The Maps of First Bull Run: An Atlas of the First Bull Run (Manassas) Campaign, including the Battle of Ball's Bluff, June-October 1861 (Savas Beatie Military Atlas Series)

I used this book to help follow the action while reading four books on the campaign and battle of First Manassas/Bull Run and two books on the raid/battle of Ball's Bluff and it made a big difference in my ability to keep up with the text since none of the books on these military actions have enough maps!(Morgan's book on Ball's Bluff had the best battle maps but "The Maps Of First Bull Run" did a great job showing the situation in Northern Virginia in late 1861 and the Union Army of the Potomac's movements prior to the battle. Plus, the battlefield situation at Ball's Bluff and Edwards Ferry is enlarged and colorized, making the action easier to follow)First, here are the books I read on the subjects covered by the maps in this volume:1. The First Battle of Manassas by John Hennessy2. A Single Grand Victory by Ethan S. Rafuse3. Battle at Bull Run by William C. Davis4. Donnybrook by David Detzer5. A Little Short of Boats by James A. Morgan III6. Ball's Bluff by Byron FarwellAll of these books were a good source to learn about the campaign and battle of First Manassas/Bull Run and Ball's Bluff but by using "The Maps of First Bull Run" I feel my ability to follow the armies movements leading upto the clash of arms and the complicated maneuvers and fighting on these battlefields was greatly enhanced.The book uses a format where the map is on the right hand page and the text describing the actions on that map are located on the left hand page so there is no flipping back and forth through the book looking for the appropriate map to follow the course of events.The maps show all the terrain types (including elevations unlike many military history books) needed to help the reader picture what the armies saw and understand how their decisions were influenced by the lay of the land. Units are shown as brigades, regiments, battalions, companies, batteries, and sections. There are 51 maps total. The first ten maps detail the situation in the Northern Virginia/Shenandoah Valley theater of operations, the movements of both sides to the banks of Bull Run and the movements in the Valley including Confederate General Joe Johnston's evasion of Union General Patterson's forces to reinforce Beauregard at Manassas, the Battle of Blackburn's Ford 18 July, 1861, and McDowell's planning of the battle 19 and 20 July, 1861. The next 27 maps show the Battle of First Manassas/Bull Run from the Union flanking march to the Federal forces rout and retreat to Washington. The last 14 maps cover the time period after the battle and upto the action at Ball's Bluff October 21, 1861 and its aftermath. Appendix 1 gives an Order of Battle for both sides with losses at First Manassas/Bull Run, Appendix 2 gives the same for Ball's Bluff, followed by a nice section of Notes for each map, a decent Bibliography, and Index.The maps and text are great. If you want to better understand these early battles in Virginia, "The Maps of First Bull Run" is a great help for a Civil War buff, or just a casual reader of history. Highly recommended.

