Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-06
Over the Heads of the Enemy
in War Times.
REPLETE WITH DANGER
YET SIGNAL SYSTEM WAS USED
TO ADVANTAGE.
An Old Telegrapher Brings to Mind
Experiences With Union Army
on Rappahannock.

during the war of the rebellion. Almost
anybody could get position with the gov
eminent without regard to age previous
condition, the only qualification being that
ne should be large enough to stop bullets"
said an old-timer of this city. who was u
signal officer during the war and later
telegrapher for the Associated Press In the
Senate gallery.
NOT much Is printed these days about
the patriots who came in to get out of the
draft or volunteered substitutes. In the
last year of the war many were bounty
men. There was quite a list of exceptions
to the draft, including telegraphers.
happened to be one of the fraternity who
had voluntarily enlisted in the I'd Regular
Cavalry. L was soon detached on special
duty as a scout at headquarters to tap
the enemy's telegraph communications
Photographers Were Looked Up To.
AT that time a reliable expert tele-
grapher was looked upon by general officers
with something akin to reverence.
AS a staff scout, entirely independent of
everybody the regular civilian operators
doing all the routine work., 1 was subject
only to the commander-in-chief, and had
comparatively easy time of it. l perfect
ed myself in the signal service codes and
in the uses of the flags and glasses. Near
ly every day l made visits to the different
signal outposts chatted with the signal
men, peeped through the telescopes which
were leveled on the hills opposite, and be-
came quite as familiar with the country
through the telescope 1 had been
foot.
Il recall the experience on the Rapahan-
mock with balloon. There were two pro-
fessional balloonists in our winter camp.
Occasionally big balloon was in the
hn1 inC ND Gov tlo
tops. One of the professors had his big
gas bag anchored in the ravine behind
headquarters. 1t was, of course, of great
curiosity to the boys of the army. There
were so many visitors that rope around
the space occupied by the aeronaut was
stretched, inside of which no one was
allowed.
From the balloon it was intended to
observe the movements or position of the
enemy The confederate army at that time
was camped on the opposite side of the
Rappahannock. The elevations were al
ways made with a rope, securely tied to a
tree. The appearance of the big thing in
the sky seemed to annoy the enemy, and
they at last trained some fine English
guns on to it with such accurate aim and
range that the shots nearly exploded the
gas
General Hooker, near whose headquar-
tiers 1t was located, compelled to move,
because it drew the fire of the confederates
to his house. But the principal cause of
failure lay in the fact that. in anchoring
firmly to the EARTH the balloon when at It's
ropes end, tugged and jerked SO that it
shook the observers and the professor I'D
so that they could see nothing but stars.
Once Was Enough for Him.
81 went up in this balloon only once, and
that will do for the balance Of my life.
The Signal Corps had some insulated cable
| wire of a peculiarly flexible character. 1t
occurred to me to take a loop of this wire
tr, ha fol1 Nd fa1a
wire from the basket in the air to our
headquarters beneath what 1 could see Of
the enemy.
ut appeared like practical scheme, and
its suggestion to our new headquarters
staff officer served to attract the attention
of the chief to me personally, as my prop
osition to cable the river and report from
inside the enemy's lines to General Burn
side.
II proposed to take with me one of the
signal officers marine glasses, an arrange
ment of telescopes calculated for use on
board ships while rolling in the swell of
the ocean. With their aid a small flag in
the hands of signal man, was read easily
five miles Objects like moving troops or
wagons on the ground, not clearly visible
to the naked eye were also plain. The
field glasses used by our general officers
were not nearly so good. They soon found
this out, and annoyed the signal officers by
becoming persistent borrowers
In my proposition to the staff officer I
had explained that 1 was also quite IA
miliar with the topography Of the country
around Fredericksburg / had travelled the
roads to Richmond under circumstances
that were calculated to impress upon my
mind forever the exact character of the
landmarks.
Wireless Telegraphy Thought OF.
During the war an idea of wireless
telegraphy or air currents was denied but,
in practice, lightning. aurora borealis, cleo
trio storms, ETC., interfered so much that
this system was generally useless. We used
instead the Morse code for visual signal
ing by flags or touches or by sound waves.
Two wires formed a metallic circuit, which
Is the most simple form of telegraphing,
and not liable to atmospheric or other in
terruption. Being well insulated and wrap
ped closely together they formed one rope
in appearance.
'"The objection to the additional weight
was overcome by adjusting the volume OF
gas and ballast. The early morning was
selected for the initial ascension.
After a good deal of preliminary investi-
cation 1 reluctantly crawled into the basket,
with my little telegraph instrument attach
ed to the wires. Signals had been eXchang-
ed successfully through the wire coiled on
the reel, showing that the telegraph and
signal departments were o. K.
II began to feel nervous, in fact, scared
by the professors uncertain manner Of con-
Quoting his part of the experiment. At the
supreme moment I might have backed out
If there had not been such an assembage
of highly interested officers around to
watch the experiment.
II felt for the time that had again put
my foot into it. as ! had so often before, by
previously volunteering to do unheard-of
or at least odd things The professor walk
ed around hauling at ropes and giving d.
rections here and there. To my horror
while merely hanging and not in the
basket with me, he gave the order to let
her go. The big thing went up like an ex-
press elevator, and at great speed.
when ventured to look out, the crowd
below me- with faces turned up resembed
a nest of birds with mouths open for feed.
Ones sensations in balloon under ordinary
circumstances can be better imagined than
described. Though were douby an
chored by rope and wire, I could not help
feeling that something might break, when
we would surely land in the enemy's coun-
try.
IT should have preferred charging into
the rebel army on terra frma. Another
danger was that the long-range English rifle
guns would be able to put hole in the con-
spicuous target and let the gas out too
suddenly.
Professor Was Scared