity. This gigantic Revolutionary War Era map of New York City is the only published facsimile the the great manuscript map of New York City and environs that hung in the British Command Headquarters during the English occupation of New York (1776 – 1783) and which now resides in the London War Office.

Oriented to the west, this map covers all of Manhattan as well as much of adjacent Brooklyn, and parts of New Jersey, Long Island, and the Bronx. It was prepared as a working war manuscript on the orders of British Generals Sir William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and Sir Guy Carleton. The map exhibits staggering detail throughout with topography, fields, roads, streams, and apparently even individual trees indicated. Throughout buildings are highlighted in red and fortifications in green. Some important locations, mostly of military interest, are alphanumerically identified and referenced via a table in upper left quadrant.

Following their defeat at the Siege of Boston the British strategy for the remainder of the American Revolutionary War turned on New York City. Their plan was to capture and hold the important port city, using its control of major inland waterways to divide and dominate the continental forces. The subsequent New York Campaign was a disaster for George Washington and the Continental Army, which after a sole victory at the Battle of Harlem Heights, fled into New Jersey where they regrouped. The British meanwhile, as an effort to consolidate their power and hold the city permanently ordered their engineering team to produce this magnificent map of the city. The strategic and tactical advantage of superior cartographic intelligence could not be underestimated and Washington, aware the unassailable British position in New York, turned his strategy elsewhere.

The extreme rarity of this map can be attributed to the fact that Steven's printed 'no more than 100 copies … and the engravings [were] erased as each sheet [was] printed off.' It engraved and printed by Malby and Son and was issued by subscription from Stevens' office at No. 4 Trafalgar Square, London. We have identified several examples in institutional collections including the David Rumsey Collection at Stanford, the Boston Public Library, Columbia University, the New York State Library, the Wisconsin Historical Library, and the Huntington Library. Given Stevens' role as a purchaser for American universities and libraries, it is likely that many of the examples in these venerable collections were acquired directly from Stevens as part of the original subscription. It is unclear how many others have survived.