The National tribune., 1888-05-03

In this case it was not necessary to use the
compass to find the window, but we located
with the telescope and compass certain other
points miles to the rear of Marye's Hights and
the rebel army, which | was TO find in case the
window was not available.
The window was altogether the best point
provided l could get the use of it. because l
could sit back in the shadow, and out of view of
any person outside, and be seen by the use of
the telescope especially at night.
With my hand or with q wand or q fan was
supposed to seat myself in that room my feet
cooked up on the window-sill, smoking a cigar
and"honchaantIy signal or spell ont this one
two alphabet by the waves of fan. The objec-
tion to that was that it was Winter time and
fans were not necessary. but it was generally
understood that / was to use anything that
happened to suit best, and to change as often as
possible; merely to show right and left mo-
tion was all that was necessary.
Now it Yill be seen that there was nothing
ImpraCtcable or visionary n this scheme.
Circumstances may arise in the future in
which some such conditions may be availed of,
as they We're in our war on more than one oc-
cason Exactly what was TO telegraph back
did not occur to me- In fact Gen. Burnside
did not seem to attach very much importance
to this part of the plan, which was more at
tractive to my own and my chums mind than
his decoy matter.
Itwas my intention to travel at viii, through
my rebel friends in the town, and if possible
get into the lines back even to Gen. Lees head
quarters, and
HEAR THEIR TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENTS,
and if anything important was learned I should
at once "open my half shutter" and watch for
the open half shutter in the Lacey House.
When they were ready to receive both shut
ters were to be opened, and as long as both re-
maIned open they were getting me down in
Il aTH- Il ~ Q /. grTgr
nal or a word, an attempt would be made to
close one shutter, when | would see that it was
understood that was to stop until signaled
to go ahead " by the opening of both shutters
again.
1t is not to be understood that it was ex-
pected of me to spell out" by this motion
system, every word that l might want to COM
municate over the river. There is scarcely a
word in general use that was not abbreviated
by the phonetic spelling and pronunciation, so
that every message became a blind cipher, ex-
cepting to those who understood the phonetic
system. For instance, the long word " cOmmu-
nicate," which ] have just used here, is reduced
to two simple letters, as follows:
Communicate ........km. commandments kmn.
Communicating king. Communicated .......kmd.
The sutfixes ing, ed, tion and ty to this
word, and wherever they occur. were short
ened by the use of the letters e. d, II, and y,
flag in shorthand as rapidly and as correctly at
distance of 20 miles as our official reporters
will at 20 feet, and if the weather does not per-
nit the use of flags a battery of guns can be
made TO "km" " as far as they can be heard, in a
storm or in the dark.
AS another illustration-I may be pardOned
the depression, because the subject OF fsignas and
ciphers is an interesting one to most persons,
and ! claim to be a crank on the subject-it
has been discovered that the word &" the occurs
most frequently; it is made by single stroke.
OF the" occur more frequently than any
other two in the common use of the language,
therefore a single letter V, when sent alone,
always signifies Of the y; ID is " in the" K is
"out of the" a is always for after" is
"no" or not" is yes" w is with" II is
have" Hr is "here," B is before" G is
see" u is g you y; and so on ad infintum.
For special uses certain signals or c0mbna-
tons are agreed upon. Be j." was, when writ
ten out in official dispatch, Maj Gen. A. e.
Burnside, commanding Army of the Potomac"
and so with the long titles of all the army
officers. 1t was amusing to US telegraph peo-
pie to see a dispatch handed in by some staff
officer signed with a whole alphabet of initial
titles, The "Actiug Assistant Adjutant-Gen-
eral, First Brigade Second Division, Third
Corps, Army Of the Potomac" went through as
A, z, 123.
For use in action the code was reduced to
buCn SyInDOi5 olo >. I.5 sbOg uFluRs OF W. l4I
more to the left; "A, X, u" attack on right !;
" En- ad-q-l," enemy ad vanae the left Q is
"on the" En- was enemy ;trg, retreating; ad,
advancing; fg, firing CIV, cavalry; by, battery;
in infantry. These abbreviatious are sent so
rapidly aud continuously, with scarcely pause
between them, that they form continuous
mixture of Welsh or pi to any one but those
having the key, and he must start right.
For my own especial purpose we had ar
ranged few additional signals by which was
to quickly KIN with headquarters. For in
stance, the important information that / had
been successful in spreading the false informa-
tion was to be known by a continuous repeti-
ton Of the signals SIX, SIX, SIX" sgnifying sue
cessful.
felt that could with perfect safety to my
self stand on the bank of the river, and while
apparently using my handkerchief in an ordi-
nary way, make these two simple signs so that
it would be readily understood. If | signaIed
re-rd, it meant Gen. Lee was in Richmond ;
or 1t. was not Lieutenant, as would be sup
posed by any signal officer, but meant Long
| street; while a simple was for Stonewall
| Jackson. Enh was enough"
1t required more time and labor and hard
| study to make these preparations than it has
| for me to write out my recolections of them.
| At that time what would not the enterprising
| New York papers have paid for this special
| correspondence
Even before everything was in readiness I
was looking for an opportunity to see Gen.
Burnside and tell him Of the character of our
arrangements. was disappointed in not see
! ing him for couple of days; my recollection
! is that he was in Washington. Any way, felt
| at the time that he was not as much interested
| in the matter as | had supposed he would be,
| probably because he was not on hand when
| wanted to see him.
Finally succeeded in seeing the General,
but not alone; indeed he was seldom, if ever,
| without some sort of company. When he stop
| ped his conversation long enough to hear me
hesimply said, in his polite, kindly way: "Well,
! you come in and see me again, won't you?"
OF course that settled it for that interview,
and l had to go off disappointed. / watched
for the next opportunity, and when / sent a
little note TO his room to say that / was ready.
he surprised me by sending out to see me one
of his staff officers who, holding my note in his
| open hand, came up to me and began to ex-
plain that the General had directed him to see
! me, etc.
This officer said, very kindly: 1.-THE General
has informed me Of your proposed service, and
has directed me TO afford you every facility
| possible. What can | do for your"
That was very kind, but it was not exactly
satisfactory, as l wanted TO talk to the General;
however, told this officer just what | wanted
| to do, which was in brief to cross the river be-
low the town, under the guise of a deserter,
and once over to act as should find best. He
| heard of my pFoDosed signaling with amala