• — •/" — »1
YALE

EARLY MAPS OF CAROLINA

BY
WORTHINGTON CHAUNCEY FORD

REPRINTED FROM
THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Vol. XVI, No. 2, April, 1926
Pp. 264-273

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
BROADWAY AT 156TH STREET
NEW YORK

[Reprinted from The Geographical Review, Vol. XVI, No. 2, April, 1926]

EARLY MAPS OF CAROLINA
Worthington Chauncey Ford
THE first map of Carolina made by an Englishman, of the then
undefined territory south of Chesapeake Bay, was that of
John White, who accompanied the Raleigh colony to Roanoke
(1585-1587). His map, engraved by De Bry, begins at Chesapeake
Bay and extends as far as Caput Tremendum, which became Cape
Fear. The detail is of the coast, as was to be expected. Exploration
could be made by water, but the size of the party was too small and
the attitude of the Indians too unknown to permit land expeditions.
Beyond Caput Tremendum lay lands long in dispute between French
and Spanish, ground already notorious for massacre and reprisal.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century it was held by Spain in
virtue of a policy which regarded any intruder as worthy of death.
Even the Roanoke region fell under the claims of Spain, and the Eng
lish who came in 1664 found themselves liable to threats and kid
napping at the hands of the Spaniards at St. Augustine.
The ever present danger discouraged exploration to the south
ward; and a second map of White, never engraved, covering Virginia
and Florida, must be taken either as based upon report or, as was more
probable, borrowed from one of the general maps of the coast painfully
compiled by professional map makers.1 The sole interest of this
second map lies in the mention of names later to become familiar, but
they are placed in hopelessly irreconcilable positions.
The Locke Map
The first map to show any detail of the Cape Fear region is a
manuscript in the British Museum, known as the Hilton map (Addl.
5415, G, 4). It was badly reproduced by the Massachusetts Historical
Society2 and was there used merely to establish connection between
Hilton and a New England family of the same name. The manuscript
is of too great interest to be restricted to clearing a point in genealogy.
It carries the memorandum: "Discouery made by William Hilton of
Charles towne In New England Marriner from Cape Hatterask Lat:
35: 30' to the west of Cape Roman in Lat: 32. 30' In the yeare 1662
And layd Down in the forme as you see by Nicholas Shapley of the
town aforesaid Nouember: 1662." I am enabled to identify the writ-
1 White's map is given in Hakluyt's " Principle Navigations " (12 vols., Hakluyt Society, Glasgow,
1003-05), Vol. 8, facing p. 401.
2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc. Ser. 1, Vol. 20, p. 402. 264

EARLY MAPS OF CAROLINA

265

ing as that of John Locke the philosopher, whose interest in the Caro
lina plantations through his connection with Shaftesbury is well
known. The whole map is his, copied from an original by Shapleigh,
now lost.

Xi.~»j *y I, *M~ Klin- 4 C<"fi +*<¦ j~ kt^t^ih,^n.^/n"'/'f ' *"

Fig. 1 — The Locke map of Carolina, 1662. Reproduced on a reduced scale from a photostat copy.
Apart from this identification the map is of great geographical
interest. In 1660 a party of New Englanders had made a settlement
on the Charles River at Cape Fear. Claiming the land in virtue of
purchase from the Indians and settlement, they invited others to join
them and also started to obtain coworkers and subscriptions in Lon
don. Unfortunately, while these measures were in process, some who
had gone from New England did not like the place and returned
"without so much as sitting down upon it; and for the better justifi-

