Torn in Two: The first major battle fought on northern soil occurred September 17, 1862, in Washington County, Maryland, about 50 miles west of Washington, DC. Known as Antietam Creek or Sharpsburg, it is now recognized as the bloodiest one-day battle in American history, with approximately 23,000 casualties. Accounts of this battle started to appear in northern newspapers two to three days after the engagement. One of the earliest map-illustrated articles was published in the New York Tribune, September 19. Although this map did not attempt to depict the military action of the day, it did show the general location of Sharpsburg and the surrounding countryside along the upper Potomac River. The Tribune published a more detailed map of the battlefield in the next day’s issue.
Newspaper map depicting areas of military activity in Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia, and at the Battle of Antietam.
Relief shown by hachures.
Appears in the New York Tribune, Friday, September 19, 1862.
Notes (exhibitions):
Exhibited: "Torn in Two: The 150th Anniversary of the Civil War" organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, 2011.
IIIF Manifest