The National tribune., 1899-09-21

forward by telegraph, preceded the Massa,
chusetts soldiers to the Capital, reaching
there at p. m. Twenty-four hours delay,
and Washington would have been in the
hands of the enemy. The telegraph, rail-
roads, and troops unitedly saved the Capt.
tai; without either, Washington were lost
So much as to the early start of the war.
In the annual report of Edwin N. Stan
ton, Secretary of War, submitted to Con-
gress A. d. 1866, may be found the follow
ing:
"The United States Military Telegraph
attained an extent of 1889 miles of lines
constructed during the period of hostili'
ties, with total expenditure of S3,219, ,40C
during the war;"
Military telegraphers up to the begin.
ming Of our late war, formed no permanent
part of the corps de armee of any nation
except Germany. In the United Statest he
Army Signal Corps was the only recog,
nized body organized for transmitting in.
telligence quickly, and from the outset
that corps was handsomely supplied, be-
cause the law warranted it. But the
United States military telegraph was of
slow, uphill growth. 1t developed from
sheer necessity-a necessity SO urgent
that legal requirements were disregarded,
to the manifest service of the Union.
Necessity is virtuous mother; for about
the first seven months of the war the United
States military telegraph was without
q recognized head. The fallacious idea
that pervaded all branches of the Govern
ment at that time, nearly TO its destruction
that the war was three months conflict
fe- 1br la yl,o -, arfa
a more complete organization of the mill
tary telegraph service. Ovcr co years
have passed since the genius of Prof.
Morse evolved the instrument by which
electricity was made Subservient to the
slightest touch Of man, and used TO convey
messages; and although beset with diff
culties in those days-there being but
few lines Of telegraph wires in the coun-
try-we, the boys back in 1857 and '5S,
learned telegraphy on the Morse instru-
ments. But from that small beginning
electricity has grown rapidly, and at the
breaking out of the civil war the Govern
ment speedily recognized the necessity OF
having telegraph corps in the field, and
1,200 to 800 were employed. Out Of that
number some 300 were either killed, wound
ed, or captured. Some incidents con-
nected with the rebellion may be Of interest.
Gen. Grants promise to show how in
dispensable the telegraph was 10 success,
and how uniformly well the service was
performed by the operators in the field, has
had its fulfillment in the second volume Of
his Memoirs. Writing of two things con-
nected with all movements of the Army of
the Potomac, he said of the army tele-
fIat ,nathi,n np,,lI ha
plete than the organization of this body
Of brave and intelligent men.
insulated wires-insulated so that they
could transmit messages In a storm, on
the ground. or under water,.were wound
upon reels, making about 200 pounds
weight of wire to each reel. The pack
saddle on which this was carried was pro-
vided with a rack, like sawbuck, placed
orosswise of the saddle, and raised above
II, 80 that the reel, with its wire, would re-
volve freely.
There was wagon supplied with tele
graph operator, battery, and telegraph
instruments for each division, each corps
each army, and one for each Generals
headquarters. There were wagons alsc
loaded with light poles, about the sizt
and length of wall-tent pole. supplied
with an iron spike in one end, used TO hold
up the wires when laid, so that wagons anc
artillery would not run over them. The
mules thus loaded We're assigned to bri
gades. and always kept with the command
they We're assigned to. The operators wer,
also assigned to particular headquarters
and never changed except by special orders
The moment the troops We're put in posi-
ton TO go into camp. all the men connected