Well, now, THIS is cool--Civil War Maps Placed on the Internet

By CARL HARTMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Civil War buffs are getting access to a treasure trove of information — thousands of original maps and diagrams of battles and campaigns between 1861 and 1865, all posted on the Internet.

The Library of Congress is posting 2,240 maps and charts and 76 atlases and sketchbooks, while The Virginia Historical Society and the Library of Virginia are adding about 600 items. Much of the collection is online now; the rest will be by the spring.

The items depict troop positions and movements, as well as fortifications. There also are reconnaissance maps, sketches and coastal charts and theater-of-war maps. [...]

Nifty, both for folks who just like maps in general and for folks who like Civil War history. (This announcement was actually made back in December, but, you know, until it's in the news, it's not news.) Anyway, the website is here, and I just had to find one that had Trussville listed. Sure enough, it can be found on this one; there is no Birmingham at the time--Birmingham wasn't founded until 1871, but there is the name of the original county seat, Elyton. Springville, Branchville, Ashville are all still around today, but Taylors and Beaver Valley going toward Springville, I don't recall ever hearing about. Rockville, which is between Trussville and Elyton looks to be about where Woodlawn is now, but it's hard to tell. This one is almost an exact copy, except showing Mississippi bordering, instead of Georgia.

Neat stuff.

By the way, should any of you cartophiles ever get this way, don't miss the Rucker Agee map collection over at the Linn-Henley Library, some of which is cataloged by the University of Alabama geography department on their website. Again, some neat stuff.
posted by Terry at 9:20:00 AM