In spite of some defects, which I will discuss below, the book is very useful in understanding 1st Manassas/Bull Run. The maps for Ball's Bluff are a bit problematic.A truly wish I could give Mr. Gottfried's "The Maps of First Bull Run" a better ranking, but I cannot. In reading his book, "The Maps of Gettysburg," I noted several errors. Since the terrain at the Gettysburg Battlefield proper is well know, I did not spend much time worrying over those errors. However, the errors in "The Maps of First Bull Run" with regard to Ball's Bluff are another matter.I will only concentrate on two map sets from this work: 1) Map 40, which purports to show the area between Washington, DC. And Leesburg, Virginia, and 2) Maps 41 through 44, which purport to show the Balls Bluff Battle Area.First, Gottfried's maps do not agree with each other. Map 40 shows the road from Edward's Ferry to Leesburg starting south of Goose Creek (unnamed), whereas Maps 41-44 show the road starting north of Goose Creek (which is correct).Map 40 has numerous errors. Gottfried shows a road running from Edward's Ferry Southeast to Guilford Station. There was no such road as he shows it. The real road crossed the road between Edwards Ferry and Leesburg a good way west of Edwards Ferry, and crossed the Goose Creek Canal (a fact never mentioned, but of great importance) at the Kipheart & Davis Mill and Saw Mill, then joined the Leesburg and Alexandria Turnpike via two branches, one to Belmont P.O. and one to Frankville. Neither of these branches got near Guilford Sta.Gottfried shows Catoctin Mountain running NE of Leesburg; it does not. Catoctin Mtn runs almost due north from Leesburg to Point of Rocks, MD. Moreover, Map 40 does not show the roads leading NE from Leesburg to Spinks Ferry (sometimes called The Hauling Ford) and Noland's Ferry, nor does it show White's Ford, nor does it show how the road from Conrad's Ferry to Leesburg. Please note, these were the key roads in understanding Stone's command duties at the Corps of Observation at Camps Benton and Stone near Poolesville (the property whereon Camp Benton was located I own). Understanding these roads, fords, and ferries is critical to understanding the Battle of Balls Bluff.There are other errors on Map 40, including other roads where there were none, major roads missing, water courses unnamed, but there are additional errors in the text. Gottfried describes the "Langley" crossing of the Potomac (a worry to McClellan) as near Poolesville. There are several problems here. First, there were no crossings at Langley (excepting Chain Bridge, well guarded); there was Coon's Ferry above Great Falls, which led to Rockville via Offutt's Cross Roads in Maryland. Second, there was Seneca Ford, which was closer to Poolesville, but is not indicated on Map 40 (JEB Stuart crossed his cavalry there during the Gettysburg campaign). [NOTE: Gottfried inaccurately locates Edwards Ferry at Seneca in "The Maps of Gettysburg."] In short, Gottfried's text accompanying Map 40 is wrong on this point.Maps 41-44 are on a much smaller scale than Map 41. While the errors here are fewer, they are more misleading on a small scale map. First, Gottfried does not show the road that connected the crossroads of the Kipheart Mill Rd. and Edwards Ferry Rd. with Smart's Mill and the Potomac warehouses north of Conrad's Ferry. This road, although not major, could have been used by the 1st Minnesota and the 7th Michigan to give flank support to Baker's troops at Ball's Bluff. It also could have been used as a line of retreat by the 15th and 20th Mass. and the 42nd NY instead of the disastrous attempt to re-cross the Potomac to Harrison's Island. Also missing is the extension to River Road on the Maryland side Stone had built to connect Edwards Ferry and Conrad's Ferry without exposing troops to fire on the C&O Canal tow path. This road could have been used to move troops and, more importantly, artillery to the battle area from either ferry, but was not so used.In sum, a book that purports to be about battle maps should be more accurate. Some errors in Civil War era maps are inevitable. But many of the errors committed by Gottfried could have been prevented by simply consulting the Atlas that accompanied the OR. Alas, what this book could and should be in relation to what it is are distant peaks for the Ball's Bluff maps.

I will buy anything Civil War-related this guy writes. They're the exact type of books I look for: maps with troop movements and commentary, but not too much and not too little. It's succinct enough that you can understand what is happening, and when you see the callouts to key sequences on the map - it all starts to make sense. Bull Run is one of the only battlefields I visited when it was raining, so I'm looking forward to getting back there and really making a detailed examination of the battlefield - this time with Gottfried's book to help prepare.

This is the third book and the second book in this excellent series by Bradley Gottfried that I have bought and read. It gives hour by hour descriptions of the title battle. It describes and explains each battle better than any other account I read. I cannot recommend this series highly enough.

Very disappointed that this Kindle version does not have full page maps. I own several Kindle Gottfried books as well as the hard copy for each.Kindle Maps of Bull Run is the only one with miniature maps. The maps in the hard copy of Maps of Bull Run are full page.Why can't Kindle update this to the latest Kindle technology so that the maps are full page?the Maps are less 1/2 page size.

He has a few books by this author and requested another one for Christmas.

These atlases are normally outstanding. The text is superb, however, the paperback version I received has black and white maps, making it difficult to differentiate Union from Confederate forces.

Well done, be a nice addition to your civil war library

Excepcional, obligatorio para los seguidores de la Guerra Civil Americana.