Jedediah Hotchkiss: Rebel Mapmaker and Virginia BusinessmanJedediah Hotchkiss held a pivotal, but until now relatively unknown, role in the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War. He served as a staff officer and army cartographer, imparting both his views and his professional work to the generals he served. This is the first complete portrayal of the man set against the era in which he lived. Peter Roper's biography fills a gap in the literature of the Civil War. Writing as a sympathetic Englishman, Roper paints an affectionate portrait of this Confederate officer and aide, adopted Virginian, and important contributor to our knowledge of Civil War historiography through his maps. This is a complete biography of a transplanted New Yorker who embraced the cause of Virginia and the Confederacy. Hotchkiss' learning and winning personality made him successful as a staff officer. His forte as a military cartographer soon became apparent to Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. But Roper's ten-year study of Hotchkiss shows us more than the work and challenges of a mid-level staff officer illustrating the Confederate way of war in the East. His postwar life is even more fascinating. Hotchkiss embraced the cause of the "New South" and applied his skills and enthusiasm to the Shenandoah Valley and surrounding parts of Virginia and West Virginia, working on behalf of industry and railroading. Fully documented here are Hotchkiss' efforts to promote the Lost Cause and recapture the truth of Civil War campaigns through his maps. His friendships with former Confederate personalities provide an unusual chapter in Reconstruction and New South history. Here, for the first time, is the complete life of Jedediah Hotchkiss. His work as a Northern educatorin Virginia, soldier-cartographer to Jackson, Lee and other senior generals, postwar business representative abroad, entrepreneur, and mapmaker for historians of the Civil War is now available to all students of the Civil War, of Reconstruction, and of Virginia. |
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acres Alexander H. H. Stuart April army artillery Augusta County battle battlefield Blue Ridge Board Brady Cabin Creek camp cavalry Chancellorsville Churchville Coal Land Colonel Confederate copy Corps Cowan December diary E. W. Clark Early's enemy February Federal Flat Top Forrer Fredericksburg Gauley geological Guyandot Handley Library Henderson Hotch Hunter McGuire II Corps interest iron Jackson January Jed Hotchkiss Jedediah Hotchkiss July June Kanawha kiss later Lee's letter Library of Congress Loch Willow Major mapmaking March Mary Baldwin College McCreery meeting miles military mineral mining months Mossy Creek Mountain Nellie November October Pliny Fisk Port Republic Potomac published railroad Richmond River road Robinson rode Rogers route sent September Shenandoah Valley sketch South Staunton Stonewall Stonewall Jackson survey tion topographical engineer troops Valley Campaign Virginias Railway wagons Washington Waynesboro West Virginia William Winchester Windsor