The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-11-21

that Mr.. Lincoln issued his proclama-
ton, Mr.. Stanton issued an order for
bidding officers and all other members
of the army to have anything to do
with the trade. In spite of all these
regulations, however. and the mod
ificatiOns of them which experience
brought, there was. throughout the
war. more or less difficulty over cotton
trading.
From Washington. I went back to
New York I had not been there long
before Mr.. Stanton sent for me to come
to Washington. He wanted some one
to go to Grants army, he said, to re-
port daily 10 him the military proceed
ings, and to give such information as
would enable Mr.. Lincoln and him
to settle their minds as to Grant. about
whom, at that time. there were many
doubts, and against whom there was
some complaint
Will you go?" Mr.. Stanton asked.
Yes said
Very WELL" he replied THE osten-
sible function L shall give you will be
that of a special commissioner of the
war department to investigate the pay
department in western armies, but
your real duty viii be to report to me
every day what you see"
| at once started for Memphis. going
by way of Cairo and Columbus I sent
my first dispatch to the war depart
ment from Columbus on March 20 1t
| was sent by a secret cipher furnished
| by the war department, which [ used
myself, for throughout the war [ was
my own cipher clerk. The ordinary
method at the various HEADQUARTERS
I was for the sender to write out the
/ dispatch in full, after which it was
! translated from plain English into the
| agreed cipher by a telegraph operator
/ or clerk, retained for that exclusive
I purpose, who understood il, and by
/ another translated back again at the
/ other end OF the line. So whatever
/ military secret was transmitted was at
the mercy always Of at least two out
side persons, besides running the
gauntlet of other pTying eyes. Dis
| patches written in complex cipher
codes were often difficult TO unraveI,
unless transmitted by the operator
| with the greatest precision. A wrong
word sometimes destroyed the sense OF
an entire dispatch. and important
movements were delayed thereby This
explains the oft-repeated I do not I'M
derstand your telegram found in the
official correspondence of the war
period.
have since the war become familiar
with a great many ciphers, but I never
found one which was more satisfactory
than that l used in my messages to
Mr.. Stanton.
The only message sent by this ci-
pher to be translated by an outsider or
the route, so far as I know, was that
one Of I p. m. Sept. 20, 1863, in which
L reported the Union defeat at Chick
amauga. General r. S. Granger. who
was then at Nashville, was at the
telegraph office waiting for news
when my dispatch passed through.
The operator guessed out the dispatch.
as ne afterWard confessed and it was
passed around Nashville The agent
of the Associated Press at Louisville
sent out a private printed circular
quoting me as an authority for re-
porting the battle as q total defeat,
and in Cincinnati Horace Maynard re-
peated, the same day of the battle. the
entire second sentence of the dispatch.
"Chlckamauga is as fatal name in
our history as Bull Run"
This premature disclosure to the
public of what was only the truth. well
known at the front, caused a great deal
OF trouble. l Immediately set on foot
an Investigation to discover who had
penetrated our cipher code and soon
arrived at satisfactory understand
ing of the matter, of which Mr. Stan
ton was duly informed. No blame
could attach to me, as was manifest
upon the inquiry; nevertheless the SEN
satton resulted in considerable annoy
ance all along the line from Chatta-
nooga 10 Washington. I suggested to
Mr.. Stanton the advisability of con
cOctlEg q new and more difficult cipher.
but It was never changed, so far as
now remember.