Map Showing the Progress of the Public Surveys in Kansas and Nebraska

Despite the turmoil engulfing the nation on the eve of the Civil War, the essential work of the General Land Office continued unabated. This region, in particular, had spent the preceding years as a violent battleground for the conflict known as ‘Bleeding Kansas.’ By 1861, a tenuous peace had settled across the Nebraska and Kansas Territories, though the outbreak of the Rebellion would soon shift the nature of the fighting once more. The map meticulously documents the progress of public surveys – some of the earliest conducted along this pivotal stretch of the Missouri River. Survey status is indicated by small letters within each township, corresponding to a detailed legend below the title. Beyond mere grid lines, the map identifies Native American reservations, trust lands, frontier forts, and early settlements. Of particular note are St. Mary’s Mission, frontier towns of Omaha and Leavenworth, the Half Breed Lands (for various tribes of mixed descent) and Ft. Kearney (an important stop along the Oregon Trail and Pony Express). Created under the authority of Surveyor General Mark Delahay, a close political ally of Abraham Lincoln, recently appointed to the position. Published in Washington, D.C. by the General Land Office as part of its 1861 report to Congress (the same year as Kansas statehood).