Map of the defences · 1863

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s map, April 1863

Charleston and its defences

Printed on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer for Saturday, 11 April 1863, four days after the Federal ironclad attack on the harbor failed. It is a newspaper map — what a northern reader was given to understand about a place his navy had just been thrown back from.

It marks the obstructions and the torpedoes, which is to say it published the Confederate defensive scheme as the North understood it in the spring of 1863.

What is on the sheet

  • forts
  • batteries
  • obstructions
  • torpedoes — that is, mines

The catalog’s own notes

From The Philadelphia Inquirer, Saturday, April 11, 1863, p. 1. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 374.5.

The record

Title, as catalogedCharleston and its defences
Title used hereThe Philadelphia Inquirer’s map, April 1863
MakerPhiladelphia Inquirer
Date, as cataloged1863
KindMap of the defences
Scaleca. 1:52,000
Medium1 map
Dimensions30 x 24 cm
CollectionCivil War Maps
Call numberG3914.C3S5 1863 .P4
Image served byLibrary of Congress
RightsPublic domain
Rights statement, verbatimThe content of the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division digitized collections is free to use and reuse unless a Rights Advisory statement is present that indicates otherwise. Credit Line: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.
Credit lineLibrary of Congress, Geography and Map Division
Catalog recordhttps://www.loc.gov/item/99448819/
Last verified2026-08-30

Read the sheet at the repository