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Primary Source of the Month


"Map of the Territory of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean . . . ," by Gouverneur Kemble Warren, published by the United States War Department, Washington, ca. 1858. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

"Map of the Territory of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean . . . ," by Gouverneur Kemble Warren, published by the United States War Department, Washington, ca. 1858. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

This historical cartographic image is held in the Geography and Map Division collection of the Library of Congress. Originally, the map was created for the Office of Pacific Railroad Surveys, United States Department of War, to determine the best placement for the United States' first transcontinental railroad. For such an important purpose, the map needed to be comprehensive and topographically accurate. The original "general map," as it was called by the Department of War, took more than one year to complete, even with the full attention of the primary cartographer, Lt. Gouverneur Kemble Warren.

This version of the "general map," dated 1858, is a reissue of the original, updated with new discoveries. In fact, Lieutenant G. K. Warren, and Edward Freyhold, whom Warren credited with the topography, continually updated the map, even after the Civil War, as more western cities, towns, and forts were established and more routes of exploration were opened. Warren himself noted the difficulty that he and future cartographers would have in keeping up with expanding knowledge and new settlements of the West in his Memoir to Accompany the Map of the Territory of the United States from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, written in 1859.

[Note: To examine this map in even greater detail, go to its page at the Library of Congress Web site, click on the image and the use the "Zoom Viewer."]


This article was written by Margret Atkinson, elementary school teacher, Baton Rouge, LA; Bill Neer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Literacy, Lemoyne College, Syracuse, NY; and Jodi Norman, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.



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