The several wars fought by the United States during the mid- and late-nineteenth century attracted a great deal of popular cartographic attention. Much of the popular mapping associated with wars focused on the sites of conflict, as with the examples exhibited here from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the Spanish-American War (1898-1899). J. G. Bruff’s 1847 broadside of the central theater of war in Mexico publicized U.S. victories there, after the fact [item 30]. The two maps from 1898 were more anticipatory: their goal was to encourage the readers of two Boston newspapers to follow the events of the war, and so increase their circulation (both featured flags or symbols which could be cut out and moved across the map) [items 33-34]. All of these maps inevitably emphasized the expansive nature of the Republic.

During the Civil War (1861-1865), the overriding concern of the Northern states was for the preservation of the Union, as exemplified by the two maps from that war exhibited here. The attempt by Southern states to preserve their autonomy and their rights was cartographically rejected by these maps of the Union [items 31-32].