Lot 223
JOHN DISTURNELL (1801-1877) "Mapa de los Estados Unidos de Mejico, Revised Edition," A MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR MAP, ENDORSED BY JAMES S. CALHOUN, FIRST INDIAN AGENT AND GOVERNOR OF TERRITORIAL NEW MEXICO, NEW YORK, 1847-1852,
hand colored copper plate engraving on paper, with ink manuscript, "Calhoun's Line," ending with a line flourish drawn to Ft. El Paso Del Norte in Texas located in between the 32nd and 33rd longitudinal parallel; nearly at the crosshairs of the 32nd degree latitudinal position of the present map; the map known best as the, "Treaty of Hidalgo" map is a transitional seventh to eighth edition, attributed as one of the last four editions of the seven editions Disturnell printed in 1847; a cartographic anomaly appears when Santa Fe, New Mexico is contained within the yellow colored borders of Texas, the Gulf of Mexico with four inset maps, "Map Showing the Battlegrounds of (Palo Alto) the 8th and 9th, May 1846, by J.H. Eaton," "Plan of Monterrey and its Environs," "Chart of the Bay of Veracruz," and, "Tampico and its Environs," at far right, "Diagram of the Battleground (of Buena Vista) February 22nd and 23rd 1847," highlighting the victories of Zachary Taylor, in the lower left, "Table de Distancias.," "Tabla Estadistica.," and "Carta de los Caminos & Desde Veracruz Y Alvarado a Méjico," accompanied by two profiles of the routes,"...between Mexico and Veracruz," and,"...between Mexico and Acapulco," the upper right with engraving of Mexican eagle with snake in its beak, perched on cactus with names of Mexican states lettered on cactus pads, above a bow and arrow; the hand coloring ordered as follows: Yellow-Boundary Claimed by the United States," with quotation, "Prior to the Revolution Texas and Coahuila were united to form one of the Federal States of the Mexican Republic," showing the old and new borders of Texas at the Rio Grande River, in Red- Routes of Gen. Taylor's March from south Texas through north Mexico, and Gen. Kearny's Route in the north tracking his, "March of the 1st Dragoons" from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico, an interesting hand colored element in this map due to Kearny's foreshortened route ending in Santa Fe, which he would have traversed from June 1846-September 1846 then set forth towards the California coast; the map presented with original gilt embossed green cloth cover board, "Map of the Republic of Mexico, Published by J. Disturnell, New York," and retaining original glued condition to the backboard; 30 5/8" x 41 1/4", unframed.
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Provenance:
Collection of Hubert Hudson, former Texas Senator 1957-1963, Brownsville, Texas. Note: JAMES SILAS CALHOUN (1802-1852) American politician. The ink manuscript inscription reading, "Calhoun's Line," ends with a line flourish drawn to Ft. El Paso Del Norte in Texas, and is located in between the 32nd and 33rd longitudinal parallel; nearly at the crosshairs of the 32nd degree latitudinal position of the present map. The inscription is attributed to the hand of James S. Calhoun (1802-1852) American politician, Member of Georgia State Legislature in 1830, Mayor of Columbus, Georgia from 1838-1839, and most importantly in regards to the present map, a U.S. Army Colonel during the Mexican American War fought from 1846-1848; following the Mexican War a U.S. Government position in Texas border region, serving as First Indian Agent to New Mexico appointed by President James K. Polk, arriving in New Mexico in 1849, and lastly First Governor of New Mexico Territory appointed and serving from 1851-52; died in office 1852.