266 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
cation of themselves in their return, have spread a reproach both upon
the harbour and upon the soil of the river itself."3 Naturally such
reports tended to check adventurers in England and also in the West
Indies, where the discontent of those immigrants must have been
known before London had become possessed of them. Yet the full
meaning of the dissent could hardly have been realized in 1662 when
Hilton had gone to Carolina in the interest of some intending settlers
from Barbados and New England. This map is the only record of that
voyage. Assuming that Locke has included all the details which
Shapleigh gave, it is seen that Hilton made no real exploration of the
region near to or south of Cape Roman. The dots on the coast line
may indicate that he skirted the coast; but soundings do not begin
until Cape Roman4 was reached, and attention is concentrated on
the Charles [Cape Fear] River. No other of the many rivers on the
coast is given a name, and his vessel entered none of them to examine
their possibilities. This map must have been made known both at
Barbados and New England, for a party of settlers went to Carolina
on the strength of Hilton's report. Unfortunately that report has
never been found, and no summary of it exists.
Because of the complaints made by the New Englanders, several
gentlemen and merchants of Barbados sent Hilton on a second ex
ploration. It was almost at the same time that the Lords Proprietors
also took notice of the complaints, writing: "but some ill-willers to
the settlement upon Charles River contrived its miscarriage, and they
went not to the branch of the river that Hilton was in, and besides
took not the proper time of year."5
Hilton sailed in the Adventure from Speight's Bay, Barbados,
August 10, 1663, completed his exploration, and returned to Barbados
January 6, 1664. A report of his proceedings was printed in London in
1664 with the title, "A Relation of a Discovery lately made on the
Coast of Florida, London, Printed by J. C. for Simon
Miller at the Star neer the West-end of St. Pauls, 1664." No map
accompanied this tract. The Map of 1666
No engraved map of the territory appeared until that issued in the
anonymous pamphlet: "A Brief Description of the Province of
Carolina on the Coasts of Floreda. And more particularly of a New-
Plantation begun by the English at Cape Feare, on that River now
by them called Charles- River, the 29th of May, 1664.
Together with a most accurate Map of the whole Province. London.
Printed for Robert Home in the first Court of Gresham-Colledge neer
3 Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, Scr. 3, Vol. I, p. 58.
* An island — Smith Island — is given off Cape Roman.
6 Lords Proprietors to Modyford and Colleton. August 30. 1663.

EARLY MAPS OF CAROLINA

267

Bishopsgate-street. 1666." Home published manuals and books on
trade and also sold medicines which were evidently of the quack
salver's budget. Yet there is reason to believe that the tract appeared
at the instance of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina.
This map has been reproduced,6 yet its significance as giving a
stage in the geographical development of Carolina has not been no
ticed. On comparing it with the Locke manuscript it is seen that few
names of localities are the same. The Locke map thus possesses the
unique quality of giving the names originally bestowed by Hilton on
the Charles River (Cape Fear) region. But the map of 1666 is also a
Hilton map, as is proved by its recording only such names as are to be
found in the printed account of Hilton's second exploration. Why he
should have rejected the larger number of the earlier names is no
where explained. A comparison of the Locke and the 1666 maps is
conclusive. Beginning at the mouth of the river at Cape Fear a
parallel may be made, allowance being made for the obvious difficulty
of exact locations upon crudely drawn maps. The places are on the
east or west side of Charles River, and the names marked with an
asterisk are to be found in Hilton's report.

1662 (I

^ocke)

1

666

West

East

West

East

[Cape Fear]

C. Fear

P. Winslow

Crane Hand
Charles Town
Sachoms P[oint]
*Mount Bonny
Indian R[iver]
*Mount Skarie
Hiltons R[iver]
?Hilton Riv[er]
Januy (?) fort
*Longs He
* Blowers He
Goose He
Greenlesses R[iverj
Greens R[iver]
Goldsmith R[iver]
Borges R[iver]
*Green Riv[er]
*Swampy Branch
Hory R[iver]
?Highland P[oint]
Whitt Cliffts (?)
*Rocky P[oint]
Badger D
*Stagg Park
Doggies R[iver]
Whitt Clives
Browns R[iver]
Turkey Quarters
West branch
East branch
*Fabian Riv[er]
East Branch
North branch
1
Pine Plains
Charles Riuer
Pleasant Meadows
On the second voyage Hilton went first to the more southern
region and touched land in latitude 320 30' N., or about four leagues
5 In W. C. Bryant and S. H. Gay's "A Popular History of the United States " (4 vols., New York ,
1 876-1 88 1), Vol. 2. facing p. 284, is given what purports to be a "facsimile"; it is only a clumsily made
tracing with the names of places reversed !
268

THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

north of the Spanish St. Helena, known to the French as Port Royal.
Referring to the Carolina map of 1666, it is seen that the names were
again taken from Hilton's "Relation" — Granby [North Edisto]
River, River Jordan [the Combahee], Charles Fort on one island
[Parris], St. Hellens on another, and Port Royal. Most of these, it is
true, were really old names; for Jordan River, Cape de Helene, Port
Royal, and Grande River are to be found on White's manuscript map
of Virginia and Florida.

Fig. 2 — The 1666 map of Carolina. Reproduced on a reduced scale from a photostat copy.

