George Washington and His Maps

Smithsonian Magazine ^ | 16 Nov 2010 | John Hanc

[Palter]

In his journey from surveyor to soldier to leader, our first president used cartography to get a feel for the young nation

(The Granger Collection, New York)

First in war.

First in peace.

First to look at a map whenever he had a question about waging the former and sustaining the latter.

It’s not how we typically picture George Washington: bent over a map by candlelight, scrutinizing, measuring and in some cases actually drawing the topographical details that would help conquer a wilderness, win a war, create a republic. But as historian Barnet Schecter shows us in his illustrated new history, George Washington’s America: a Biography through His Maps, many of our first president’s decisions during his long career as a surveyor, soldier and statesman were made only after careful readings of the existing cartographical materials.

“The Yale atlas enables us to look over Washington’s shoulder,” Schecter writes in the introduction to his book, “accompanying him as he journeyed through these landscapes, of struggled to direct his generals and monitor their campaigns in distant theaters of battle.” Schechter’s book examines 190 of the founding father’s maps, including the original 43 maps in the Atlas as well as others that appeared in a separate inventory of Washington’s library.

Here are 10 maps Schecter feels are most important in understanding the significance that maps played in the life of Washington in each phase of his remarkable career.

(Yale University Library)

Map 1: A Map of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia

About 43 of Washington’s maps—the actual maps—were saved and bound together, most likely by his family after his death in 1799. Eventually, they made their way to Yale University’s Sterling Library. Schecter, a 1985 Yale graduate, read about them in the university’s alumni magazine. Intrigued, he went to New Haven to see them and was flabbergasted by their richness—exquisitely rendered, copper-plate engraved, many with additional water color painting. All were from Washington’s personal library and (in a stroke of good timing for Schecter) recently cleaned and restored. “I was blown away,” says Schecter, the author of the critically-acclaimed books The Revolutionary Battle of New York, and the Civil War Draft Riots. “To hold maps he held sends shivers down the spine.”

Part of the significance of this map, originally done in 1751, was its creators: Peter Jefferson, Thomas’ father, and Joshua Fry, who commanded George Washington during the French and Indian War. But Schechter suggests that it also maps out the contours of the young Washington’s mind and character. “All the land up to the mountains was owned by people like Lord Fairfax,” Schechter says. “This map sets up one of the great shaping forces of Washington’s life—his search for land beyond the mountains. It shows the acquisitive, ambitious side of the man.” Later, he notes, “That self interested pre-occupation became ‘how do we unify this country?’” Washington found the answer to both of those questions in his maps.

(Yale University Library)

Map 2: A General Map of the British Colonies

Washington owned the original 1755 map and referred to both it and the updated 1775 version throughout his life (he even mentions the in a letter). What’s important about it, Schecter says, is that it shows the placements and names of Native American tribes. “During the French and Indian War, Washington learned that there was a bewildering array of tribes and alliances,” Schechter said. This map helped Washington better understand the Indian tribes and their physical proximity. This particular detail from the map shows, in capital letters, the territory of the six Iroquois nations south and east of Lake Ontario. From east to west: Mohocks, Tuscaroras, Onyuts (Oneidas) Ondages, Cayugaes and Senecas.

(University of Virginia, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library)

Map 3: Washington’s Map of the Frontier

This map of the western frontier, drawn by the 21-year-old Washington in 1754, reveals something about his character, as well as his ability as a draftsman. “This shows his toughness, as well as his skills,” Schecter says: “That he was willing to go out and trek through rain and snow in the wilderness and come back with an accurate map.”

Washington’s map was also influential. It shows the forks of the Ohio and its confluence with the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers (site of modern day Pittsburgh), and helped convince Virginia authorities that this strategic site—where a fort was planned—was vulnerable to attack and needed to be defended.

Guess who was appointed to lead the mission to defend the new settlement?

(Yale University Library)

Map 4: The Seat of War in New England

This detail is part of a well-known map drawn in London in 1775 depicting the opening battles of the Revolutionary War, Washington likely got his copy through French map dealers. Shown here, in addition to giving us a good look at the city of Boston in 1775, is the Battle of Bunker Hill, fought just before Washington took command of the army. Orange flames of Charlestown burning, as depicted in this map, are part of what captured Schecter’s attention when he first looked through the atlas at Yale’s Sterling Library.

(Yale University Library)

Map 5: An Authentic Plan of the River St. Laurence… with the Operations of the Siege of Quebec

This map shows the famous 1759 Battle of Quebec, in which the British general Wolfe defeated the French general Montcalm. Why was it in Washington’s collection? “He dispatched [Benedict] Arnold to take Quebec in 1775,” Schecter says. “So this map plus letters from Arnold were his ‘intel.’ This is how he followed the campaign back in Cambridge.”

No doubt while reading this map, Washington also noted the area marked “Landing Place” by the village of Sillery, just west of the city. Here, a young British officer led a group of volunteers up the palisades along the river—the spearhead of a flanking movement that proved to be the decisive point of the battle. That young colonel was the same man that Washington now faced 16 years later: British Army general William Howe.

