Make Me a Map of the Valley: The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson's Topographer

by Jedediah Hotchkiss, T. Harry Williams (Foreword), Archie P. McDonald (Editor)

Records the daily observations over a three-year period of Jedediah Hotchkiss during his career as courier, soldier, mapmaker, and companion to the Confederate general

Genres: Civil War, History, American Civil War, American History

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Sandra Oldfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to read book as it is very detailed diary account of people, places, companies etc during battle. A good reference book if looking at various details of certain battles. Interesting maps for sure as the book was written by Jackson's mapmaker.

[David Antis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's literally the daily journal of a topographical engineer with the Army of the Valley so a lot of the entries might be just a couple sentences about weather, sickness, etc. The editor added some terrific details in the footnotes if you don't mind flipping to the back every page or so. Hotchkiss didn't just make maps, he was involved with directing troops, fortifications, etc. and he very casually interacted with ALL the leading Confederate generals. So it's not a great narrative, but I learned some things. For good narrative, I recommed Shrouds of Glory by Winston Groom or the 3 Volume history by Shelby Foote -- or at least the excerpted book
The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign by Foote.

[Monte Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would actually give this 2 stars for any casual reader, but 4-5 stars for anyone wanting to use this book for research purposes. It is a daily journal with many monotonous entries like "made a map and the weather was good". However, it is minutely detailed as to dates and places for placement of the armies. The only real detail for battles is in the second Valley Campaign of 1964 in which several battles have excellent detail.

[Lizzy DeMarco · Rating 3 out of 5]

really interesting perseption of the Civil War...not found of journals but this was good.