Additional Evidence
I had reached this stage of certainty in my investigations when
Mr. Wroth, librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, courteously
sent me photostats of two manuscript maps of Carolina in that library.
They belonged to a volume of maps brought together by William
Blathwayt towards the end of the seventeenth century to assist him
in his duties of enforcing commercial laws in the British colonies in
North America. The maps are of unquestioned authenticity, and
some of them are so curious as to merit reproduction. I was surprised
to recognize these two maps as either the originals of the two Hilton
maps or, what is more likely, as copies made for Blathwayt from the
originals. As maps they are finely drawn, perfect in detail, and of
quite unusual merit. They confirm what names and conclusions I
drew from the maps of Locke and of 1666; and, as they are clearer,
(hey enable us to give what may be a more proper version of the
names. Taking the map of 1662 we have Piomslow land instead of

EARLY MAPS OF CAROLINA 269
P. Winslow; Bordges for Borges; and White Claues, twice repeated,
for Whitt Clives. The other names are practically the same.
On the map of 1664 we have, on a much finer plan, the same no
tation as on the engraved map of 1666 except the omission of Goose
He opposite the mouth of Hilton River and the addition of Longes
Delight at the head of Charles River. The engraving gives much
outside of Charles River, including names and figures of animals,
while the manuscript is severely limited to what was on or in the
Charles. The manuscript also gives more detail in the Port Royal
region. In addition to what was on the map of 1666 we have: Hilton
Head, Blowers River, Longes River, and R. Fabian; and the soundings
on the coast run nearly a full degree of latitude to the south of Hilton
Head. The accuracy of a map is tested by time, and Hilton's discoveries
may be measured by later maps. In his "List of Maps of America"
Phillips gives 1671 as the date of the map next in order of time to that
of 1666 and falls into a number of errors. He lists "A New Discription
of Carolina. By Order of the Lords Proprietors," engraved by James
Moxon, and assigns to it the year 1671. He then indicates that it was
taken from Wilson's "An Account of the province of Carolina,"
which was not published until 1682. He correctly notes an inset
draft of Cooper and Ashley River and adds: "Same map in Speed's
'The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine,' 1676. Originally
made for Ogilby's America 1671."7
Maps in Ogilby's "America"
A map of the new territory was a standing order from the Lords
Proprietors to the surveyors in Carolina, and they doubtless received
more or less imperfect drafts as their surveyors went over the land.
Phillips bases his statement on an undated letter of Sir Peter Colleton
to John Locke, which the English cataloguer has placed in 1671 but
with a question-mark after the year. In it Colleton states that
"Ogilby is printing a Relation of the West Indies and wishes to get a
map of Carolina. Desires he [Locke] will get of my Lord [Ashley]
the maps of Cape Fear and Albemarle, and Colleton will draw them
into one with that of Port Royal, and will wait upon my Lord for the
nomination of the rivers, etc."8 Ogilby's "America" was announced
in midsummer, 1670, as in preparation for publication in January,
1671; in November, 1670, it was said to be "now in good forward
ness," and it was actually published November 3, 1671.9 Sir Peter
7 The cataloguer was misled by the fact that the two pictorial features of Ogilby's map — "Vir
ginia? partis australis, et Floridee" — were copied on Moxon's plate.
8 America and West Indies, 1660-1674, No. 714.
9 Edward Arber: The Term Catalogues 1668-1709 A. D. (3 vols, London, 1903-1006), Vol. 1,
PP. 45, 63, 94-

