NOAA's Office of Coast Survey - Civil War Collection


Coast Surveyors assumed important combat roles during the Civil War, serving as topographers, reconnaissance specialists, scouts, intelligence officers, and combat hydrographers. For a contemporary record of combat mapping during the Civil War, see the war record of Frederick Dorr and John Donn. Browse biographical vignettes of Coast Surveyors, listed below.
Bache, Alexander Dallas Boutelle, Charles Boyd, Charles Harrod Dahlgren, John Donn, John Dorr, Frederic Fendall, Clarence Hassler, Ferdinand Rudolph Key, John Ross Lindenkohl, Henry Maffitt, John Newland Mathiot, George Oltmanns, John Peirce, Charles Sanders Peirce, Benjamin Platt, Robert Porter, David Dixon Rockwell, Cleveland Schott, Charles Anton West, Preston Whiting, Henry Laurens Harris, Joseph Smith Wampler, John Morris Hinrichs, Oscar Pegram, R.P.	Oltmanns, John Middle Initial: G Rank: Major Branch: Army, Navy Theater: Western, Eastern Related: LA, MS, VA, TX Bio: John James Oltmanns was sent by the U.S. Coast Survey to assist Union field officers during the war. Oltmanns served under Admiral David Dixon Porter in the capture of New Orleans, General William B. Franklin during the Red River Campaign, with Philip Sheridan at Cedar Hill, and with David Dixon Porter on the Mississippi River. He eventually achieved the rank of major, but was wounded on a reconnaissance mission on the Pearl River. He died five years after the war from complications.

Office of Coast Survey Historical Map and Chart Collection

Web site owner: NOAA's Office of Coast Survey