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Jedediah Hotchiss
1828-1899
“Stonewall Jackson’s
Topographer Engineer and Map Maker
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Friday, May 23, 1862. “got there, just after we had
charged on the enemy, and witnessed the fight on the hill
and saw them charged on across the bridge; or rather, came
up a few moments after our men got to the bridge, the sight
being obstructed by the hill.
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The General went on beyond
Cedarville, to where Colonel Mumford charged on the 1st
Yankee Maryland Regiment with his cavalry, received their
fire and routed them completely.
We captured many stores, two trains of cars, etc. Ashby went
to Buckton and cut off their retreat to Strasburg, but he
lost many brave men there; Captains Sheets, Fletcher and
(Baxter), all killed. Brown and I slept in a barn at
Cedarville; the General went within 8 miles of Winchester.
Our infantry advance, the troops of General Ewell, encamped
on the hill beyond Crooked Run.” Make Me a Map Of the
Valley The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson’s
Topographer p48.
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Tuesday, August 16,1864. “Sketched
the country between the river and Massanutten
Mountain and along the foot of Fisher’s Hill.
Quite warm. |
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Fitz Lee came to see General Early, his
cavalry being at Front Royal. Anderson had a fight
with the Yankee cavalry at Guard Hill, in which he
got the worst of it.” Make Me a Map Of the Valley
The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson’s
Topographer p222.
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Transplanted New
Yorker
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A transplanted New Yorker, Jedediah
Hotchkiss became the most famous of Confederate
topographers.
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1840s he
settled in Virginia and founded an academy.
In 1861 he gave up teaching and offered his
services as a map maker to General Garnett
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In western
Virginia, after serving at Rich Mountain and mapping out
General Lee's planned campaign in the mountains, he fell
ill with typhoid fever.
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In March
1862 he joined Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah
Valley as a captain and chief topographical engineer of
the Valley District.
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Often
personally directing troop movements, he took part in
the actions of the Valley Campaign and at Cedar
Mountain, Chantilly, Harpers Ferry, Antietam, and
Fredericksburg.
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At
Chancellorsville he found the route by which Jackson was
able to launch his surprise flank attack on the Union
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11th
Corps. After the death of his chief he served the next
two commanders of the corps, Generals Ewell and Early,
but was frequently assigned to work for Lee’s
headquarters.
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In this
dual role he served at Gettysburg and in the Mine Run
and Wilderness campaigns.
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Accompanying
Early to the Shenandoah, he served through the campaigns
there until after the disaster at Waynesborough. He gave
himself up upon notification of Lee's surrender.
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By now a
major, he was arrested but General Grant had him
released and returned his maps. Grant even paid for the
right to copy some of them for his own reports.
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Most of
the Confederate maps in the atlas of the Official
Records were drawn by Hotchkiss.
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After the
war he was energetic in trying to develop the economy of
his adopted state. Also involved in veterans' affairs,
he authored the Virginia volume of
Confederate Military History. (Hotchkiss,
jedediah, Make Me A Map of the Valley)
Source:
"Who Was Who In The Civil War" by Stewart Sifakis
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Click here to view
Map of Guard Hill created August 16th 1864
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