Photo By Maj. Robin Cox | Maj. William E. Merrill read more read more
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by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian
On 14 August 1863, Maj. William E. Merrill, chief engineer for the Army of the Cumberland, issued an information map of the area of Cleveland, Tennessee, in preparation for a campaign against Chattanooga in the northern part of the state. The map represented a graphic terrain analysis for the movement of Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans’ army.
By mid-1863, the bright 26-year-old engineer had already experienced much of war. Early in the war, he was captured while serving in western Virginia. After seven months, he was exchanged and then was wounded during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862. Once recovered, he found himself as chief engineer for General Rosecrans in middle Tennessee. Rosecrans, an engineer himself, gave top priority to mapmaking.
In May 1863, Merrill, who was not a topographic engineer, set about organizing an effective mapmaking unit. He could rely on the engineers at the corps and division level to start the process. He issued instructions that standardized symbols for terrain features as well as roads, wagon trails, and footpaths. Merrill directed the engineers “to find out all you can which can affect military movements in the country investigated, particularly the character of road and the supplies of water and grass.” No reconnaissance party went forward without an engineer. He also worked with the Army’s cavalry to gather maps from the county clerk’s offices. With this foundation, his topographical office corrected and created the maps for the army.
Merrill’s office employed thirty draftsmen to prepare the maps. Perhaps the most important was Sgt. Nathaniel Finegan of the Fourth Ohio Cavalry. Besides being a talented draftsman, the sergeant was adept at interviewing and interrogating spies, prisoners, refugees, and peddlers on all aspects of the terrain. Merrill had his mapmakers capture all this intelligence until he was notified that the campaign or movement would start. He then had his men finish their work and ready the map for publication. At that point, Capt. William Margedant, a talented emigrant from Germany, used specialized lithographic presses to produce the two hundred maps on linen. Special couriers disseminated the maps down to brigade level.
Merrill’s most important product was the “Information Maps” that was the basis of the Army of Cumberland’s movement. These maps showed roads, turnpikes, waterways, and terrain relief. They often noted residents of the area. More importantly, they gave an analysis of the terrain by noting vegetation, drainage, broken or farm country, and other factors of trafficability.
Unlike the many talented, but amateur cartographers of the Civil War, Merrill and his men advanced the field of military mapmaking to a science systematically performed by specialists, whose only job was to produce military maps and keep them up to date.
| Date Taken: | 08.15.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.15.2022 18:35 |
| Story ID: | 427293 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 82 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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