Hutchins, Thomas:

$10,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

A TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF VIRGINIA, PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND, AND NORTH CAROLINA, COMPREHENDING THE RIVERS OHIO, KENHAWA, SIOTO, CHEROKEE, WABASH, ILLINOIS, MISSISIPPI [sic], &c. THE CLIMATE, SOIL ... First edition, second issue of this important work by one of America's most influential early geographers. Thomas Hutchins was a seminal figure in the surveying and mapping of the United States. He began his career as a topographical engineer for the British Army during the French and Indian War, and from 1758 to 1777 served in the Ohio Valley, designing the fortifications at Fort Pitt in 1763. The following year he accompanied Bouquet on his expedition to put down Pontiac's Rebellion, resulting in a map of the country on the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, published in London in 1766. He was also a member of the exploring party sent down the Ohio Valley in 1766 to investigate the territory recently acquired from France, after which he produced the first accurate maps and surveys of the Ohio River. After surveying the Mississippi River in 1774, he returned to England to publish his findings. By 1781, Hutchins had returned to America and was appointed (first and only) "Geographer to the United States" by Congress. In 1783 he was a member of the commission that surveyed the Mason-Dixon Line, and in 1785 he was appointed by Congress to the commission that surveyed the New York-Massachusetts boundary.The present work was published in 1778 alongside Hutchins' landmark New Map of the We

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