270 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Colleton's letter may therefore have been written in 1670 or 1671 but
produced no map, for the list of engravings in the first issue of Ogilby
makes no mention of a map of Carolina.10
Possibly information obtained by Colleton was embodied in the
first or general map of America which appears in Ogilby, engraved
by F. Lamb. It is entitled: "Novissima et Accuratissima Totius
Americae Descriptio per Johannem Ogiluium Cosmographum Regium,"
is dedicated to Lord Ashley, and has his arms. On the coast of North
America are found, and probably for the first time on such a general
map, the names: C. Fear and C. Carteret, with Barkly and Ashley
Rivers; R. Jordan, P. Royal, and Hilton Head. Between Cape
Carteret and Jordan River a name has been erased — it marked a
cape, for C [Carteret?] is plainly seen — and along the Jordan a name
has been treated in the same manner — probably "Craven."
A bit of evidence in favor of this supposition, that Colleton's in
formation was embodied in the general map, is to be found in the map
"Virginia^ partis australis, et Floridee partis orientalis,
Nova Descriptio" in Ogilby. Strong in detail so far as [North]
Carolina is concerned, from Cape Fear to Cape Romano only three
names appear, and not one of them was due to the English occupation.
Not the slightest hint is given of colonization and naming of localities.
A second piece of evidence is to be found in the text. Colleton, in
the same letter, said: "if Locke would do them the favour to draw a
discourse to be added to this map in the nature of a description such as
might invite people without seeming to come from us, it would very-
much conduce to the speedy settlement, and be a very great obligation
to the writer." No such description can be traced; but Chapter II,
Section V, concerns Carolina, and page 212 gives an outline of the
"model drawn up by Lord Ashley." It is only the briefest outline,
and that page is in a smaller size of type and is the only page so treated
in the entire volume. That brevity, incomplete in meaning, and the
crowding onto a single page suggest a late insertion, made after the
book had been put into type, and so match, as it were, the erasure of
names in the Carolina region on the general map of America.
Even the map of Virginia and Florida was not in the first issue of
"America"; neither that nor the "Arx Carolina," representing the
fort at Charles Town, is called for in the "Directions for placing the
Whole-sheet Prints in this Volume of America." A blank space is
left in the list where the titles of the two would naturally appear.
10 Instructions issued by the Lords Proprietors, May 1, 1671, contained the injunction to "send a
description of Ashley and Wando Rivers, drawn by a compass to a scale, and a map of the country
divided into squares of 12,000 acres apiece by lines running east and west, north and south." Before
the end of the year Culpeper had sent drafts of Ashley, Cooper, and Colleton Rivers, showing Charles
Town, Waping, and Comings Point. He had not attempted to make a general map of Carolina but had
confined himself to the Ashley-Cooper Rivers region. The inset in Moxon's map shows Comings
Point but does not have Waping, and not till the Gascoyne map of 1682 is Wappoo Creek to be found.
This may. however, be the "Ston Cr." of Moxon's inset.

EARLY MAPS OF CAROLINA 271
In a later issue, but with the year 1671 on the title unchanged, both
are found, and the blank lines in the "Directions" are filled. Only
two maps in the volume are by Lamb— the general map and one of
Jamaica. Ogilby is largely a translation of Montanus' "De Nieuwe en
Onbekende Weereld," published at Amsterdam in 1671 by Jacob
Meurs. The extract from the privilege granted by the States of
Holland and West Vrieslandt was dated July 28, 1670, shortly after
Ogilby had announced his "America " as in process of making. Agree
ment must have existed between Meurs and Ogilby, and nearly all of
the Dutch plates were used in the English edition. Which came first
from the press? It has been seen that the first edition of Ogilby did
not have the Carolina items. Meurs has both (pp. 99 and 142).
Ogilby has (p. 337) a map of Jamaica, dated 1671, prepared by himself
and engraved by F Lamb. This is not in Meurs. The general map
is not the same. That in Meurs is much more labored and better
finished, in spite of the larger number of names which are crowded
on seacoast and in interior. On the Carolina coast can be read C of
Feare, Cavaruwac [C. Carteret?], and Port Royal. At Port Royal is a
Charles River, but Carolina does not appear. In Ogilby the plate of
Meurs was worked over, and the Carolina names added to the ex
clusion of many on the Meurs map. As to text Montanus has no
chapter on Carolina, and the plate "Arx Carolina" is inserted in the
Florida chapter. The word Carolina does not even occur in the elab
orate index. Dapper's German issue of Montanus (1673) has the
same features as Meurs. It is safe to say that a separate map of
Carolina found in any copy of Ogilby is there as an insert and was not
issued with the printed volume. Two such copies are in the New
York Public Library, containing the Moxon map; but in neither in
stance can it be asserted that the map properly belonged to the
volume, and all probability is against its being rightfully there.
The Moxon and Lamb (1676) Maps
Phillips states that the Moxon map is the same as that in Speed's
"Theatre," 1676. A map of Carolina does appear in Speed with the
legend "A New Description of Carolina," without a year; but it was
engraved by Francis Lamb and had no inset of the Cooper and Ashley
Rivers. The copy now before me states that it was "Sold by Tho:
Basset in Fleet street, and Ric: Chiswell in St. Paul's Churchyard."11
It is known that the "Theatre" had been out of print since the great
London fire. In February, 1675, a reprint was announced in the
"Term Catalogues" by the two publishers just mentioned, and a
year later the book was on the market.12 So far as Speed was con-
11 As in other maps in Speed.
12 Arber, Term Catalogues, Vol. 1. pp. 202, 229,

