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Map Plan de la ville de Charlestown, de ses retranchements et du siege faits par les Anglois en 1780.

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About this Item

Title

  • Plan de la ville de Charlestown, de ses retranchements et du siege faits par les Anglois en 1780.

Summary

  • "This hand-drawn French pen-and-ink and watercolor map from 1780 is a detailed plan of Charlestown (present-day Charleston), South Carolina, during the British siege, which lasted from early April 1780 until the surrender of the city on May 14 of that year. The map shows American defenses and British parallels, entrenchments, and batteries, such as Coming's Point (here spelled "Cummin's Point). Coming's Point was one of a series of defense works that were constructed on the edge of the harbor when it became evident that the British attack would come from the south and west. From the end of March a whole regiment was encamped at Battery Number One on Cummins Point. The maps shows streets such as Broad Street, Church Street, Queen Street, King Street, Meeting Street, Orange Street, and Tradd Street, all of which exist to the present day and retain their 18th century names. The "New Church" depicted is Saint Michael's Church, which was constructed between 1751 and 1761 and sits on the original site of Saint Philip's Church, built in 1681 and demolished in 1727, some years after it was damaged in a hurricane. The "Old Church" depicted is the second site of Saint Philip's Church, which was constructed there in 1723. The map also shows the State House (the site of the present-day Charleston County Courthouse), arsenal, markets, and the exchange. Scale is given in toises, an old French unit of measurement equal to about 1.95 meters. A lengthy descriptive text provides a chronology of the construction of the British works and the subsequent capitulation, a description of the condition and extent of the American fortifications when the British arrived outside Charleston, and various battle statistics. The map is from the Rochambeau Collection at the Library of Congress, which consists of 40 manuscript maps, 26 printed maps, and a manuscript atlas that belonged to Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (1725-1807), commander in chief of the French expeditionary army (1780-82) during the American Revolution. Some of the maps were used by Rochambeau during the war. Dating from 1717 to 1795, the maps cover much of eastern North America, from Newfoundland and Labrador in the north to Haiti in the south. The collection includes maps of cities, maps showing Revolutionary War battles and military campaigns, and early state maps from the 1790s." World Digital Library.

Created / Published

  • [1780]

Headings

  • -  Charleston (S.C.)--History--Siege, 1780--Maps, Manuscript--Early works to 1800
  • -  United States--South Carolina--Charleston

Notes

  • -  Includes text.
  • -  Manuscript, pen-and-ink and watercolor.
  • -  Scale ca. 1:10,320.
  • -  LC Maps of North America, 1750-1789, 1560
  • -  Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image.
  • -  AACR2: 440; 651/1
  • -  Vault

Medium

  • col. map 28 x 42 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • G3914.C3S3 1780 .P5

Repository

  • Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA dcu

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • gm71002163

Online Format

  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The maps in the Map Collections materials were either published prior to 1922, produced by the United States government, or both (see catalogue records that accompany each map for information regarding date of publication and source). The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials for educational and research purposes and is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17 of the United States Code) or any other restrictions in the Map Collection materials.

Note that the written permission of the copyright owners and/or other rights holders (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Credit Line: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Plan de la ville de Charlestown, de ses retranchements et du siege faits par les Anglois en. [1780] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/gm71002163/.

APA citation style:

(1780) Plan de la ville de Charlestown, de ses retranchements et du siege faits par les Anglois en. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/gm71002163/.

MLA citation style:

Plan de la ville de Charlestown, de ses retranchements et du siege faits par les Anglois en. [1780] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/gm71002163/>.