Tucked away in the Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s map collection is this little gem: a map of Camp Greble, a Union encampment near Norfolk, Virginia (Map F234 N8 1862:1). This poignant, detailed plan was drafted in February 1862 by Private Frank Maynicke of the 99th New York State Volunteers.
Camp architecture was comprised of several different styles. Officers slept in walled tents while the enlisted men slept in bell-shaped Sibley tents. The cookhouses were seemly, more solidly wood-frame and wood-sided constructions. The soldiers of Camp Greble took advantage of their site along the river by placing their water closet on a platform extending over the water.
This camp was a self-sufficient village with its own sutler and gunmaker, photograph shop, barbershop, and tailor. Of the twenty-four structures listed in the legend, I would be remiss not to include the “House for Knapsacks,” the “Doctor’s Tent for to look at the sick,” and the “Bowling Ally.”
