Jedediah Hotchkiss - Postbellum Career

Postbellum Career

As a civilian again, Hotchkiss returned to Staunton, Virginia, reopened his school, and was involved in economic activities designed to promote the recovery of the war-ravaged Shenandoah Valley and in veterans' affairs. After teaching school, he opened an office as a civil and mining consulting engineer and, being so familiar with the geography of the state, was able to steer lucrative foreign and Northern investments to the most appropriate places.

In October, 1865, a Federal detective confronted Hotchkiss with a military order to confiscate his map collection. Hotchkiss refused to obey the order, and instead took some maps to Richmond for examination by army engineers. Despite Federal pressure, he was able to retain ownership of all his maps, while preparing maps of Virginia counties for the United States Army.

Hotchkiss collaborated in the writing of the 12-volume Confederate Military History, writing the 1,295-page Virginia volume himself. His journals were edited in 1973 by Archie P. MacDonald and published under the title Make Me a Map of the Valley: The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson's Cartographer. Hotchkiss's sketchbooks, diaries, and maps are available at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Jedediah Hotchkiss died at his home in Staunton at age 71. He is buried there in Thornrose Cemetery. The small town of Hotchkiss, West Virginia, in Raleigh County was named for him. The magnificent Queen Anne and Eastlake style mansion Hotchkiss built in 1888 at 437 East Beverley Street, Staunton, Virginia, still stands and is on the National Register of Historic Places and a Virginia Landmark. It is currently (2010) offered for sale by the family that purchased it from the Hotchkiss heirs in 1948.