Civil War era map of the western states of the USA with several extremely short lived geographical quirks.

The first of these is the presence of the Jefferson Territory. Marked just east of the Utah Territory border designated by the Rocky Mountains is the short lived proposed “Jefferson Territory”. This proposal was made to honour President Thomas Jefferson, the architect of the Louisiana Purchase. Even on this map, almost sixty years later, the influence of the borders of the Purchase, nominally the land between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, can still be seen by the line shown as the western border of the Nebraska Territory. Despite some local support, this proposal was not progressed and the area became part of the Colorado Territory in 1861.

A further unusual feature is the short lived attempt by the Territory of Arizona to secede from the Union to the Confederacy during the American Civil War. This was marked on maps for a short period of time with a horizontal as opposed to a vertical border between New Mexico and Arizona as on this map. The attempted secession only lasted for a few months before the Union swiftly dealt with the insurrection. 

Original colour. [USA9955]