Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1886-07-10

stoned officer he has no pecuniary in
terests ia the bill, but wants to see IL
passed for the benefit Of those who. while
IN the telegraph corps Of the army, per
formed strictly military duties, whereby
some lost their lives and others were
wounded or In prisons, and who have re-
ceived no official recognition for their
fidelity, intelligence, bravery and efti-
cheney. Speaking on the subject recently
Mr.. David said: "At the beginning of
the war some Of the prominent old army
officers were opposed to the use of the
telegraph, favOring the old courier plan.
In constructing the first military tele-
graph Gne,we therefore bent all our en-
ergies to break down this prejudice. and
before L had completed following
McCIelan's army into West VIRGINIA.
these very men came to me In high praise
OF its usefulness. They were emphatic
as to how impossible it would be to con
duct war on a large scale without it
This may seem Incredible Ia our day,
but it is nevertheless a fact"
A WONDERFUL FEAT.
During the war the military telegraph
corps, consisting Of about 1900 opera
tors and a sufficient force Of line men,
built and operated IL, $50 miles of tele-
graph lines exclusively devoted to mill
tary purposes. In addition many lines
OF commercial companies were tempo
rarlly, from time to time, made use Of by
the government. When Mcclellan sat
before Yorktown the wires became his
trusty seminal 1t was at this place
that a we'll known operator, Mr.. Iathrop,
E-f|laH nv a
followed Mcclellan into the wilderness,
and threatening the forests and swamps,
Of the ChickahOminy, by day and night,
kept him advised Of events, and made
known at Washington by frequent daily
kilograms his hopes, his fears and his
wants. Here the field telegraph was
first practically tested for tactical pur-
poses, and here at Gaines mills it saved
the union army from utter rOut. From
HarrisOn's land it maintained cOmmuni-
cation with the north until the army
went to reinforce Pope. 1t followed
McDoweu's cooperating force to Fred
ericksburg, Banks up the Shenandoah
and Fremont in the Alleghenies, and en-
abled them to cooperate to drive Jack
son out of the valley and protected
Pennsylvania and Washington. 1t fol-
lowed General Cox to Gauley bridge,
West Virginia, and via Raleigh TO
Princeton, and it brought federal Gen
eral Morgan, operating against Cumber-
land Gap, KY, into the Geographic un-
ion, and soon kept that SebastOpOl Of
America In communication with Buell. at
Shiloh, via Lebanon Junction. KY, and
Nashville, and announced the defeat Of
Beauregard's army.
STRETCHED LONGER AND LONGER.
It followed F'OOte to Fort Henry and
Grant to DOnelsOn, whence it was ex-
tended, making two routes to Nashville.
The corps quickly gladdened the union
people with AIitchelIs wonderful sue
cesses in northern Alabama and enabled
him to capture valuable railroad trains
by false kilograms transmitted over con-
federate wires, by means of which eighty
four miles OF Memphis & Charleston rail
road were captured IN a few hours, and
COrinth and Chattanooga menaced. 1t
was by the use of the telegraph that
Grant at Jackson subsequently over
looked affairs in his department., pre-
pared ROsecrans for his splendid defense
Of COrinth, and brought Ord to Bolivar
to cooperate with Mcpherson from Jack
son IN the pursuit OF Van DOFn's defeated
army. Even Curtis, at Pea Ridge, Ark,
was but few miles from the telegraph
builders, who were rushing their work
with the greatest rapidity while he was
fighting a magnificent battle. After com
pleting this line, that from St Louis to
Pilot Knob, No, was extended over 200
miles to BatesviIle, Ark, Curtis new
base. Thus all along the armed front
sped the electric tongue. Over 1000
miles of military telegraph were in
operation, embracing parts Of the states
Of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
/ Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, blissis-
sippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky,
| Missouri, Kansas, and soon after also
North Carolina, Louisiana and the In
dian Territory.
THE BRAVE OPERATORS.