272 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
cerned the Lamb map could not have appeared before 1676. It is
possible that Lamb did have his material from Colleton in 1671 and
that it was intended to have his map in Ogilby. It was not so used
and shows such a distinct advance in the knowledge of Carolina that
I do not accept the assertion of its being "originally made" for Ogilby
as established. If it had been thus intended why did it not appear in
the later issues of Ogilby instead of the poor substitute of Virginia
and Florida? Certainly Moxon's map is quite different from Lamb's
and could not have been issued as early as 1671: as Lamb does not
have the inset, it is probably an earlier map than Moxon's.
Moxon's map is to be found in Wilson's "Account," 1682; and
that, it might be supposed, should determine the year to be given to
it. But the "Year Book of Charleston, South Carolina," 1886, gives
the Moxon map with the legend: "A new description of Carolina By
Order of the Lord Proprietors 1672." The original, it is stated, is in
the collection of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet of New York. Except
for the year, it is the same plate as appeared in Wilson and so has the
inset of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers. Here is encountered one of the
overzealous and misleading acts of an enthusiast. Mr. Lydenberg, of
the New York Public Library, writes that the year " 1672" is entered
in lead pencil on the Emmet map; so the Charleston reproduction
erred in making it a part of the legend.
Comparing the map of 1666 with that of 1676 (Lamb's), it is seen
that the names given by Hilton have almost disappeared. The
Charles has become the Clarendon River, and on it are found : Cranes
and Long Islands, Turkey Quarters, and Stag Park. The three
branches at the source have become a single stream labeled Longs
Delight. The region forms part of Clarendon River. Near Port
Royal the coast and details have been much extended. The Cooper
and Ashley Rivers are shown, with Charles Town on the former.
To the south we have the R. Grande and the Ashpow als Colleton
River with Lock Island at their mouths, the R. Jordan with Cary
Island at its mouth, Port Royal, and Hilton's head. The region has
become Berkeley and Craven Counties. In this way Hilton River
of the Cape Fear district had dropped its name, and the discoverer is
commemorated in Hilton's Head in the Port Royal region. Who
thought of the early explorer so far as to perpetuate his name? It is
possible that Hilton had in 1662 made a fuller discovery of the Port
Royal region and immortalized himself. If so, it is difficult to explain
Locke's omission to give the detail of the more southern rivers.
Moxon closely followed Lamb, adding no names but giving a new
location to Linhaven and omitting Smith's Island in Virginia. The
workmanship is by no means so good as Lamb's, and it would be in
teresting to know certainly whether Moxon had Lamb before him
or both worked from the same original.

EARLY MAPS OF CAROLINA 273
Gascoyne's Map
In the year 1682, the year assigned to Moxon's map, Joel Gascoyne
of "Wapping Old Stayres" issued "A New Map of the Country of
Carolina," also by order of the Lords Proprietors but differing greatly
from the Moxon plan. At Cape Fear only Longs and Cranes Islands
recall the Hilton names, and the river is hesitating over its own title,
for it is called "C. Fear R. or Clarendon R." Charlestown has been
restored, and the line of the river is better developed. The Port
Royal region is greatly modified, and the Lords Proprietors evidently
had that settlement in mind when they ordered the map. Names of
holders of lands are given; the rivers have not taken on new titles,
save that the Colleton has rejected Ashpow as an alias and the Craven
has become the Cambahe; though the Jordan, which has dropped out,
has been accepted as the Cambahe. In the inset the island at the
mouths of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers bears the name "Sulivant"
Island for the first time. Why two such dissimilar maps as the Moxon
and the Gascoyne should have been issued by the Lords Proprietors
in the same year is a question not to be solved. Both claim the stamp
of official authority ; but Gascoyne has the greater weight, as his map
was accompanied by a printed "Description" intended to be attached
to the lower edge of the map and, in the fashion of the day, to serve
as a folder for intending emigrants.
If my statements and conjectures are valid, it appears that all
memory of Hilton's visits had passed twenty years after they were
made, except for Hilton's Head, which he may not have so named, and
the two islands, Longs and Cranes. Were they named because of
shape or natural features, or after two of his companions? Anthony
Long was a companion. Other members of the exploration find place.
Pyam Blowers (Blowers He) was a master, and Peter Fabian (Fabian
River) was a companion. Crane, Green, and Greenless are too vague
to be recognized, for they fit natural conditions even more readily than
persons. But Winslow (or Piomslow), Goldsmith, Hory, Borges, and
Brown suggest persons, and a Master John Hancock was on the
second adventure. It is enough to have indicated the historical
interest of the Locke and 1666 maps of Carolina and to have offered
a solution of the difficulties embodied in the note in the useful "List
of Maps of America."

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 08837 1217