The 1780 Map of West Point: An Unintentional Historical Hoax
For many years, historians and history buffs alike have cited a map of West Point dated 1780 as being one of the most accurate and detailed maps of the period. This map first came to prominence in the early 1900s when Dr. Edward S. Holden, the USMA Librarian, included the map in the two-volume Centennial of the United States Military Academy at West Point, 1802-1902. Although no definite record can be cited, one can assume that Holden "discovered" this map while researching the history of the Military Academy, using primarily sources in the USMA Library. So important did Holden consider the map that he included it in a list of maps of West Point and in his chronological bibliography of important events concerning the Post and the Academy.
The map was published in France in 1816 as an illlustration for Complot d'Arnold et de Sir Henry Clinton contre Les Etats-Unis d'Amerique et contre le General George Washington by F. Barbe-Marbois. The text of the book discussed the Arnold conspiracy only; there was no description of the post conforming to the buildings shown on the map. Holden apparently accepted the map as genuine and, adding two and two together, declared in his Centennial bibliography that "at this time there was an engineering school, a library, and a laboratory lodged in three buildings at West Point." Unfortunately, the sum that Holden obtained by adding two plus two did not add up to four; today, it is all too evident that the map is not an accurate depiction of the post of West Point in 1780.
Equally unfortunate has been the tendency of later historians to accept Holden's statement as fact. For example, Aloysius A. Norton used this map in his 1989 History of the United States Military Academy as proof that there was a library at West Point in 1780. Other historians have also used the map, indicating it to be an accurate portrayal of 1780 West Point. Significantly, historians who have carefully researched the period do not cite the document or use it as an illustration. Miller, Lockey, and Visconti do not use it in their 1988 USMA History Department publication, Highland Fortress: West Point during the American Revolution, 1775-1783, nor did Dave R. Palmer cite the map in his 1969 book, The River and the Rock.
The first serious questioning of the authenticity of the map was raised by Colonel Merle G. Sheffield, USMA Class of 1948, during his assignment to the USMA Physics