This is a map dated 26 Oct. 1863 showing the city of Raleigh, NC, the surrounding ground and properties, the approaches to the city — and, especially of interest to this project, the batteries and earthworks built to defend the city during the Civil War — that is, the line of defenses I like to call Raleigh’s Wall.

If you’ll look at the inscription at the upper left, you’ll see that the map is attributed to H.T. Guion, Lt. Col., Artillery and Engineering. I believe this refers to Henry T. Guion, whose name appears in connection with other Confederate engineering works.

My research indicates that these entrenchments were begun in July 1863. The October date and the description “the line of intrenchments made by order of” Gov. Zebulon B. Vance, indicates to me that this map was drawn up after the wall was completed, or substantially so.

I obtained this map in electronic form from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. It seems likely that this is the “captured Rebel map” from which B. Drayton of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made his better-known 1865 map of Raleigh’s wall. (See my previous post, “Map of the Rebel Lines at Raleigh, NC (Drayton Map).“)

The map below is a somewhat reduced version of the Guion map. Click here for a higher-resolution PDF version.

Map credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration