The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-17
you to cut your wire it used to be bit IN

! SUI anu NlLn Aufa'lt- mere WIS one NAtiAI !
! remember at Holly Springs when we we're
two miles in advance OF the army and
/ didn't know when We would be snapped up
| Then there were other times when we
would be sent q tap the confederate wires,
and that was job that meant dan ger every
time. It's wonder that more men we're
not lost than really were" Then the old
time operator began to recall incidents OF
| telegraph service, aud other Old-timers near
by did Likewise. Some of the stories
were second hand, some were not. and many
/ were teresting. Yes said Somervllle,
| tapping confederate wires was DANCE GUS
work There wa the case of one Of the
best of our military operators, Larhrop his
name was. He was one OF the first Of our
army u enter Yorktown. His duty, as he
| knew il, was to hurry to the confederate tele-
| graph headquarters for the purpose Of try
| ing the Richmond wire. There was a tor
pedo lnge liously placed in the tent by the
confedera es. Well. while poor Lathrop
was at work it exploded and fairly blew
! him to piec s. There was something serious
! about that sort of work. "
Eyes, - broke in another old timer, but
! do you remember how formation as to the
position of the confederate intrenchments
in Yorktown was obtained! 1t was by
means Of light wire worked by an opera
tor in a balloon and connecting with our
headquarters"
"Some of the men were very successful at
wire tapping continued Somerville ''Gen.
Rosecranz had with his army two men who
were, to use a slang expression, daisies.
One of these was an Irishman named Pat
rick Mullarkey and the other was named F.
S. Manufacturing. These two men were
in the enemyS country between Richmond
aud Chattanooga for thirtv-three days
tapping wires. They had good many mar
row escapes, but finally reached headquar-
ters in Nashville safe and sound"
Gen. r. X Warren has written OF two
instances that fell under his notice." said
Supt. Somerville. lone was at Peters
burg. An operator brought his wire to the
front directly under the fire of the enemy's
guns and operated it behind a big tree
there. But the tree was hollow, and if a
cannon ball had ever struck that tree it
would have gone right through it, and it
would have been good-oy operator. An
otherte instance was at point on the
Weldon railroad on the Sunday morn
ing that the union men were sheled
out Of it. One of the operators brought
his recorder right up under rifle fire of the
enemy,in as dangerous spot as could posi-
bly, be chosen. Bullets just hailed around
him, their patter aud the sound of musketry
sometimes confusing the records Of his
sounder. But he went on with his work
without finchi G. Gen Warren afterwards
oaAd Nhdb u6 " as dNbpuliNltu III Inc IOlblIl
displayed by some of the operators"
YES" broke in another speaker, "then
there was E. T. Chapman, who was with
Sherman for awhile. There was not a
Drawer man in either army. He was with
Sherman when the latter made his success
full raid into Western Virginia in the latter
part Ct 1854. Chapman was always at post
OF danger, tapping the confederate wires
and Intercepting the rebel dispatches. He
came througn it all right, though, and Sher-
man himself reported that his success was
attributable In great degree to the infor-
nation derived by his OPERATOR Chapman,
from the confederate telegraph linesm
Others than Supt. Somervlle can tell,
however, of the military telegraph corps
The war records are full of them, as is also
"Plum's History Of the Military Telegraph. 4"
At the retreat of Banks from Strausbrrg.
Jackson captured both of his telegraphcrs
One of them was at Winche ter sending
important dispatches after the union rear
guard had left He was captured, but before
this he managed TO destroy his dispatches,
and break his instrument, 50 that neither
was of any use to the rebels. The field
operators that Pope had with him acted on
many occasions as independent scouts,
tapping wires here and there, as the occa-
sion presented Itself. The earliest news of
the second battle of Bull Ru was given by
the operators, two of them idiug from the
battlefield and telegraphing to the Presi-
dent, who personally thanked them over the
wire.
There was a goodly delegation of tele-
grapherS in Libby prison, in Andersonville,
and at Belle Isle at all times during the
war. One of the peculiar fea ures of their
imprisonment was the ingenious methods
that they used to communicate with their
friends on the outside. Sometimes a brass
htttf hrnterht nv
capped prisoner would contain a cipher dis
patch on tissue paper, and there were other
devices of various kinds resorted to.
The way Burnsides army was saved al
Knoxville will 90 for example. Long street
was besieglng Burnside there. Grant, after
driving Bragg from Missionary ridge, re-
ceived dispatches from the adva &c office
that Burnside could not hold out but for Il
limited time This news was communicated
to Secretary Stanton. 1t was late at night
when Stanton teegraphed to Col. Stager
chief of the military corps, to como
to the key" Stager was in bel
in Cleveland, but the ticking of his i'll
strument at his bedside awoke him He
was told to get news to Burnside that rein
forcements were on the way to him. Stagel
Immediately sent a cipher message contain
ing the information to four operators near
where Burnside was holding out, and in the
dead of the night these four operators
started from different points, each with the
same news. Between them it reached Barn
side, and knowing that union troops Were
on the way to him he held out and his army
was saved.
William Macintosh was one of the old
time operators who had more lively expe-
riences than most men have. He was twice
i'll Libby prison and only escaped a third
term by the narroweSt of scratches He
was holly chased for a mile by the confed.
crates, and the fact that he was lucky
enough to fall in with union regiment was
all that saved him.
But such things as these were quite COM
mon in the days of the Late unpleasant
ness" aud the veterans laugh over them
now.
There is practical side to the coming
convention. Every general of any promi-
nence IL the war has eulogized the Military
Telegraph corps. The Comte de Paris in
his history has said he was amazed by its
efficiency. As has been said before, some
200 men were killed. died of disease or were
captured during the war. while 100 more
suffered from the casualties of the service
Yet this corps, which in fact constituted
part of the army, has been entirely over
! looked by congress as organi-
zation. There is before congress 8
| bill For the relief of telegraph oper
ators during the war" 1t has been there
several sessions. The general belief has
been that it was intended to grant pensions
to the vete ans. This is not so. The main
object of the bill is to get proper records OF
! fha SprvIraC pT tba r,ilitary oorrc e..