Evening star., 1896-06-27

{EHrSNANEl from the field, and by
.T|M " it were sent out the
-& N< orders from Presi-
So -~|~ dent Lincoln and
Secretary Stanton to
the generals COM
manding. corps of the best ope-
raters of the country were kept at work
n anipulating the keys, and the most rapid
teegraphers Of the United States were in
charge. General Anson Stager, who had
been superintendent of the Western Union
telegraph, was the head, and next to him
vas General Thomas T. Eckert, who IS
now the president of the Western Union
telegraph lines. General Eckert sustained
the closest of relations to President Lin
coin, and Lincoln used to chat by the hour
with him in the telegraph Office. Eckert
as also a good story teller, and some CT
the best of Lincoln's stories were uttered
while the operators were clicking out mes
SageS of war Under these chiefs there
were number of very fast teleSraphers.
among the brightest of whom was Edward
Rosewater. now proprietor OF the Omaha
Rec. During the war Mr.. Rosewater was
for time a telegrapher in the field After
the second battle of Bull Run he was
brought to Washington to act as one of the
confidential operators of the War Depart
ment. During his stay in Washington ne
kept a diary, and he has a number of most
interesting stories of his experiences of the
Incidents of that time which nave never
been given to the public. l chatted with
him the other night about the telegraph Oh
flee Of the War Department. Said he:
THE War Department during the tlme
of President Lincoln was in the old W ar
Department building. This was three
story structure just above the White House
The telegraph office adjoined the once OF
Secretary Stanton. 1t consisted of two
rooms, one of which was devoted to the
receiving and delivering of cipher messages.
and another in which less confidential tele-
grS phing done. In the cipher room sat
a very fast operator and General E.ckert.
There Were two cipher operators and the
most import ant of our news came in TINS
shape. The outer room contained about ten
marble tables, upon each of which was
Geographic instrument of the latest pat
tern. We had You know, the finest ma
chinery known at that time and the opera
tors We're chosen for their expert work.
They had to be fine penmen, and one of the
requirements of the position was to be able
to write out the dispatches rapidly as
they came from the wires. This is done by
many operators today. 1t was not so com
mon then.
Our War telegraph.
who organized our war telegraph. Mr..
RosewaterT' asked.
Gen. Arson stager and Gen. Eckert,'
was the reply. Gen Stager was. you know,
superintendent of the Western Union tele-
graph before the war began. He was called
to Washington to take charge of the
telegraph system and organize a military
telegraph. The first wire built was that
which ran from the War Department to the
navy yard. Then a system of communica-
ton was made with the camps lying within
ten or twelve miles of the White House.
and the Capitol building was connected
with the Navy Department by loop. The
lines were soon extended to the Chain
bridge, then over into Virginia, and finally
they had direct comml nication with all
parts Of the country. Gen. Stager orlginat-
ed the cipher code used in the department.
He was an expert operator himself, and
one time when riding on the PittSburg,
Fort Wayne and Chicago road the train
broke down within nine miles of any tele-
graph office. Gen. Stager cut the wires
and by holding one above and one below
his tongue able to receive the mes
sages by watching its movements caused
by the electric shocks passing through it.
By this means he received a reply that
another engine would be sent to him at
once. Gen. Eckert wes also EXPERT teleg
1apher. His relations with President Lin
coin were very close, and he can. 1 ven
ture, tell more good stories of Lincoln than
any other man now living. President Lin
coin often came into the telegraph office
and he frequently sent messages through
me. He generally came in early in the
morning and he often remained in the
office at night when serious operations were
going on in the field
A Story of HaIleck.
What were your arrangements for de-
livering messages at night, Mr.. Rosewa-
ter?'
There was. rule, not great deal
of work to be done at night" replied Mr.
Rosewater though at times the wires
were kept hot. During great part Of 1863
l was the night chief of the office / had
in the corridor outside the operating rooms
a half dozen cavalrymen, who were on
hand to carry such dispatches as were i'm
pCTtant. l remember once during the win
ter of 1863 that a telegram came urging
Columbus, KY. This was then a very i'm
pertant military point and the rebels We're
moving upon 1T in large force, and the
Union general commanding had in this dis
patch asked for reinforcements The mes
sage came to me between midnight and
q. IN. handed it over to one of the order
lies, and told him to take 1t at once to Cen
eral Halleck. l expected very naturally g.
prompt order from Halleck as to the rein
forcemerts. An hour passed by, nothing
came. A second hour went by, and still
no order l was anxious. for 1 feared
that the wires might be cut and broken be-
fore morning. and in this case no relief
could be gotten to our forces at Co.
lumbus. I remained on duty all night.
but no message came from Halleck. Be
tWeen Z and o'clock in the morning
went out for my breakfast, and upon re-
turning asked If General Halleck had not yet
ordered reinforcements. l found that he
had not, and l went out and asked the
orderly If he had delivered my message,
and, If SO, whydhe had not brought an
answer. He replied that General Halleck
had given directions that he was never to
be disturbed after midnight. This state
ment made me very angry. The idea Of
the commanding general of the great army
giving orders that he was to be awakened
under no circumstances when such vital in
terests were under his charge seemed to
me simply awful. I Yves SO wrought up over
the matter that 1 Thought would go to the
President and tell him about the Hal
leck order. In thef first place, how
ever. I decided to ask General stager.
who was, you know my superior Of
fcer. did So, ad told him that
1 was going to seeAsthe President. He
replied by asking me what business it was
of mine whether the order was sent or not
Said he: My boy, you have nothing to do
| with General Halleck's orders. We have
done our duty. 1t is our business to receive
| ard deliver dispatches, and that is all we
can do l was still angry, but after Cen
eral Stager's making such q remark /
| could do nothing. He was my superior off,
Ger, and his answer was in the nature of an
order
Gen. Burnside's Vigilance.
srWas this the case with the other afB