New-York tribune., 1907-11-12
Literary .Nesa,,s end C~ff5cic,,,


s@thered in the telegraph office. These
., -"s 'i"ihGs. says the writer with char
-, '''c halVete' brought instant relief to all
' especially to the President. who could not
look" '' e'eiy "o'u anu
g ~ resident kept himself instantly in
lIi " al the movements of the army is
80 iio"h' nut it is interesting to peruse the
tahslbie record of it, The night of Auous+ oG
lo62, until after daylight of tho foIio,,.i,e. ,,
as spent hy him in the telegram office wait
ing Tor news from General Pono a+ the cro,t.
but no word came for many, ho,,r. 49,, -.
whit, A Lincoln Presidents 6tes2ce M s2 425 a.
The forces IL ton is not not destroyed. It probably viii be-
time. sent oy us last night held it until that
i1i'coIh at once penned this answer.
Colonel TTaupt: What became 90 49,.
say E, MUGS * fi&coLNzo. ffS 81 zou
When no reply came he teiegraphed aeain.
Run Is the railroad bridge over Bull
4. LINCOLN
10 reply not received until the s,bsocron+
DAY he returned a. once:
learn 3bat Haaupt: Yours received How do vou
AL Z tlat me rebel forces at Manassas arc 1 Sun
ana commanded by several of their best eneraI9
A. LINCOLN.
@1"eUsI - ne telegraphed again: What
MS ~, from direction OF Manassas Junction?
"hat generality" Twice he telegraphed to tine
same effect on the day after. on some davs ha
sent out as many a dozen kilograms to va
rious generals. Almost invariably he vrote
these messages out himself in a neat lecfbe
hand. without erasures
Lincoln's kilograms were characteristic; one
could reconstruct fairly well rounded concep-
uon OF the man from them. Take this one to
Grant:
1,.,,+.nar. c,.u., August II, 1864. 1890 A. NJ.
have seen your dispatcb Axnrsyss,g g',: o,,r d;
wilIngness to break your hold where you are
A, LiNcoLN
The vigorous wording OF this message is ri
vailed by the succinctness Of the directions
Grant himself telegraphed to his commanders
on the night Of the final advance on Lee: Let
the fur fly"
This undated message to Sheridan has not
elsewhere been published. according to the au-
thor's knowledge:
General Philip. a. Sheridan, Winchester, vir-
gina: General Grant telegraphs me that If you
Shenandoah valiey-Push him, A. Lf%c6LN. ;.''
Another side of his nature was shown by
some Of his messages to Mrs. Lincoln; this one.
for instance. sent 10 her in Boston:
Washington. November .. 1862
Mrs A Lincoln. Boston: Mrs. Cuthbert and
cause i has grown so cold at the Soldiers Home.
Shall they? A. LINCOLN.
or these two, addressed to her at Manchester,
VT. in 1864: "All reasonably we'll. Bob not
here yet. How is dear Tad?" "An WELL incud-
ing Tad's pony and the goats"
Important dispatches were. OF course. turned
over into cipher before transmission, and OF
this process Mr. Bates gives a brief but inter
eStinC account with fraDScriptioy, oP carta IN
messages in cipher Although kilograms Of this
sort often fell into the hands of the enemy and
some Of them appeared in Confederate ney s.
papers with request for translation. not one
was ever deciphered. This was owing in part
TO the insertion of blind" words at certain
points of the dispatch, which, unless the right
allowance made. confused any system Of
transcription into columns. and in part to the
use of large number Of arbitrary words,
several OF which might stand in turn for the
name. say, of a general a locality.
The Confederate cipher codes ordinarily Of
fered little difficulty 10 the operators at Wash
ington. In one case. however couple of hier-
oglyphic documents were sent IN from the New
York Postoffice wholly unlike anything pre-
viously met with by the Sacred Three" II
was hours before they could get the cleW; mean
while "the President hovered about Us, anxious
IN know the secret of our united cogitations
The translation leo E1Inln n week 10 illS dii'Se
OF six or eight conspirators and the capture OF
p quantity Of arms and ammunition, packed in
hogsheads and ready 10 load on an Atlantic
liner which the conspirators had hoped later
to seize and turn over TO the Confederacy.
From the words last quoted it will be seen
that Mr Bates lacks the faculty Of realistic de
scription. It is not easy 10 picture President
! Lincoln as towering" Not much that is valu-
able in the way Of personal Impressions is to be
| found in the volume except within quotation
| marks It seems deporable that a unique op-
| portunity should have been improved so little
| But we are perhaps exceeding our rights In
asking that an expert telegraph operator should
| at the same time possess an expert faculty Tor
receiving and recording personal impressions
Mr. Rates has brought some new facts apout
| Lincoln to light. and for such welcome Is al
/ ways certain.
: DOWER FOR PEOPLE.