Booknotes: The Maps of Second Bull Run

New Arrival:

• The Maps of Second Bull Run: An Atlas of the Second Bull Run (Manassas) Campaign from the Formation of the Army of Virginia Through Chantilly, June 26-September 1, 1862 by Bradley M. Gottfried (Savas Beatie, 2024).

With last month's release of The Maps of Second Bull Run, the Savas Beatie Military Atlas Series is now up to ten volumes. Aligned with the primary interests of its creator, Bradley Gottfried, the series has a predominant eastern theater flavor, with previous volumes covering Gettysburg, cavalry operations during the Gettysburg Campaign, First Bull Run, Antietam, Bristoe Station/Mine Run, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, and the interval from Spotsylvania to Cold Harbor. The lone western theater atlas is David Powell and David Friedrichs's Chickamauga volume.

Charting future developments, Gottfried mentions in the Preface that his original intention was to finish The Maps of Petersburg and Appomattox next, but during the pandemic he decided instead to put that project aside temporarily and backtrack, filling in the first half of the war's remaining gaps. So the next installment after Second Bull Run will be the one that I have looked forward to the most, The Maps of the Peninsula Campaign. After that, there will be volumes dedicated to Chancellorsville, the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, and the 1864 operations in the Valley.

The Maps of Second Bull Run starts with the initial rounds of jockeying between John Pope's Army of Virginia and Stonewall Jackson's corps. From there, atlas coverage moves on to the Battle of Cedar Mountain and subsequent repositioning and skirmishing leading up to Brawner's Farm and the Second Battle of Bull Run itself. The volume concludes with the federal withdrawal toward Washington and the Battle of Chantilly.

From the description: The atlas breaks down the aforementioned series of events "into 24 map sets or “action sections,” enriched with 122 detailed full-page color maps. These cartographic originals bore down to the regimental and battery level. They include the march to and from the battlefields and virtually every significant event in between, including cavalry actions. At least two—and as many as ten—maps accompany each map set. Keyed to each piece of cartography is a full-facing page of detailed text describing the units, personalities, movements, and combat (including quotes from eyewitnesses) depicted on the accompanying map, all of which make the cavalry actions come alive." As was the case with all preceding volumes, orders of battle are provided and the accompanying text is annotated.