1777 Lotter and Sauthier Map of New York and New Jersey

An important 1777 Revolutionary War era map of New York and New Jersey by Claude Joseph Sauthier and Matthäus Albrecht Lotter. The map reflects significant German interest in the war related to widespread participation by Germans on both sides of the conflict.

A Closer Look

This is Lotter's German edition of Sauthier's map of 1776, with coverage embracing from Quebec and Lake Champlain along the Hudson Valley Corridor south as far as Delaware Bay, inclusive of all of New York (as it then appeared) and New Jersey, as well as significant portions of adjacent Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware. Vermont is here attached to New York, as it was at this time legally part of New York (as shown), although practically under the control of the New Hampshire land grantee Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys.

The present example offers impressive detail in both New York and New Jersey with color coding identifying county lines. Topography, though minimal, is rendered in profile. The boundary line between East and West Jersey is noted as are various conflicting boundaries associated with the New York-New Jersey border dispute. The Tienaderha River (Unadilla River) marks the western frontier of colonial power in the region and recognizes the territory of the Six Nations Tribes - with various geographical features and American Indian villages noted. In Pennsylvania, just east of the Susquehanna, Sauthier identifies the 'Great Swamp'. Though modern residents of this region may have hard time recognizing it, there was once a vast wetland in modern day Bucks County. Today the much reduced 'Great Swamp' is called the Quakertown Swamp and is a protected wetland popular with birders.

Historical Context

This map is essentially a summary of mapping in New York completed by the British Corps of Engineers in the years just prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783). Sauthier was the official surveyor of the province of New York from 1773 to 1776, a period that witnessed numerous boundary disputes both within the colony and with neighboring Quebec, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. These disputes fostered a wealth of new survey information and encouraged a careful re-examination of older survey work - most of which was accomplished by Sauthier and those under him. When Sauthier briefly returned to London in 1774, he met with William Faden to publish a new, definitive map of the region - the 1776 first edition.

German Interest in the American Revolution

In the early years of the Revolutionary War, the ethnically German King of England, George III, called on his resources as Prince-elector of Hanover, a title which he held concurrently with his British titles, to field numerous German soldiers in defense of his claims in America. On the Continental side, pre-war German immigration led to the formation of the Provost Corps in Pennsylvania and the German Regiment. Other Germans fought for American independence under the French Flag. The significant presence of German forces on both sides of the conflict fostered a wide interest throughout German lands in the unfolding war in the Americas. Lotter was quick to capitalize on this interest with the 1777 republication of Sauthier's important map, essentially the most up to date map of the region available at the time.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved and published by Matthäus Albrecht Lotter in Augsburg. It was sold individually, as well as included in some editions of Seutter's Grosser Atlas, published by Lotter in 1778, as well as in some examples of Seutter's Atlas Novus, and in various composite atlases of the period.