1775 / 1776 An Accurate Map of North and South Carolina with their Indian Frontiers...
DESCRIPTION
One of the great maps of the American South, Henry Mouzon’s An Accurate Map of North and South Carolina presents the Carolinas in extraordinary detail at the very moment the American Revolution began.
The first state of Robert Sayer and John Bennett's map of the Carolina's was originally published in May 30, 1775. This is a second state example that includes Fort Sullivan (est. January 1776) in the map inset was printed the following year, yet retains the original date. The monumental four-sheet map stretches from the Atlantic coast deep into the Appalachian backcountry. Roads, rivers, settlements, plantations, county boundaries, Indian paths, Native towns, mountains, swamps, ferries, harbors and coastal soundings combine to create what became the most authoritative large-scale map of the Carolinas during the Revolutionary era.
Henry Mouzon Jr., a South Carolina surveyor and civil engineer, drew upon contemporary surveys and earlier mapping by John Collet, James Cook and others to produce a substantially improved picture of the two colonies. The title proudly announces that the geography was compiled “From Actual Surveys,” and the density of information bears this out. Individual landowners, courthouses, mills, churches, ferries and roads appear throughout the settled regions, while the mountainous interior is crossed by trails and waterways connecting colonial settlements with the Native communities beyond the frontier. The result is not simply a map of political boundaries, but an unusually detailed record of the human and physical geography of the Carolinas on the eve of war.
A Revolutionary War Map of Great Importance
Mouzon’s map quickly assumed importance far beyond its original geographic purpose. Its depiction of roads, river crossings, settlements, mountain passages and coastal approaches provided precisely the information required by armies campaigning through the South. Copies are known to have been used by leading commanders on opposing sides of the Revolution, including George Washington, British commander Sir Henry Clinton, and the Comte de Rochambeau, commander of the French expeditionary forces. The map remained an important geographic reference as the southern theater grew increasingly important during the latter years of the war.
This example is the second state of the map, retaining the original May 30, 1775 publication date but with Fort Sullivan added to the inset of Charleston Harbor. The addition is a remarkable cartographic record of events unfolding while the plates were still in use. On June 28, 1776, the unfinished palmetto-log fort on Sullivan’s Island withstood a major bombardment by the Royal Navy during the British attempt to capture Charleston. The unexpected American victory made the fort nationally famous; it was subsequently renamed Fort Moultrie in honor of its commander, Colonel William Moultrie. Its appearance on the revised map directly connects this state with one of the earliest significant American victories of the Revolution.
Colonial Settlement and the Indian Frontier
The western half of the map provides an equally compelling picture of the Carolina frontier. European settlement becomes progressively thinner toward the Appalachian Mountains, beyond which extensive territories are identified with the Cherokees and Upper Creeks. Numerous Native towns and settlements are named, while Indian paths connect the interior with the colonial road network to the east. The map captures a landscape in transition, showing the geographic relationship between expanding European settlement and Native-controlled territories at a time when the Appalachian backcountry remained a politically and militarily contested region.
Along the Atlantic, Mouzon provides remarkably detailed treatment of the Outer Banks, sounds, islands, shoals, inlets and coastal waterways, complete with navigational soundings and small engraved ships. Two large inset charts depict The Harbour of Port Royal and The Bar and Harbour of Charlestown, illustrating channels, shoals, islands and approaches important to maritime navigation. This combination of detailed hydrography with an extensive interior road network helps explain the map’s usefulness to military commanders, merchants and travelers alike.
A Landmark Map of the Carolinas
At approximately four and a half feet wide when assembled, Mouzon’s map was an ambitious undertaking and remains one of the most impressive eighteenth-century maps devoted to the American South. Its extraordinary geographic detail, extensive depiction of the Native American frontier, and documented use during the Revolutionary War have established it as a landmark in the cartography of North and South Carolina. The second-state addition of Fort Sullivan gives this example an especially tangible connection to the unfolding Revolution, preserving the Carolinas not as a retrospective history, but as they were being mapped and contested during the birth of the United States.
CONDITION
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