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Battle Maps of the Civil War
Includes many maps that were created for American Heritage in 1951: aerial photos, a summary of each battle/campaign, and brief biographies of Civil War generals. (Best Books for Young Adult Readers )
176 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 6, 2025
Battle Maps of the Civil War was a gift from my wife many years ago. I have enjoyed looking through it many times, but I have never studied it...until now. I used it in conjunction with reading Ulysses Grant's personal memoirs, and it has been invaluable to my reading experience. I understand so much more about the Civil War by using these maps while reading Grant. I love this book.
February 23, 2022
The fabulously haunting and evocative ACW battlefield maps of David Greenspan
As a child I saw, somewhere - I thought it was in issues of National Geographic, but my recent researches suggest I'm mistaken about this - and ultimately became haunted by, the incredible ACW battlefield maps of David Greenspan.
I believe these 'battle maps' were originally commissioned for The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War by Bruce Catton. Subsequently these fabulous works of informative art have been collected in this book and, quite understandably, are to be studied and celebrated in their own right.
Greenspan's maps describe 17 or 18 of the major battles (or in some instances series of battles) of the ACW, shown in a kind of 3/4 aerial view (almost isometric, only they are in perspective), depicting beautifully painted landscapes populated with tiny armies of grey Confederates and blue Unionists. All the component elements are simplified and stylised, and on close inspection one learns that each artwork synthesises and compresses a whole battle or series of engagements into one image.
It's supremely well done, and has spawned much imitation (from people like Robert & Mary Nicholson in National Geographic's centennial articles on the ACW to more recent works by Schlecht and Kammerer, even influencing the graphics of military computer games), as well as promoting much interest in the subject it so evocatively portrays.
I tried to learn more about David Greenspan, with little success. This book and Catton's Picture History are the best testimony to what I feel is a near sublime talent. I can't easily put into words the terrific impact his battlefield maps have had on me.
As already alluded to, these same 'battle maps' can be found in Catton's American Heritage Picture History. But this is perhaps marginally the better place to appreciate them, as the prints are fairly large. Rather sadly one or two images suffer from a little misalignment of colour plates, which lessens the clarity (at least in my copy). But they do occupy centre stage here, supported by their original captions and additional text from Richard O'Shea.
As well as Greenspan's artwork, there are paintings by Don Troaini, aerial photos of the battlefields, more conventional symbol-based maps, and photos, etc. O'Shea's text gives broader historical narrative context and detail on the featured battles and campaigns.
A wonderful book chock-full of some pretty sublime artwork, by a great and elusive artist and draftsman, who proves himself to also be an educator and inspirer. Can't praise this work enough!
As a child I saw, somewhere - I thought it was in issues of National Geographic, but my recent researches suggest I'm mistaken about this - and ultimately became haunted by, the incredible ACW battlefield maps of David Greenspan.
I believe these 'battle maps' were originally commissioned for The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War by Bruce Catton. Subsequently these fabulous works of informative art have been collected in this book and, quite understandably, are to be studied and celebrated in their own right.
Greenspan's maps describe 17 or 18 of the major battles (or in some instances series of battles) of the ACW, shown in a kind of 3/4 aerial view (almost isometric, only they are in perspective), depicting beautifully painted landscapes populated with tiny armies of grey Confederates and blue Unionists. All the component elements are simplified and stylised, and on close inspection one learns that each artwork synthesises and compresses a whole battle or series of engagements into one image.
It's supremely well done, and has spawned much imitation (from people like Robert & Mary Nicholson in National Geographic's centennial articles on the ACW to more recent works by Schlecht and Kammerer, even influencing the graphics of military computer games), as well as promoting much interest in the subject it so evocatively portrays.
I tried to learn more about David Greenspan, with little success. This book and Catton's Picture History are the best testimony to what I feel is a near sublime talent. I can't easily put into words the terrific impact his battlefield maps have had on me.
As already alluded to, these same 'battle maps' can be found in Catton's American Heritage Picture History. But this is perhaps marginally the better place to appreciate them, as the prints are fairly large. Rather sadly one or two images suffer from a little misalignment of colour plates, which lessens the clarity (at least in my copy). But they do occupy centre stage here, supported by their original captions and additional text from Richard O'Shea.
As well as Greenspan's artwork, there are paintings by Don Troaini, aerial photos of the battlefields, more conventional symbol-based maps, and photos, etc. O'Shea's text gives broader historical narrative context and detail on the featured battles and campaigns.
A wonderful book chock-full of some pretty sublime artwork, by a great and elusive artist and draftsman, who proves himself to also be an educator and inspirer. Can't praise this work enough!
July 22, 2024
Nice illustrations but little substance.
April 19, 2017
This book ahs fifteen chapters, each covering a single battle or campaign (one covering the Wilderness and Spotsylvania). The description of the battles was minimal with no analysis of the tactics or strategy involved. Each chapter has at least three or four maps each but this isn't much of an advantage, since most simply show the same thing, only in a slightly different way, and don't do much to help understand the battle. For example, the Shiloh chapter includes a hand drawn map of the battlefield by William T. Sherman; I don't see anything on it not already shown on the other three maps in the section.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews