The Department of the Gulf. Map No. 5. Approaches to New Orleans, February 14th, 1863

This map from the War of the Rebellion Atlas details Confederate defenses of New Orleans circa February 1863. Drafted under orders of Maj. Gen. Nathanial P. Banks, the map presents detailed information on the layout of the city and the major waterways nearby, namely the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.

The War of the Rebellion Atlas was created to accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, published by the U.S. War Department in the decades following the end of the Civil War. The Atlas contains more than 1,000 maps and other illustrations drawn from original source material such as battlefield maps, photographs, and engineering diagrams. The Baylor University Digitization Projects Group digitized and placed online a complete Atlas housed in the Texas Collection. It is fully searchable and the high-resolution images allow for in-depth investigation of each image. To view the complete Atlas, please visit http://contentdm.baylor.edu/cdm4/index_19wor.php?CISOROOT=/19wor or www.flickr.com/photos/baylordigitalcollections.