(Yale University Library)

Map 6: A Map of the Province of New York

Originally drawn by British military engineer John Montresor, this map was consulted by Washington as he planned the defense of the city of New York in 1776. The plan involved American troops fighting house to house in Lower Manhattan, in an effort to inflict mass British casualties. The plan never materialized, as Howe flanked the Americans by landing his troops well above the city. “This was a moment that Washington stumbled,” Schecter notes.

(Yale University Library)

Map 7: An Accurate Map of North and South Carolina

This was the best available map of the Carolinas when Washington sent Gen. Nathaniel Green there to stem the British advance in the American South. The fact that it was part of Washington’s collection, Schecter says, proves an important point: “These distant theaters of the war are a very important part of Washington’s story. Although he was not there himself, making decisions, he’s heavily engaged through the maps.”

(Yale University Library)

Map 8: A Map of the United States According to the Definitive Treaty

This 3–by-2-foot map shows the boundaries of the new country as established by the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution. This was also the first important map that designated the United States by name. No wonder Washington had it in his collection. “You see the U.S. as one unified country here,” Schecter says. “He probably took great pride in that.” (In the inset to the map, the United States is shown without state borders, making it seem even more of a homogenous entity, which also no doubt pleased the general.)

(Yale University Library)

Map 9: A Map of the Western Parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina

Washington consulted this map—which he considered “amazingly accurate”—before recommending to Congress the borders for what would become the states of Ohio and Michigan. He also used it to plan strategy in the Indian wars of the early 1790s.

(Yale University Library)

Map 10: Washington’s Own Survey of Mt. Vernon

In December 1793, Washington told his secretary Tobias Leer that he planned to rent out the farms on his 8,000-acre Mount Vernon estate, except the primary one, on which his mansion was located. He attributed this momentous decision to advancing age, but admitted in a private letter to Leer that the reason “more powerful than all the rest, was to liberate a certain species of property which I possess very repugnantly to my own feelings.” He was talking, of course, about slaves—and his desire to free the ones in his possession. But how to do it? This map, Schecter says, reveals one idea. “What he hoped to do was take the four separate farms that made up the estate and hoped to divide it up, rent it out and have farmers cultivate the land and hire the free slaves.” This plan, alas, never came to fruition, and his slaves were freed instead upon his death six years later.

[Palter]

GW, ping.

[KC Burke]

interesting article

thanks

[NavyCanDo]

Timely post. On the recommendation of Glenn Beck I purchased the book “The Real George Washington”, and I am about half way through which is at Wars end. Fascinating man. A Giant among Men.

[Kartographer]

A MOST ENJOYABLE POST!!!!!

[SMARTY]

Maps are beautiful things... old maps the most beautiful.

[Pharmboy]

Palter: thanks for the ping and the magnificent post! I have read Schecter's book on the RevWar in NY...he's a good man. Also to note: one of the more famous maps The General did himself was the first map of a planned Alexandria:

[the map and the comments below come from earlyamerica.com]

This map of Alexandria, Virginia, was prepared by George Washington during his career as a public surveyor. The map included a street grid and a list of lot owners, which included Washington's older half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, William Fairfax, and George William Fairfax.

The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list...

[Pharmboy]

Palter: thanks for the ping and the magnificent post! I have read Schecter's book on the RevWar in NY...he's a good man. Also to note: one of the more famous maps The General did himself was the first map of a planned Alexandria:

[the map and the comments below come from earlyamerica.com]

This map of Alexandria, Virginia, was prepared by George Washington during his career as a public surveyor. The map included a street grid and a list of lot owners, which included Washington's older half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, William Fairfax, and George William Fairfax.

The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list...

[unkus]

Thank you so much for the wonderful post. What beautiful maps. The accuracy is amazing.

[Pharmboy]

Sorry about the double post, but I got an error message the first time so I hit it again.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks so much for posting...and for going to the trouble to include the links to the maps themselves! I love historic cartography. It does indeed reveal so much about our history.

[Cold Heart]

I found the loran lines over printed on classical navigation charts very irritating.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

About 43 of Washington’s maps—the actual maps—were saved and bound together, most likely by his family after his death in 1799. Eventually, they made their way to Yale University’s Sterling Library.

Schecter, a 1985 Yale graduate, read about them in the university’s alumni magazine. Intrigued, he went to New Haven to see them and was flabbergasted by their richness—exquisitely rendered, copper-plate engraved, many with additional water color painting.

All were from Washington’s personal library and recently cleaned and restored. “I was blown away,” says Schecter, the author of the critically-acclaimed books The Revolutionary Battle of New York, and the Civil War Draft Riots. “To hold maps he held sends shivers down the spine.”

Very interesting that they could make such good maps...

[Godebert]

Here he is at age 19 surveying.

I snapped this photo last year at the new museum complex on the grounds at Mt. Vernon.

[Godebert]

Close up:

[mick]

Outstanding and informative post...Thank you, Sir, we are in your debt !!

[mick]

Thanks for this photo post.....very interesting !

What a resource is FREE REPUBLIC !!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Nicely done! Thank you! :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks for the ping. I LOVE maps. Endlessly fascinating. I have a relief map of The Great Lakes that I keep meaning to frame. Now is the time! :)

[Interesting Times]

Ping.