Map of the defences · August 1863

The Rebel defences of Charleston Harbor S.C., August 1863

The Rebel defences of Charleston Harbor S.C., August 1863

Held by Virginia Historical Society. The Library of Congress serves the image; the sheet itself belongs to another institution, and permission to reproduce it comes from them.

Hand-drawn in a diary, four inches across, in the month the siege of Morris Island was at its height. Sneden was a Union soldier-mapmaker with an extraordinary compulsion to record, and his little watercolors are a different kind of evidence from an engraved chart: one man’s understanding, dated, in his own hand.

The Library of Congress serves the image. The Virginia Historical Society owns the diary, and permission comes from them.

What is on the sheet

  • Union and Confederate positions, color-coded

The catalog’s own notes

Color coding indicates the location of Union and Confederate forces.

The record

Title, as catalogedThe Rebel defences of Charleston Harbor S.C., August 1863
MakerRobert Knox Sneden (1832–1918)
Date, as catalogedAugust 1863
KindMap of the defences
Medium1 map : pen-and-ink and watercolor
Dimensions11.5 x 15 cm
CollectionRobert Knox Sneden Diary (Mss5:1 Sn237:1 v. 4, p. 806)
Image served byLibrary of Congress
Held byVirginia Historical Society
RightsPermission required
Rights statement, verbatimThis item is from the collections of the Virginia Historical Society; please contact the institution for more information. NOTE: Researchers will be served a color photocopy of this image.
Credit lineVirginia Historical Society, Robert Knox Sneden Diary
Catalog recordhttps://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00155/
Last verified2026-08-30

Read the sheet at the repository