All sorts of stories come across my desk every day, or to be more precise land in the inbox of my email. Many of them I'm sure you'll have perhaps heard about, others not. However, with the amount of news that is generated every day it is more than likely that much of it gets missed by all of us leading busy lives. Some stories are just too interesting to pass by and today's post is one such item.
A few days ago one of the most important maps in America sold for $1.15million. It was, according to Jim Julia of Julia's Auctions, "This is the most exciting thing I have ever handled," and "the most important map in American history." It was George Washington's personal copy of the Battle of Yorktown. Executed by Jean Baptiste Gouvion on or about October 29, 1781, it was prepared 10 days after this victorious and pivotal battle that ultimately resulted in the surrender of the British Army.
There is a larger copy in the collection of the National Archives and was believed to have been Washington's personal copy. The discovery of the smaller version has given rise to the expert view that that the larger example was most likely created for the Continental Congress and that this smaller map was actually Washington's personal copy.
