The record-union., 1899-11-29
WAR rELEGRAPHERs.
Thrilling Stories They Tell of the
Early Days.

cry OF the century, the electric tele-
graph. Said one of the Old Guard of
civil war operators still doing duty at
Western Union headquarters a few
days previous to the meeting: 1T will
be a notable gathering at Boston, and
l hope l shall not be taken in spirit
OF rivalry nor boastfulness when say
that the men of the original Military
Telegraph Corps will be the lions of the
occasion. Why shouldn't they? Army
heroes are having their innings once
more, and let me tell you that the first
man l saw killed at the front, and
got there, musket in hand about as
soon as the next one, was an operator,
doing piece of rush work out of pure
ly voluntary enthusiasm. The affair
took place at Yorktown the 18th of May,
1867. When the Confederates evacu-
ated Yorktown bright Ohio boy,
named D. B. Lathrop, and his comrade
of the corps, H. L. Smith, followed the
Federal skirmish line into the works,
and dashed for the Confederate tele-
graph office to test the wires toward
Richmond. The wires had been cut,
and We're dangling from the pole.
Lathrop gave a leap, landed at the base
Of the pole, and came down with full
force upon a percussion shell lying half
hidden by some light rubbish. The shell
exploded and was fatal.
Yes, the war operators were the real
pioneers of the hustling methods that
put dot and dash on the skirmish line
of American progress. The principle
of telegraphy was in it's infancy, when
the war broke out forty years ago
Commerce was conservative and not at
all given to the rapid pace of modern
times There was needed a great war
with it's fearful draft upon public pa
thence, popular interest, and universal
sympathy. Added to these, wars i'm
perative demand for lightning COM
munications between armies served to
develop this wonderful system of ruling
the worlds destinies as the genii rule
fairyland, by the mysterious might of
magic.
THE ancients made use of swift run
ners, or of men with phenomenal voices,
to carry battle news and orders while
Napoleon, initiating Caesar, brought to
his aid carrier pigeons. The very first
method in our war to come to my no.
tice was primitive indeed - simply
line of men stretched across the field
passing messages and orders by word
of mouth. The theory of the inventor
of this system doubtless was that the
line could find shelter in a ravine or
under low ridge, but it turned out in
this case that our men were hemmed
in upon a broad open plain, and the
telegrapherS made better targets than
did the armed combatants. They stood
the ordeal bravely.
Shortly after this skirmish, which
was near Yorktown, May Z, 1862, all
enlisted men who could handle the key,
I myself being of that number, were
put to work upon a field telegraph, and
wires strung upon bayonets or pointed
saplingS set in the earth came into use
on every battlefield. Every risk was
taken in order to get line working as
quickly as possible. The getting at
wires and establishing a circuit was
the first thought of an operator when
the army advanced. The bravery of
young Lathrop at Yorktown was only
one of the many instances of the same
class which might be cited. In moving
through the enemy's country the old
wires, poles and offices We're looked
after first If they had been destroyed
or damaged, as was often the case,
other means had to be improvised, and
the wits of the operators were equal To
the occasion. Operator Nichols of our
detachment, serving at General Sum-
ner's headquarters during the Seven
Days battles on the peninsula, found
during the battle of Savage Station
that he had but three feet of spare
wire to lay a line twelve feet from
the ground. The main wire of the army
was in constant use and could not be
grounded, although Sumner was anx-
ious to communicate with his chief,
some miles down the line. With the
aid of some commssary men Nichols
piled cracker boxes against the pole,
climbed up and opened his office. 1t
was just dark and it was necessary to
have lantern to do the work. The
light made a good target which TIE
enemy shelled briskly, but Nichols held
down. This daring operator at that
time was only Is.
Another witty expedient was adopt
ed by Operator Fuller of General
Boyle's command, during Morgan's
Kentucky raid in 1862. Morgan's men
captured Fullers outfit while he was
marching toward Columbia with
Boyle's troops, trying to head of the
raiders. When the force reached Co
lumbia the telegraph office was found
dismantled. General Boyle had some
urgent messages to send to distant
posts asking help for the emergency,
and threatened to shoot Fuller if he
didn't get the wires in working order.
To vindicate his good intentions-he
was a civilian employers well as to
save his life, the unlucky operator
seized the ground wire in one hand and
the main wire in the other, using the
ends as key, and sent the message on
its way This was not so difficult, but
it was necessary to get a return, which
could only be done. by reading the
shocks on therwire. This he managed
to do by using the tip of his tongue as
a receiver.
Sometimes more than the ordinary
nerve to be expected in an operator
when near his key was demanded by
the emergencies of war, as was the
case in the Confederate siege of Knox
vile in 1868. Burnside was shut up in
Knoxville by Longstreet's corps of Viz
ginians, while Grant and Sherman
were hammering at Chattanooga. AS
soon as Mission Ridge fell before |
Grants attack Sherman set out to re-
lieve Knoxville by forced marches. /
Meanwhile a message reached Grant to
the effect that Burnside could not hold
out agai inst Longstreet longer than De- /