|
The
United States Military Telegraph System
President
Lincoln would use the telegraph to communicate with his generals and other
officers to keep tabs of what was going on at the battle front. He spent
many hours in the telegraph room in the Department of War building, next to the
White House. This page is dedicated to the telegraphers and
cipherers (decoders) who
helped the President to keep tabs on the great war.
UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH (USMT):
The Civil War of 1861-1865
required a new communication system for use by the government and
the armed forces. President Lincoln was already very much
aware of the value of the telegraph, and would order that it be set
up quickly. A system of wires would be run throughout the
northern states to connect all areas. Some areas would be
covered by quickly set-up poles and wires by use of wagons, horses
and men. The telegraph equipment would be portable. The
President would nearly take personal command of the battle fronts
through use of the telegraph. The White House never had
telegraph wiring, but the nearby War Department building would be
the location. The President spent hours in the telegraph
office waiting for and sending messages.
(A
HISTORY AND THE MEN WHO WORKED FOR IT)
Conditions
in 1861 caused the seizure of the commercial systems around
Washington, and Assistant Secretary of War Thomas A. Scott was made
general manager of all such lines. He secured the cooperation of E.
S. Sanford, of the American Telegraph Company, who imposed much
needed restrictions as to cipher messages, information, and so forth
on all operators. The scope of the work was much increased by an act
of Congress, in 1862, authorizing the seizure of any or all lines,
in connection with which Sanford was appointed censor.
Through Andrew Carnegie was obtained the force which opened the War
Department Telegraph Office; which speedily attained national
importance by its remarkable work, and with which the memory of
Abraham Lincoln must be inseparably associated. It was fortunate for
the success of the telegraphic policy of the Government that it was
entrusted to men of such administrative ability as Colonel Anson
Stager, E. S. Sanford, and Major Thomas T. Eckert. The selection of
operators for the War Office was surprisingly fortunate, including,
as it did, three cipher-operators-D. H. Bates, A. B. Chandler, and
C. A. Tinker-of high character, rare skill, and unusual discretion.
LIFE IN THE TELEGRAPH ROOM:
One
phase of life in the telegraph-room of the War Department--it is
surprising that the White House bad no telegraph office during the
war -- was Lincoln's daily visit thereto, and the long hours spent
by him in the cipher-room, whose quiet seclusion made it a favorite
retreat both for rest and also for important work requiring
undisturbed thought and undivided attention.
CIPHERS USED TO HIDE
MESSAGES:
Especially important was the technical
work of Bates, Chandler, and Tinker enciphering and deciphering
important messages to and from the great contending armies, which
was done by code. Stager devised the first cipher, which was so
improved by the cipher-operators that it remained untranslatable by
the Confederates to the end of the war.
Read the book Lincoln in the Telegraph
Office, by David Homer Bates, 1907, chapters IV and V to learn about
the "Cipher-Codes of the North and the South."
DANGER IN BATTLE FIELD
TELEGRAPH OPERATING:
During
the war there occurred in the line of duty more than three hundred
casualties among the operators -from disease, death in battle,
wounds, or capture. Scores of these unfortunate victims left
families dependent upon charity, as the United States neither
extended aid to their destitute families nor admitted needy
survivors to a government pension.
The code used during the Civil War was
NOT the "modern" two-element (dot dash or didah) code, but the
earlier "American Morse" developed by Albert Vail and Samuel Morse,
and it was a more complex multi-element code.
Telegraphers could send and receive
this code very fast. That was the problem: everyone
could read everyone's messages. Ciphering (secret codes) were
developed using updated and changing code books throughout the war.
This worked well for the Union, but Union cipher-operators were very
good at de-ciphering Confederate messages. Cipher-operators
either operated in a building (permanent setting) or would travel
around in wagons to set up at the battle front. This was very
dangerous work.
Cipher-Telegrapher Wagon
Men working on or installing telegraph lines
near a Civil War camp |
