A formidable challenge
This 1863 map of Morris Island, South Carolina, shows why taking Fort Wagner was so difficult. It is located three-quarters of the way up the island when approached...
A map of the campus
This map, prepared for the Commission on Campus Unrest, shows "the Commons" area on the Kent State Campus, the movement of the National Guardsmen, and the locations...
Astoria, critical Pacific seaport
This 1890 “bird’s-eye view” of Astoria, Oregon, by B.W. Pierce, is a colorful, if somewhat fanciful, plan of the Pacific Northwest seaport. Details such as the...
Battles on Bull Run
The Cartographic and Architectural Branch holds many Civil War maps including this one of the Battles on Bull Run on July 21, 1861.
Boundary Lines
Created the year after the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, this map finally defined America’s northeastern border. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the...
Cartography for the common defense
This is an August 1956 map of Port Said, Egypt, one of the thousands of maps created by the Department of Defense. They cover most of the world’s land masses, at...
Cuban airfields
President John F. Kennedy used this map in his Cuban Missile Crisis meetings, September 1962 to October 1962 to show aircraft locations in Cuba.