Two Excellent Gettysburg Map Books
Gettysburg Campaign Atlas: 421 maps encompassing the march to Gettysburg, the battle, and the retreat. 2nd edition, revised. By Philip Laino. Maps, notes, appendices, order of battle, bibliography, index, 481 pp., 2010, Gatehouse Press, www.gettysburgmagazine.net, $40, plastic ring binder. The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3-July 13, 1863. By Bradley M. Gottfried. Maps, notes, order of battle, bibliography, index, 384 pp., 2010, Savas Beatie, www.savasbeatie.com, $39.95. Gettysburg afficionados, Rejoice! Two new offerings present you with extensive collections of maps covering the entire Gettysburg Campaign. Either, or both, will enhance your understanding of that watershed campaign. As the full title indicates, cartographer Philip Laino has produced 421 maps to show the Eastern Theater actions at and relating to Gettysburg in Gatehouse’s Gettysburg Campaign Atlas. Although using the 1869 Gouverneur K. Warren map as his base map, Laino cites numerous other sets of maps upon which he relied. Printed on very heavy paper and assembled in a plastic ring binder, the Campaign Atlas should be very easy to use while touring the Gettysburg Battlefield and other sites involved in the movements toward Gettysburg and the retreat and pursuit following the primary engagement. There are 11 maps of the Battle of Brandy Station and over 20 of the retreat and pursuit. Lucid text accompanies each map to further explain what was happening. More details and contrary views are contained in extensive endnotes (labeled footnotes) following each section of maps. After about 400 pages of maps, text and endnotes, the Campaign Atlas presents breakdowns of all Union and Confederate units at Gettysburg, by state, complete with their strengths and casualty percentages. Those are followed by orders of battle for both armies and a comprehensive bibliography and index. This large book would be easier to use if its table of contents were broken down into smaller units. Days One, Two and Three contain about 80, 150 and 90 pages, respectively, but the table of contents does not specify any subsets within those large batches of material. That slight issue aside, this Campaign Atlas is highly recommended for the armchair or in-the-field Gettysburg history buff. Meanwhile, Savas Beatie continues to enhance its marvelous series of Civil War battle-maps books with this first full-color edition of The Maps of Gettysburg. Originally published in 2007 in black-and-white as the inaugural book in Savas Beatie’s Maps series, that one has sold out in several printings and is available in limited softcover editions. The 144 color maps in this new edition are so spectacular that I recommend this one in lieu of the earlier editions. Each map is accompanied by clear text descriptions of the movements, skirmishes, battles and fights within the fights. The maps and text are both the work of Bradley Gottfried. The book’s scope also is impressive. Its maps and text begin on June 3, 1863, as Robert E. Lee’s army began its march to Gettysburg. They conclude with six maps and discussion of Lee’s July 4-14 retreat from Gettysburg to Virginia and the fruitless Federal pursuit. (Kent Masterson Brown’s Retreat from Gettysburg contains 21 more detailed maps of the retreat and pursuit.) In between, detailed maps focus on both Union and Confederate armies’ approaches to Gettysburg and every aspect of the fighting at Gettysburg. All 144 maps are conveniently listed in the table of contents and thus easy to locate. Although there are detailed maps of the preliminary battles at Second Winchester and Stephenson’s Depot, there are no detailed maps of the significant June 9 cavalry Battle of Brandy Station, which critically affected J.E.B. Stuart’s conduct during the campaign. The order of battle, endnotes, bibliography and index are all impressively thorough and useful. This beautiful book is highly recommended for anyone interested in Gettysburg or the Eastern campaigns of the Civil War. Its companion volumes, The Maps of First Bull Run and The Maps of Chickamauga, are also in full color. Choosing between the Gettysburg Campaign Atlas and The Maps of Gettysburg is a matter of personal choice. The former has about three times as many maps, but the latter offers its in brilliant color. Their prices are about equal. You cannot go wrong in selecting either one. Reviewer: Edward H. Bonekemper III Book Review Editor Ed Bonekemper, adjunct military history lecturer at Muhlenberg College, is the author of four Civil War books.
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