The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-18
THE COUNTY'S WAR MAP.
DR.. A. Oemler Explains His Connec-
ton with It.

ton with It.
WILMINGTON ISLAND, Oct. 17.-Editor
Morning Nelcs: Having myself plotted and
drawn the confederate county map, to
which you allude in your issue of Oct Il,
while acting as chief draughtsman of the
engineer department of Georgia and South
Carolina, | will give an account of its con-
struction and loss as history of local inter
est to my fellow citizens. | was asked to
do SO year or two ago by a highly re-
spected friend and prominent member of
the community, but am now also partly
prompted by very faint hope that my
communication may possibly lead to its
recovery.
There were four parties under the leader
ship of the late j. B. Howard, Maj. J. R.
Tebeau, Capt Postell and Moore by order
of Maj. McCrady, nearly constantly en-
gagged for two years in surveying those
parts of the county not held, or controlled
by the enemy, from whose notes l plotted
out the map. A daring reconnaissance by
the late Oliver F. Law recently county
surveyor of Beaufort county, s. c., a
member of the staff of Gov. Wade Hamp-
ton, and during the war a brave scout
under him in Virginia., located the union
works on Big Tybee from which Fort
Pulaski was battered. The islands of Big
and Little Tybee, Warsaw and Green alone
with the hummocks, adjacent marshes and
| intercourseS were derived from United
States coast survey maps, the scales being
altered to that of my map 1t was carefully
and accurately drawn upon the best and
strongest mounted paper paper pasted on
cloth), its size being about four by five
feet.
Parallel lines at regular distances of !, 900
feet were run by the surveyors from base
lines, showing the topography 500 feet on
each side, and thus the map contained every
| Typographical feature of the county, with q
| strip of Bryan along the Ogeechee and
| Canoochee rivers, including, of course, Fort
| McAllister and surrounding territory. 1t
| showed even every pond, ditch, fence and
woodrOad in the county, besides the more
| important features. An idea of its &C
curacy may be formed from the fact that
| the remnants of the dams in the marsh land
adjoining OAKLAND island, which genera
| tions ago had been planted in sugar cane,
were indicated from actual survey.
| During and before the siege of Savannah
| | was nearly constantly engaged, often until
| midnight, in making traclngs of the lu-
| 6renchments from the map for the officers
| occupying the lines of defense.
| Some few days before the evacuation all
| the most valuable maps in the office were
| boxed and sent to Hardeeville by order
from Maj. McCrady, chief engineer of the
| departm INT, but the day before we retreated
| across Uu0 savannah T1V6T d courier was
| dispatched for it, as Gen. Hardee desired to
consult it in reference to that event.
| A copy on a reduced scale, drawn chiefly
| by Arthur Huger, with my assistance,
| enclosed in a tin case, was placed by myself
under direction of Maj McCrady, at his
desk on the day of the evacuation. The
| Office had been removed from the
barracks to the southwest corner of Dray-
| ton and Charlton streets, the building
| now known the Industrial hOma
| Forgetful of his directions to me, Mai Nc
| Grady asked me for this map at Angus a
| after our return from the vain effort OF the
| engineer corps to reach out to fortify Co
| lumbia before the arrival of Sherman. His
remark upon being reminded was: Yes,
| and there 1t stayed.n
| Now, Mr. Editor, believe no man is
more capable of sympathizing with my
| regret at the loss of work SO valuable to
| the public, and only replaceable at very
| great expense, than your public spirited
self, and you may well suppose my desire to
hand down such creditable achievement
| to my fellow-citizens would allow no supine
indifference on my part, particularly as
| having been considered the best Topographic
cal draughtsman of class dS47 at the Poly
technic school of Dresen, Germany. can
| claim without egotism that it was
| executed with some artistic skill
In fact Immediately after the war
made every effort In my power at
Atlanta, Washington and New York to re-
cover it, While on visit to me here, en-
listed the kind cooperation of DIR. Meynard
Inventor of the Meynard rifle, which was
valuable, as he was graduate OF West
| Point, intimately acquainted with some of
the general officers at the capital, and a
resident of Washington, but all my efforts
have been in vain, its delivery to the courier
at Hardeeville being the last authentic fact
have ever been able to learn Of It's fate.
| A. OEMLER