The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-08-04
ARMY SIGNALNEN.
A Branch Of the Service
Little Understood Some
of the Duties.

No branch of the service with an army
in time of war is so little understood as
that OF the signal corps. says the Newark
| Sunday 'Call.' Few except the initiated
have anything like an intelligent
idea of what the men in the corps DO. All
| know that they send messages from one
part of the army to another, or from the
army ashore to the fleet afioat, and there
| their knowledge ends. The signal men
with the army are often comparatively
isolated from the rest Of the troops and
the latter Sec but little of them, while
the signalmen keep them always in view
and not know them only as a mass,
as regiments, ~brigades, corps or divisions.
The signal corps was a powerful adjunct
of the Union armies during the Ciyii War
and in the present struggle the corps has
still much to do before it can attain to the
| splendid record for efficiency which the
| signalmen of 81 made for themselves.
The signal corps of the Civil Wal had
all the appliances that the corps has in
the present war, save the telephone. and
| that has not worked with the highest de-
| gree of satisfaction so far, although q lit
| tie more experience will put it on a high
level for usefulness, no doubt. The tele-
graph was used all through the Rebellion,
| and toward the end played a highly i'm
portant part. This fact is not generally
known, and every few days one may read
in a newspaper or magazine of the mark
| ed superiority of the signal corps at the
present time over corps of previous wars,
because of the telegraph. In the Rebel
lion they actually had telegraph offices"
| on battlefields, and in. many a battle all
| the Union officers had Geographic con-
nection with the commandments.
The day signalling is done by means Of
flags or with the helictrope, for long dis
| tances. AT night lanterns or torches are
used The flags are either red, white or
| black. and the same general system pre-
walls today as was used in the Rebellion.
The red flag has a white square in the
centre. which helps the persons looking
| at it to fix their gaze on the flag the more
| readily. The white flag has a red square.
and the black flag a white square. Mr..
| Botticher, in response to inquiries made
| by the writer the other day, explained
| just why these particulars were made use
| of. The red flag, he said, was used when
the signal station was In or near a camp.
| A camp consisting largely Of tents, and
to wave a white flag would be very con-
fusing to persons at the next station who
would have to make out a moving white
/ object against a white background. The
red flag could, under these conditions, be
| much more easily Identified. The white
| flag was needed when signalling in the
open with a background of green hills,
for then a red flag would be too near the
colors of the foliage to be made out
readily. The black flag was needed
when The signal station was on a noun
tain top. treetop or any point which had
the sky for a background. Neither red
nor white could be discerned as readily,
against the sky. as black. The White flag
was the one used most frequently and
when the signalmen fixed their station at
any place it was the first to come out Of
the kit.
1t is signalling at night that requires
both skill ana patience.
What is more. it demands sharp eyes
and trained ones. Torches are used. as
was said above. One is called a flying
torch and the other is stationery. If the
flying torch alone was used the men at
the other station would not be able to tell
whether you were waving to left or right:
there must be some point by which the
hying or signal touch is to be located. So
a torch is placed at the feet. Now, the
other station may be six or eight miles off
on some mountain top, but 1t is a very
difficult job to locate 1t when you have
nothing to go BY. no points to get your
bearing on, ali being When
a message Is to be sent at night rockets.
/ or sometimes red fire simply, are used to
attract the attention of the next station.