Military Maps

Maps have played an important role in war planning for centuries. The military maps displayed here range from those drawn by hand prior to combat to works commemorating past battles. In addition to depicting the geography of a conflict zone, the maps provide information about troop movements and manmade features.

Battle of Guilford, Fought on the 15th. of March, 1781.
Philadelphia: Hayes & Zell, ca. 1800s

On March 15, 1781, British soldiers attacked American troops at Guilford Court House in present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, to regain control of the southern colonies during the American Revolutionary War.

This color lithograph documenting the battle was published decades after the war. The curious greenish brown shape covering much of the map is not indicative of contours, as most of the battlefield was flat. It is possible that the overlay was used to delineate the limits of the battlefield.

State Archives of North Carolina

W.G. Lewis
The Only Correct and Reliable Map of the Battle of Bethel!
Tarboro', N.C.: Wm. B. Smith, [1861]

The first major land battle of the American Civil War occurred on June 10, 1861, in York County, Virginia, where 1,400 Confederates, mostly North Carolinians, drove back 4,400 Union soldiers who were advancing northward up the Lower Virginia Peninsula.

The map, an engraved color print rendered in a naive art style, was published shortly after the battle as a commemorative souvenir of the Confederate victory. Major roads are drawn in yellow, while troop locations and significant events for both sides are delineated in red. The map’s claim to be the “only correct and reliable” version indicates that competition among publishers for marketable mementoes was intense.

North Carolina Collection

Jeremy Francis Gilmer
Reconnaisance of the Country between Newbern & Goldsboro' between the Trent and the Neuse Rivers
Ca. 1861-1862

Jeremy Francis Gilmer (1818-1883) created this hand-drawn and colored map for use by Confederate officers during the American Civil War. Creeks, swamps, and rivers are drawn in green, roads are drawn in red, and railroads are shown in black.  Small settlements and single households are identified.

Gilmer was a North Carolina native who served as Chief of the Engineer Bureau for the Confederacy.

The presence of Union soldiers depicted on the map a few miles south of New Bern, North Carolina, indicates that this map was drawn prior to March 15, 1862, when a force of 11,000 Union soldiers defeated a smaller Confederate army and occupied New Bern for the remainder of the war.

Southern Historical Collection