The Portland daily press., 1895-03-07

vice, as Acting Signal officers. Orders
for detail Invariably read, detail" your
bravest and most intelligent lieutenant. +"
A camp of instruction was located at
Georgetown, and in short time line of
stations was established aloundWashing-
ton and up and down the Potomac As
expeditions were organized, officers and
men were with them, and the Signal
Corps became recognized arm of the
service.
The trouble and loss of time experi-
enced by the return of officers and men
to their regiments, after having been fit
ted for signal service was remedied. To
enter the Signal Corps. closed the door
for return, and after barred the door for
promotion in the regiment as officers did
not like to have others promoted over
them, who were absent on detached SER
vice.
The Port Royal expedition under Gen.
W.T.. Sherman had a detachment of Z
officers and IA men.
On application of Gen. Buell., five
officers and ten men were sent to the
| Department of the Ohio. Other detach-
nlents followed in quick succession to
different departments, and in the spring
| of 1862, by request Of Maj. Gen. Butler,
three officers and six men left Washing
ton tor the Department of the Gulf
Much delay was caused by lack of trans
that it was not till after the capture of
New Orleans that they reached the de-
partmenI. Lieuts. E. H. Russell and
John "A. Vance were i'll command.
In order to give an idea of the organ
lzatlon of the Corps, the training of
officers and men for the service, shall
be obliged to give you some personal ex-
periences.
My regiment, the Sth Vermont, Col
Stephen Thomas commanding, was quar-
tered at the Opelousas railway station
| i'll Agiers, on the west side of the
Mississippi river opposite New Orleans.
well remember the morning of the 3rd
of June, when, called to headquarters,
Col. Thomas handed me the order of Gen.
Butler, calling for detail for signal
duty. To the Colonel's remark, II do
not know just what this means. Lieu
tenant, but thought of you and Lieut..
Morse" l replied 81 consider it an
honor to be selected for such detail y
had not then the slightest idea of the
service, or Of the time required to carry
| it out. In fact, thought likely it was
Tor an expedition to the Gulf, or Lake
Ponchartraine, in purauit of rebel gun
| boats, requiring only few weeks alb
senee. Lieut. Morse having also accepted
the appointment, we each selected three
men from our respective companies, and
reported for duty to Lieut.. E. h. Russell
at the Custom House New Orleans. We
were. a little surprised to find that a
similar detail had been made from most
of the regiments in the vicinity. Lieut..
Russell did not enlighten us as to the
| nature of the service, but simply direct
! ed us to return to our regiments and
make arrangements for an indefinite aD-
sence, in reporting for duty on the 5th,
| two days later.
| Reporting as directed at 60 Gravier
| a M n
with three enlisted men, in all about so
| for the formation of the Corps. We oc-
cupied three story brick building for
] merly used for n store, in comfortable
condition. Officers were assigned to the
third floor, enlisted men to the second,
while the first floor was used for guard
ana storage OF equipments, and for COM
missa-y supplies. The court yard in the
rear, protected by high walls and we'll
paved, served for kitchen. Taking up
our assignment for quarters, we were
called together and th e duties of the SER
vice somewhat explained. In order to be
assured of our educational qualifications
we were examined in writing and SPELL
ing, it being of the highest Importance
to have all messages correctly trans
mitted.
Examination over, each office was sup
piled with the Alphabet or
GENERAL SERVICE CODE,
to be committed to memory as soon as
possible. In a day or two we were as
sembled for recitation. Seated in semi
circle facing our Chief we endeavored to
read the motions of wand, which he
moved from the upright to the right,
or left and down front, thus represent
ing the numerals 1, 2, 8, 4, 5, by the COM
blnat1on Of these, having all the letters
of the alphabet. few Authorizations or
code signals, short sentences and numer-
ais. Moved slowly at first, the motion of
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