Torn in Two: This schematic map illustrates the nature of newspaper maps and their role in helping to inform the public of the progress of the war. Published on the front page of The New York Times ten days after the battle, it accompanied an extensive article about the Battle of Balls Bluff, which occurred on the banks of the Potomac River a few miles west of Washington, DC. What was supposed to be a diversionary maneuver while a larger Union force moved against Confederate troops encamped near Leesburg, Virginia, resulted in a disastrous retreat for Union troops, including both the Massachusetts 15th and 20th Regiments. The lack of good topographic information, which is almost totally lacking in this quickly prepared diagram, contributed to their defeat.
Newspaper map depicting the Battle of Ball's Bluff, in which the Union Army suffered a devestating loss.
Appears in The New York Times, Thursday, October 31, 1861.
Notes (exhibitions):
Exhibited: "Torn in Two: The 150th Anniversary of the Civil War" organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, 2011.
IIIF Manifest