Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-08-29

instruments the fate of armies was to
| turn Later in the war the operators
of the military telegraph and the line
men as we'll. were to be found often In
the forefront of the army, in the midst
of danger. yet unarmed.
The operators in Washington when
the war began were worked day ana
might, yet they stuck to their posts
without murmuring. The custodians of
the most important military secrets,
they never betrayed their trust.
| 9ph ENTER ANDREW CARNEGIE.
AS the rush of military business In
creased it was important that the va
rious departments in Washington
should have direct wire communication.
on April % a wire was run from the
main telegraph office to the White
House.
The first government telegraph line
built, however, was that between the
war office and the navy yard, across
the city, about three miles long. 1t was
opened on May 2. The government ar
senaI was soon connected with the war
department by a line
BY this time the situation outside
Washington demanded extra telegraphic
facilities The rapid concentration of
troops and supplies in the capital i'm
I
graph as well as on railroads.
In the emergency the secretary of
war called to Washington Thomas A.
Scott general manager of the Pennsyl-
vaniap railroad. to superintend railroad
transportation and telegraph.
Mr.. Scott. soon to be made assistant
secretary of war, brought to Washing
ton with him some of the Pennsylvania
roads best telegraphers. These men
were placed in the most important posts
at the capital and rendered valuable
service.
With Mr. Scott also came one OF .,is
principal assistants, who was a. teleg-
rapher as we'll as a railroad man. He
was a short, uthick-set, bearded man,
with a burr of Scotch speech, and his
name was Andrew Carnegie.
Mr.. Carnegie at that time was SUI
perintendent of the Pittsburg division
of the Pennsylvania road. He had be-
gun his career as a messenger boy and
had become expert at the key.
On his way to Washington--he had to
come via Perryvir1e, and thence to An
napolis by water. as it was in the time
OF the break of communications at Bal
timore--he rode on an engine from An
napolis. f~l5
Near Elkridge Junction he noticed
telegraph wire pinned to the ground by
wooden stake. Such tampering with
the telegraph called for action, and
stopping the engine Mr.. Carnegie jump
ed down and released the wire.
! 1t sprung up with twang and sent
the future iron master head over heels
backward. with an ugly wound on his
face
This incident is related with zest by
writers on the wartime telegraph.
PIONEERS IN THE FIELD.
Mr. Carnegie for some weeks was In
charge of military railroads and .tele-
graph at Washington, under Mr.. Scott.
One of the bright young telegrapher5
they had brought with them was David
Strouse, native OF Mexico station,
Juniata county, Pennsylvania. Strouse
was but a. and not strong, but he was
brilliant operator and an able executive.
To him, under Mr. Carnegie, fell the
work of building the first government
telegraph lines,
AS the troops poured into Washington
It was necessary to connect their camps
with the war department
Next a line was run up the Potomac
10 the Chain bridge, and here an opera
tor was stationed. This operator, j. r.
Gilmore, had a guard of six cavalry
men, but as he had no horse himself
he did not see how he could escape II
the Confederate cavalry at the other
end Of the bridge decided to make
dash across.
This outpost at the Chain bridge was
the forerunner of the actual field tele-
! graph which was soon to take form on
the Virginia shore.
May p all telegraphic communication
with Richms I'd ceased, the wires being
cut in the middle of the Long bridge.
May "A General McDowelrs army
crossed the bridge from Washington and
seized the Virginia heights.
Such telegraph wires as had been cut
/ iii,
paired and lines were soon In working
order from the outposts back to head
quarters An office was established in
the home of Gen. Robert 4. Lee, Gen
eral McDowelrs headquarters. The
public telegraph Office at alexandria
which was seized on the oath, was man
ned and the line between was soon in
operation. This was the first military
telegraph in the Confederacy.
The work of opening the Virginia
lines and of putting a line across the
Potomac proved too great burden on
the strength of young Strouse, and the
broke down with a hemorrhage from
the lungs. He lived but few months.
This pioneer in the military telegraph
and those who followed him, up to and
through the Bull Run campaign. were
the orede eessors of the field telegraph
that was soon to follow
The latter, with its portable appa-
ratus, its battery wagons, it's field In
struments and its soldier operators, was
to develop rapidly through the inge-
nuity of oo.n military and civilian in
ventors and adapters.
INVENTORS ENCOURAGED
AS a rule inventors of field telegraph
apparatus were encouraged by the mill
| tary authorities, as the following dis
patch of the period attests
Today telegraph Engineer Henry
Rogers, of New York, put in operation