A GREAT RARITY: THE FIRST MAP OF THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, WITH PAMPHLET SKETCHES OF THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG—"GUNS BELCHED FORTH THEIR THUNDERS… THE AIR SEEMED LITERARLLY FILLED WITH IRON": ISSUED VERY SOON AFTER THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

(CIVIL WAR) DITTERLINE, T[heodore]. Sketch of the Battles of Gettysburg, July 1st, 2d, and 3d, 1863… Accompanied by an Explanatory Map. New York: C.A. Alvord, 1863. Small quarto (5 by 7-1/4 inches), early marbled wrappers, original stitching as issued; pp. 24. Original chromolithograph map, 17 by 19-3/4 inches unfolded. Map floated and framed, entire piece measures 27 by 23 inches.

Rare original 1863 chromolithographic map of the "Field of Gettysburg," published within mere months of the battle, considered the first map of the battlefield,with the original rarely found 24-page pamphlet with which it was issued, compiled "from the personal observation of eye-witnesses of the several battles" and regarded as the first separately published work to document the battle and likely issued before Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address.

The Battle of Gettysburg is "the most important battle in American history… For the first time Lee and the Confederacy were facing an Army of the Potomac led at nearly all levels by men who were battle tested" (Nelson, 97-98). The rare 24-page pamphlet, Sketch of the Battles of Gettysburg, July 1st, 2d, and 3rd, 1863, presents a day-by-day account of the momentous battle, and included the rarely found large chromolithographed folding map of the battlefield after a drawing by northern cartographer Theodore Ditterline. Widely considered the first map of the battlefield, the local Gettysburg newspaper, The Adams Sentinel, in its October 20, 1863 issue, called it "a very distinct and correct map of the battle-field… The details are quite minute, and will be highly satisfactory to all who feel an interest in the three day's fight." With Union forces color-outlined in blue, and Confederate forces in red, the map also highlights positions of batteries, corps, divisions and brigades, as well as buildings, commanders, headquarters, road, drainage and railroads, and relief by hachures for terrain.

"From the very first this battle excited exceptional and extraordinary interest. The great numbers engaged, the heroism so signally displayed… its decisiveness as the turning point in the Rebellion" (Final Report of the Gettysburg Battle-field Commission, 6). Ditterline's map was praised by publisher George Childs of the Philadelphia Public Ledger in an October 23, 1863 announcement that expressed his high opinion of the map, "which is shared by several officers in the battle." At the time "the military's desire to create an accurate historical record of key battles merged with a broader popular impulse to memorialize heroism and sacrifice. Mapping where corps, brigades, units and individuals fought became a way to immortalize their roles in famous battles" (Knowles, Hillier, Placing History, 246). Ditterline's map is highlighted in Nelson's authoritative Mapping the Civil War, which notes it clearly displays "the famous 'fish-hook' line held by General Meade's army on the second and third days of the battle" (96-97). Regarded as the first separately published work to document the battle, likely issued before Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address, this pamphlet was compiled "from the personal observation of eye-witnesses of the several battles," most of whom were war correspondents, and was issued so quickly that it left out "Pettigrew's and Trimble's commands entirely in describing how Pickett's three brigades made the attack" (Reardon, Pickett's Charge, 65). On the last text page, Ditterline offers thanks to "the several correspondents of the press who were present and witnessed the battles, and from whose descriptions of the fight he has freely extracted; as also to the citizens of the town, and particularly to D. McCenaughy"—referring to Gettysburg attorney David McConaughy, president of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association. Ditterline's map, printed by lithographers Duval and Son, Philadelphia, was issued together with this pamphlet: typical of a practice in which "some compilers and publishers added descriptive text to their battle maps… to further expand on the information depicted cartographically" (Library of Congress Civil War Maps No. 331). Sauers 589. Not in Broadfoot.

Booklet text generally fresh with faint dampstaining, edge-wear with loss to fragile wrappers. Map bright with small closed foldline tears expertly repaired. Beautifully framed.