John Disturnell, 1801-1877, American publisher based in New York. The present map is a "cartographica curiosa," and is a rare example of a map that both has gross inaccuracies, numerous editions and consequently served as an important tool for the United States and Mexican governments during land disputes and negotiations at the end of the Mexican American War, that which ended with the renegotiation of the Treaty of Velasco, best known as the Gadsden Purchase. The map is attributed as a transitional seventh to eighth edition for one small variance, which is the presence of the words, "Buena Vista" found in the southeast corner of the State of Coahuila, while additionally having a southern trail present from La Como to Nuevo Santander, and featuring the relocation of San Fernando to the same latitude as Natividad, Nuevo Leon. The appearance of all four of Zachary Taylor's battles on the map begins with two and is later upgraded to all four by the end of the seventh edition. The "Buena Vista" in Coahuila is retained and had yet to be scrubbed by the publisher, while still bearing other changes noted from the seventh to the eighth edition. The present map includes routes and boundaries which contributed to forming the face of the modern American landscape stretching from "coast to coast." In the "Statistics" inset a small change by the publisher should be noted also. The change was to remove the phrase, "...y Tejas," from "Coahuila y Tejas," which originated in the seventh edition. The present map only showing "Coahuila." "In the summer of 1845, [Zachary] Taylor, now sixty years old and stationed again at Fort Jesup, was ordered by the Polk administration to defend the recently annexed Texas Republic. Commanding what would now be called the "Army of Occupation," Taylor moved his troops to Corpus Christi, at the mouth of the Nueces River, where he awaited reinforcements. By March 1846, with an army that now numbered 4,000, he moved further south, to the Rio Grande. When Mexican troops attacked U.S. forces in late April, President James K. Polk used the attack to ask Congress for a declaration of war. On May 18, 1846, though heavily outnumbered, Taylor defeated Mexican forces at Palo Alto; the following day he engaged the Mexican army again at Resaca de la Palma, driving it back to Matamoros. With the United States and Mexico now at war, Taylor established a base of operations at Camargo, on the Rio Grande, while he awaited reinforcements from the War Department, which had issued a call for volunteers. In September 1846, his army now numbering 6,500, Gen. Taylor marched south to lay siege to Monterey, Mexico's largest northern city, which was garrisoned by the 5,000-man Army of the North, commanded by General Pedro Ampudia. After three days of fighting, Taylor took the city, signing an eight-week armistice with Gen. Ampudia, who was allowed to withdraw. The news of the victory was offset in Washington by President Polk's belief that Taylor had missed an opportunity to end the war by allowing Ampudia to evacuate the city. The War Department ordered Taylor to terminate the armistice immediately and pointedly refrained from congratulating the general on his victory. This brought an immediate chill to relations between Taylor and the Polk administration, which was undoubtedly aggravated by reports that the general was being courted by the Whig Party as a possible candidate for the presidency in 1848. The rift between Polk and Taylor became even wider when Washington decided at year's end to open up a new theater of operations in the south, under the command of Winfield Scott. Ordered to assume a defensive position and place a large portion of his army under Scott's command in anticipation of an amphibious landing at Vera Cruz, Taylor refused to be relegated to a secondary role. In defiance of orders from both Scott and the U.S.War Department, Taylor pushed south, encountering the Mexican army at Buena Vista, below Saltillo. Taylor's army repulsed several Mexican assaults on February 22 and 23. Although both sides claimed victory, the battle ended in a stalemate. Nonetheless, Taylor's Army of Occupation remained firmly in control of northern Mexico, and the battle was hailed as a great victory by the American press. The Battle of Buena Vista added further luster to Taylor's political fortunes. Known as, 'Old Rough and Ready' for his simple manner and modest appearance, Taylor was now the most celebrated hero of the war. Still bristling at his treatment by the Polk administration, Taylor agreed to accept the nomination of the Whig party, despite the fact that he had not been active in politics, nor did he appear to hold particularly strong political convictions. Indeed, Taylor did not share many of the core Whig beliefs, such as support for a protective tariff, the national bank, and internal improvements. Nonetheless, the war hero easily defeated the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass, whose support in the North was undercut by the Free Soil party, headed by long-time Democratic standard-bearer Martin Van Buren." - an excerpt from UT Arlington Library's Special Collections, A Continent Divided: The U.S. Mexico War, and with special thanks.
