Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-05-13

patches he sent the night previous. This
he declined 20 do, ana he was beaten on
the head with pistols until he became In
sensible He Yves then sent 70 his resi-
dence and a guard placed at the house to
prevent his escape. The river crossing
was Immediately destroyed and the line
cut down north Of the town. About two
weeks later when Hixon had sufficiently
recovered. he arranged with a negro man
20 cell on a dark night and take himself
and wife northwardly and thus escape.
Kccpipg the Lines In order.
Shortly after / arrived at Springfield
General Lyon reached there with his army,
but the telegraph line was broken down
In several places. lie arranged immedi-
ateiy to send sufiicient force 20 occupy
Warsaw and other important points on the
route Of the telegraph line, placing them
at my disposal to repair the telegraph line
as quickly as possible. In the course OF 3
few weeks we restored the line to opera
ton. A short time after that the govern
ment took possession 81 all the telegraph
! lines in the southwest I returned TO ST
! Louis via Rolla. and was Immediately APP
pointed assistant superintendent by George
/ II. Smith. who had been placed in charge
| OF the military telegraph lines In the de-
partment My principal duties were to
| became acquainted with all Of the COM
handing officers In that part Of the eoun-
/ try. Early In 1853 the union army occu-
! pied Little Rock Ark, which was made
| separate department under the command
/ Of Major General Frederick steele. Gem
| erai Schofeld. commanding the Depart
ment OF Missouri with whom I was well
! acquainted. recommended 20 Colonel Stager
my appointment as captain and assistant
I uuartermaster I'm charge OF the military
telegraph lines in the new Department Of
] Arkansas. and later on I received my
commission from the president,
Dimcult Task.
! reached Little Rock the latter part Of
1863 and reported to General Steele for
orders. The southern terminus of the Mis-
souri, & Western telegraph line was at
Fort Smith. Ark. and my first duty was
to build line from Little Rock to Fort
Smith. a distance OF 1S5 miles This was
a difficult task, as we were completely
surrounded by the enemy. That Is to say
there was a large army south Of us and
In our rear, and on our TANKS were large
parties of guerrillas. We succeeded, how.
ever, in getting the line into operation
from Little Rock TO st. Louis a distance
OF about COO miles. but IN order 10 do this
It was necessary to place troops at every
important point on the line subject 20 the
orders Of Captain Smith and myself In our
respective departments. II was necessary
for me to have a large number Of linemen
patrolllng the lines under the escort OF
troops. and although these lnemen had no
standing except as quartermasters' en-
ployes in the army. no drawer lot Of men
could be found.
Fate of n SPY.
In looking over my report to Colonel
stager, dated Little Rock, June 80, 1864.
which recently received from the
War department, find some in
teresting incidents. pertaining TO the
telegraph service. namely; ION December
50. 1868. SPY was captured in Little Rock
named David o. Dodds. who had full In
formation Of all the troops, batteries, etc,
at that point, written m telegraphic char
acters in a memorandum book. I was
} called upon to decipher and translate said
characters before a court-martial, which
did and Dodds was executed by General
Steele a spy" endeavored 70 save
! Dodds' life, but all to no purpose. Dodds
? was a very young man and had been en-
= ployed in the telegraph once at Little
= Rock before that city was occupied by
E union troops. also quote from this re-
4 port as foIl9ws: "on March Il General
Steele started south with lis army to CO.
Z operate with General Banks on Red river.
leaving but a very small force on the line
1 Of the Arkansas river. The telegraph line
I to Fort Smith did not work after the army
, withdrew south. The guerrillas became so
! numerous that II was impossible 20 keep Il
, working west OF Lewisburg. Three OF my
! men, Alex Kane. Jacob Richards and
Thomas Jones. were killed by guerrillas
while repairing the lines near Clarksville.
] H,.Fr AL -.
fore life was extinct Their escort had
camped and were surprised but they all
got away leaving my men behind, with a
wagon and five horses. The escort waG
from the First Arkansas cavalry"
PuniHhinE GuerriIIaa.
In this report did not mention the fact,
however, that General Steele gave me full
, authority to capture the guerrillas who had
= so brutally murdered my lnemen. / as
certained that Richards had recently pur-
chased some shirts in Little Rock and that
his Initials, y. r." were marked on each
garment. These shirts were. OF course,
Q taken by the guerrillas. / gave this in
formation to our troops and also gave
them description Of the horses captured
d One Of these horses was what is called q
e calico horse. that is, spotted red and
g white, and the other four were carefully
d described. With this information our troops
d succeeded in capturing four OF the muir
X derers recognizing the horses as those OF
+ Rane's party, and finding that some of the
v men wore the shirts marked II. r." These
e gueTrillas were shot and killed by ouI
= force as soon they were satisfied of thei
n Identity.
A these are only two OF the scores OF in
n teresting incidents which could be related
\ in connection with the military telegraph
n service in the western departments. Ii
. September, 1864, Captain George III. Smith
n resigned his position in charge OF the mill
tary telegraph lines In the Department Of
= Missouri and Kansas, and l succeeded him
:, taking charge of the lines IN all three de
partments namely, Missouri, Kansas and
Arkansas, with headquarters at st. Louis
Later on received commission major
= and brevet lieutenant colonel from th'
president OF the United States. and at The
= close OF the war was. at my own request
honorably mustered out OF the service and
was Immediately appointed district super
: intendent OF the Western Union Telegraph
company for the southwest territory. wit