The Office of Coast Survey is the oldest U.S. scientific organization, dating from 1807 when Congress directed that a "survey of the coast" be carried out. By 1836, it was called the U.S. Coast Survey and in 1878, the name was changed to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Today the Office of Coast Survey is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA.

The survey teams, composed of civilians as well as Army and Naval officers, charted the nation's waterways and produced a wide array of reports, survey charts, hydrographic studies of tides and currents, astronomical studies and observations, and coastal pilots. These charts are an important record of the changing nature of the nation's coastlines. In additional to coastal charts, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey produced land sketches, Civil War battle maps, and the early aeronautical charts.

This detailed Civil War-era chart follows the course of the Potomac River from Washington to the Occoquan Creek. This is the most desirable sheet from the four-sheet Potomac River set, and stands alone with its own borders and scale. It presents the street-grid pattern of Alexandria, Georgetown and Washington, and locates the White House, Capitol Building, Smithsonian, and Washington Monument. The river is filled with numerous depth soundings, ground types, and buoys. A table at bottom right provides additional details concerning lighthouses in the area, tides, and more.

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Condition: B

Issued folding and now flattened and backed with tissue to reinforce and repair several fold separations. There is light toning along the fold lines and a few spots of foxing.