The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-07-16

EEKLY HAWK-EYE:
i ABOUT SIoNALIz1N0-This most inter
3 eetdng and useful arm Of the military ger
vice il, perhaps, less heard Of by the publ
than any other; and it, invaluable labors
g well ~ it, frequent Imminent perils, ar
cdated. The signal officer who would bring
late and full news to tho commanding Gen.
eral must undergo not . little fatigue and
hardship. He must climb high trees n
watch the enemy; he must penetrate thro
tangled thickets and forests, in search o.
eligible stations; he must climb the sides
Of steep and rugged mountains, and hia
the rebel sharpshooter's fre when Re il ii
reach, which he must often be to secure q
good post, or observe the enemy closely
When once station II established, his nag
must never droop By day nor his torch
grow dim BY night, till he has orders from
ms chief to abandon the post for new one.
IL Anr yes 90 great Z The mystery With which
secret must he keep the weighty messages
and orders confded to him, and 90 silent are
his operations, that the world and even the
army know little about him. He alone 10
proof against the wiles of those universal
walking interrogation-points," the CORES
Rondents, though be, above all others, is
the man whom they would delight to be
permitted to ''use." But he has his reward
tor all this: In the clear, upper air where
he dwells he sees, as with hawks eye,
the whole great drama played out beneath
him; he sees the long lines of men deploved
through the valleys and knows where they
60 and why; his eyes feast upon the field
vnyhn - 49, Il -.
I1mpetuousiy down wooded slope, across
An open field, and up into another piece Of
woods, and all is clear to him an intelligi-
Die, while, to others who must gr0vel on
the ground. there is nothing but an exaspe-
rating middle.
Signal stations are Of two kinds; reflect
Ing stations and stations Of observation;
the former for transmitting dispatches, the
latter for watching the enemy and commu-
nicating the results TO the Commander
Both are constructed on the same princi-
pies, and employ the same Instruments
The latter are few and simple. The flag is
made of different col0rs, to contrast with
the line Of the background, white; black
or red. The one usually employed is but
four feet square; for the largest distances It
is made six feet square, and mounted on a
third Joint Of staff to give it wider range.
The marine glass is used for scanning the
horizon rapidly and making general OBJ
servations; the telescope for reading sig
mails at q great distance, and observing
fixed points infinitely. Beside these there
is certain mysterious pasteb0ard disc
stamped with q circle Of figures, and q sli-
ding interior one of letters corresponding
to each. This is the key and clue of the
whole matter, and to the uninitiated is, Of
course, impenetrable.
When . message is about to be sent, the
f1agman takes his station upon some ele-
M Ia N Vsyift
which he desires to communicate, by wav-
ing the nag or torch slowly to and fro. The
operator seated at the glass watch closely
the distant flag, and as soon as it responds
BY dipping he is ready to send his dispatch.
Holding the written message before him
each figure or combination Of figures stand
ing for letter. The daeman indicates each
separate figure by an ingenious combina-
ton Of very few motions. For instance.
one stroke Of the flag from q perpendicular
to right horizontal indicates one figure !;
D stroke 70 the left horizontal indicates an
other; stroke executing 2 hs!f.circle. an
other, dc. After each motion indicating .
figure, the flag returns always 70 perpen-
dicular. There are . few syllables which
are indicated by single stroke Of the flag /;
otherwise the word must be spelled out let
ter by letter. Experienced signal officers,
however, employ many abreviations by
emitting vowols, &C., % that scarcely sin
gle word. unless very unused one, -
spelled out In full.
When . message Is being received the
operator sits at the glass with the flagman
near to record it. This the operator then
interprets, for not even the General himself
| is in the secret, and by supplying the omit
ted vowels, &C., makes out an Intelligent
piece of the Kings English.
The rapidity with which all this II exc
cuted by experienced operations il aston-
ishing. The flag is kept in such rapid mo-
| ton that the eye of the inex pert can scarce
follow, and his wonder is increased by be-
ing told that the reader, Of whom be can
not see the slightest indication with his
naked eye, il ten or twelve miles away
An ordinary message Of . few lines is
despatched in ten minutes; whole page Of
foolscap occupies about thirty minutes In
its transmission. Officers who have long
worked together, and are intimately ac-
Quanted with each others authorizations
and peculiar expressions, can improve up
The distance also through which signals
can be transmitted without an intermedi-
ate station is surprising. Last spring,
Captain Leonard, chief signal officer Of the
4th corps, sent dispatches regularly from
Ringgold to Summerville, on Lookout
Mountain, distance Of eighteen miles,
Lieutenant William Reynolds, formerly Of
i
gunboat twenty miles into Port Royal
Harbor. N. Daniels was sent by the Sec
rotary Of War to Maryland Heights to give
information Of the enemy's movements.
and be succeeded in sending messages rap
idly over the extraordinary distance Of "A
miles-from the Heights to Sugar Loaf
Mountain-four miles from Frederick. But
these instances require remarkably favor
able conditions Of the atmosphere, locality,
&c. Ordinarily messages are not sent .
greater distance than six or eight miles,
Last night q dispatch was sent from Gen.
sch0field's headquarters to Lost Noun
tain, distance of six miles, and re-
turned to Gen. Hooker's quarters, directly
over which It had passed going out, and .
message returned to Gen. Schofield In
twenty minutes from the time the inquiry
left him. Gen. Hooker is one mile from
Gen. Schofield. and directly between him
and the moutain, but an intervening forest
prevents direct communication.
You need not hesitate 70 publish the
above for fear Of giving s'aid and comfort
to the rebels. Not even the f1agmen them
selves have the slightest knowledge Of the
import Of the message they are sending,
not . General in the army is let into the