This is the rarest and most desirable sheet from Bachmann's six-sheet birds-eye view of the Confederate States in 1861, depicting the coast of Texas from Littel (sic) Constance Bay, Louisiana, to the Rio Grande; this Texas sheet continues the full view west from the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Part of Florida sheet. "The Birds Eye View of Texas and Part of Mexico is a fascinating view of the state at mid-century, clearly identifying all of the major Texas cities, rivers, roads, and ports. There are a few mistakes—he seems to locate "Austin City" on the Guadalupe rather than the Colorado—but the view provides the kind of glimpse of the coastline that might have been useful in military planning" (Ron Tyler). Bachmann even seems to indicate the presence of Union blockade vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. 

"The most natural way to portray the shape of a surface is an oblique perspective, or bird’s eye view. Despite its name, the bird’s eye view is drawn from an artificial, even impossible vantage point. From no one place on earth, or off of it, could one see the land stretching away—to the horizon. … Unlike a standard, orthographically-oriented map, which is equally artificial but makes no pretense to be anything else, an oblique view such as this emphasizes the shape of the land surface over portraying what is on that surface. In the early days of the American Civil War, Bachmann chose a unique vantage point … to create his panoramic view of the likely theaters of war. … Produced in three-color lithography, Bachmann’s views were issued as separate maps" (Rumsey, Cartographica Extraordinaire).