Map-making to be focus of talk

BRAVO (Battlefield Restoration and Archaeological Volunteer Organization) will feature re-enactors from the 3rd New Jersey Volunteer Infantry to speak at its monthly membership meeting Aug. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Old Scots Hall on the grounds of the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church, Tennent Road, Manalapan.

The re-enactors will provide a talk on Confederate and Union map-making during the Civil War and the role of the Corps of Topographical Engineers.

Though federal authorities were unprepared to fight a war, they had the advantage over the Confederates of building upon an existing organizational structure. The armies relied on mapping units such as the Corps of Topographical Engineers and supported its efforts fully.

The re-enactors plan to refer to a small collection of equipment - some repro and some antique - during the discussion. It will include a field survey plane table, alidade (surveyor's instrument), surveyor's level, surveyor's chain, compasses and drafting equipment.

BRAVO, a nonprofit volunteer group, primarily assists the state in restoring state-owned and state-operated historic military sites through archaeological surveys, primary source research, cleaning, cataloguing and analyzing artifacts; computer data analysis; survey and excavation, artifact analysis, and report preparation.

For further information about BRAVO and its regular speakers, call Dan Sivilich at (732) 780-1091 (evenings).