Hal Jespersen’s Cartography Services — Map Portfolio

Over the years I have produced over 3,800 maps in a variety of styles, but nowadays I focus almost exclusively on one: shaded relief topography, which provides a pseudo-three-dimensional view of the terrain. For large-scale maps (smaller geographic areas, such as battlefields) I usually try to include contour lines on top of the shaded relief. The color and black-and-white (grayscale) examples below represent the style I am most comfortable producing. There are two alternative styles, as I described more fully on the Map Services page:

Schematic/Hypsometric terrain (essentially filled-in areas bounded by contour lines, which get progressively darker as the altitude increases). This was the predominant style I used in the free Wikipedia maps, and you can follow that link to see examples. I am reluctant to use this style any longer, unless it is in full color publishing and unless all of the maps in the book use that same style.
Modern road networks can be included if the author's intention is to provide tourism- or preservation-related views of a battlefield, such as a driving tour. Some examples of driving tours are below. However, unless the map is in full color, it can become uncomfortably confusing to attempt to include both the modern and overlapping historical roads on the same map.

Portfolio Gallery

Many of the maps in this portfolio are stamped with a copyright notice identifying CWMaps.com, but this is only for my convenience in maintaining this page. In actuality, the copyrights are held by the client historians or organizations that commissioned the maps. The maps below are arranged alphabetically by author.

Click on a portfolio thumbnail to see a larger version of the image. This larger image will be in JPEG format for browsing convenience, although the actual maps for publication are in 300 dpi PNG (color) or 600 dpi TIFF (black and white or color) formats; thus, the image your browser displays may be a little fuzzier than the printable version. At the very end of this page are some PDF maps. I have recently started using this format for authors who can deal with the limitations because it offers unlimited scalability of the text and vector lines within the image. (The limitation is that Microsoft Word, a common layout program used by many authors, cannot directly insert this format. However, publishers using the common Adobe InDesign program can make full use of PDFs.)

map — The Union breakthrough at Petersburg, from *Dawn of Victory: Breakthrough at Petersburg* by Edward Alexander (Emerging Civil War series)

map — Antietam Battlefield, produced for the Blue and Gray Education Society; this is a reduced size version of a 2' x 3' poster used for field education.

map — Gettysburg Battlefield, produced for the Blue and Gray Education Society; reduced size version of a 3' x 2' poster

map — Map of the Gettysburg Campaign area, produced for the Blue and Gray Education Society; reduced from a 2' x 3' poster

map — *The Battle of Glendale: Robert E. Lee's Lost Opportunity*, by Doug Crenshaw, History Press. This is my "standard" style for a compact battlefield—black and white shaded relief topography with contour lines. It is stored here in PDF format (which Doug did not use for his book.)

This is one of my recent Wikipedia maps, showing hypsometric shading. Sometimes the shaded relief method makes it difficult to perceive how high mountainous areas are, and this technique makes it possible to display rough elevation using actual values.

Richmond Shall Not Be Given Up: The Seven Days’ Battles, June 25-July 1, 1862, by Doug Crenshaw (Emerging Civil War series). Also updated PDF.

Jeb Stuart's circumnavigation of the Union Army on the Virginia Peninsula, from Richmond Shall Not Be Given Up: The Seven Days’ Battles, June 25-July 1, 1862, by Doug Crenshaw (Emerging Civil War series). Updated PDF

Jeb Stuart's ride in the Gettysburg Campaign, from Fight Like the Devil: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, by Chris Mackowski, Daniel T. Davis, and Kristopher D. White (Emerging Civil War series). PDF.

Unpublished micro-tactical study of the Battle of Gettysburg by Tom Elmore

Unpublished micro-tactical study by Tom Elmore

Unpublished micro-tactical study by Tom Elmore

Unpublished micro-tactical study by Tom Elmore

Outdoor display map (reduced size) for Battle of Franklin Trust

Outdoor display map (reduced size) for Battle of Franklin Trust

The American War: A History of the Civil War Era, by Gary Gallagher and Joan Waugh, Spielvogel Books (a relatively rare exception where shaded relief would make the map too complicated)
(Emerging Civil War series)

In a Single Blow: The Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Beginning of the American Revolution, by Phillip S. Greenwalt and Rob Orrison (Emerging Revolutionary War series)

From Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee's Army after Appomattox by Caroline E. Janney. This is an interesting map because of the research required to show accurate county boundaries as of 1865.

Don't Give an Inch: The Second Day at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, by Chris Mackowski, Daniel T. Davis, and Kristopher D. White (Emerging Civil War series)

Strike Them a Blow: Battle along the North Anna River, May 21–25, 1864, by Chris Mackowski (Emerging Civil War series)

Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton by Mark Maloy (Emerging Revolutionary War series)

Decision at Tom's Brook: George Custer, Thomas Rosser, and the Joy of the Fight, by William J. Miller, published by Savas Beatie

A Want of Vigilance: The Bristoe Station Campaign, October 9–19, 1863, by Bill Backus and Robert Orrison (Emerging Civil War series)

The Last Road North: A Guide to the Gettysburg Campaign, 1863, by Robert Orrison and Dan Welch (Emerging Civil War series)

"To Hazard All": A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862, by Robert Orrison and Kevin Pawlak (published - Emerging Civil War series). This driving tour map is obviously all modern roads.

"To Hazard All": A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862, by Robert Orrison and Kevin Pawlak (published - Emerging Civil War series)

Battle above the Clouds: Lifting the Siege of Chattanooga and the Battle of Lookout Mountain, November 24, 1863, by David A. Powell (Emerging Civil War series)

Determined To Stand and Fight: The Battle of Monocacy, July 9, 1864, by Ryan T. Quint (Emerging Civil War series)

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Petersburg Campaign: His Supposed Charge from Fort Hell, his Near-Mortal Wound, and a Civil War Myth Reconsidered, by Dennis A. Rasbach, Savas Beatie

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Petersburg Campaign: His Supposed Charge from Fort Hell, his Near-Mortal Wound, and a Civil War Myth Reconsidered, by Dennis A. Rasbach, Savas Beatie

Red River Campaign and Its Toll: 69 Bloody Days in Louisiana, March–May 1864, by Henry O. Robertson, published by McFarland and Co.

Display (reduced size) for the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation

That Field of Blood: The Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, by Dan Vermilya (Emerging Civil War series)

That Field of Blood: The Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, by Dan Vermilya (Emerging Civil War series)

The Time is Ripe: Confederate Attempts to Retake New Berne, by Jim White, published by History Press

River of Death, by William Glenn Robertson, published by the University of North Carolina Press. Note the variation on my usual shaded relief style; I applied extra shading/darkening to all elevations over 1000 feet, which emphasizes the most significant mountain ranges in the theater.

I produced this PDF-format map for myself to follow along with a tour of the World War II Italian Campaign. It is using hypsometric tinting to show elevation.

This PDF-format map is for an upcoming book about the battle of Atlanta by Earl Hess.

There is an additional gallery of maps created for the Blue and Gray Education Society: click here.