The historical significance of the route of General Stephen W. Kearny found in the north and indicated in red established for the first time the United State's military control of the lands spanning from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas westward to Santa Fe, and ultimately Los Angeles. "The start of the U.S.-Mexico War found Kearny at Fort Leavenworth, where in May 1846 he gathered troops charged with conquering New Mexico and California. Kearny's forces left Fort Leavenworth in June 1846. Numbering 1,558 men, the "Army of the West" consisted of a battalion of Missouri Volunteers, two companies of regular infantry, five squadrons of the First Dragoons, Doniphan's Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers, an interpreter, about fifty Indian guides, and a small body of Army Topographical Engineers. On July 22, 1847, the U.S. army reached Bent's Fort. Soon afterward, Kearny sent word to New Mexico Governor Manuel Armijo that the Americans intended to take possession of New Mexico. On August 15 the Americans entered Las Vegas, New Mexico, and three days later entered Santa Fe without opposition, Armijo having fled. Promising to respect New Mexican property and religion, Kearny established a legal code for New Mexico and installed Charles Bent, an American trader, as territorial governor. Kearny now received new orders from Washington, promoting him to the rank of Brigadier General and instructing him to aid in the conquest of California...as Kearny headed west, resistance to U.S. rule flared in California. As his small force approached San Diego, where it planned to link up with Commodore Robert F. Stockton's marines, Kearny's weary dragoons encountered a force of 150 Californios. At the Battle of San Pascual on December 6, Kearny was seriously wounded and 18 of his men killed. The force was rescued the following day by the timely arrival of a relief column led by Stockton. While the dragoons rested, Stockton prepared to retake Los Angeles. In late December he and Kearny led a joint Army-Navy force of about 600 men out of San Diego. Defeating Mexican and California troops at the battles of Rio San Gabriel and La Mesa, Stockton and Kearny's troops entered Los Angeles. Signing the Treaty of Cahuenga, which ended Californian resistance to U.S. occupation, Stockton turned over military command to Kearny and appointed John C. Fremont governor."- an excerpt from UT Arlington Library's Special Collections, A Continent Divided: The U.S. Mexico War, and with special thanks.
The University of Texas at Arlington writes, "Nicholas P. Trist, the American diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Hidalgo that ended the U.S.-Mexico War...Just as he was beginning to enter into negotiations with the provisional Mexican government that had been hastily organized at the town of Querétaro under a new President, Manuel Peña y Peña, Trist received word from Secretary of State James Buchanan that he (Trist) had been recalled by an impatient President Polk. Buchanan's dispatch stated further that if the Mexicans wanted peace, they would have to send an emissary to the United States. Realizing that to abandon his work and leave Mexico at that crucial juncture would almost certainly have negative consequences for both countries, Trist decided to ignore the recall, which General Scott and all three Mexican negotiators, Luis G. Cuevas, Bernardo Couto, and Miguel Atristain, encouraged him to do. On February 2, 1848, Trist signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on behalf of the United States while Cuevas, Couto, and Atristain signed for Mexico. The treaty's most far-reaching provisions included recognition by Mexico of the Rio Grande as the boundary of Texas, the United States government's assumption of $3 million Mexico owed to private U.S. citizens, and Mexico's agreement to sell Upper California and New Mexico, a vast expanse that makes up the present-day states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and part of Colorado, for $15 million. When the treaty reached Washington, Polk was outraged that Trist, who technically had no authority to make an agreement with Mexico on account of his recall, had ignored the President's order. At first, Polk considered discarding the agreement but realizing that all his principal war goals had been accomplished and that the country was in no mood to prolong the conflict, he sent it to the Senate, which ratified the treaty on March 10, 1848. Both houses of the Mexican Congress ratified it on May 19." -an excerpt from UT Arlington Library's Special Collections, A Continent Divided: The U.S. Mexico War, and with special thanks.
This revision contains the inset maps placed in the Gulf of Mexico coinciding with the Presidential election of Zachary Taylor and the end of the Mexican-American War. The inset maps celebrate future President, Zachary Taylor's many military achievements. The present map with special hand coloring notes the fundamentally transformative time for the United States at the end of the Mexican-American War, which effectively established the United States of America from coast to coast, fulfilling "Manifest Destiny." More specifically this map gives us a glimpse into a moment in American history where New Mexico was being added to the Union, and we had yet to claim all territory westward to California from Mexico, which absolutely gripped Americans at the time. Undoubtedly without the security of the U.S. military, the West would have never been won. By the end of the Mexican American War, no longer would the United States of America boundary ever change as much as this map indicates it once had. -
Condition:
In remarkable original condition. No apparent repairs, linings, supports or additions. Expected crease lacerations, handling, tears, and tone. Frontboard unattached but present, while map remains attached by original glue to backboard. Some yellow tone at centerfold from original glue.
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