Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-27
SECRETS OF CIPHER

THE mysteries of cipher messages are, to
every man in the thousand except one,
thing beyond understanding. The man in
the street has never thought of bringing him.
self to an understanding of cipher. In fact,
he does not differentiate it from code, which
is an entirely different thing and of merely
commercial Importance. Code is used in
business to save telegraph tolls; for in it
single word is made to carry the meaning OF
phrase or sentence. 1t IS short, concise,
effective, economical. Cipher has as It's sole
object, secrecy. 1t is not concise, is labori-
Gus, tedious, and time consuming. But 1t
carries message that can be read only by
the sender and the recipient and upon which
may hang the fate of individuals or nations.
]. B. Devoe, bearing for the sake Of pro-
lection the title of Acting Master. United
States navy, but in reality Secret Service
agent, reported to the Navy Department on
January Z, 1865, that he had come into pos
session of the Confederate cipher and the
manner of using it. He reported that he had
found two of the keywords used Com
plete Victory" and Manchester Bluff" He
confessed however, that there was still
later keyword that he had failed to discover.
This latter keyword was, in fact, never
made out by the Federal forces, and re-
manned secret until recently discovered by
Charles w. Stewart, librarian for the Navy
Department.
THE cipher used by the Confederacy is that
l which has met with more general usage
among nations than any other. 1t consists
of a blocked-out square made OF the letters
of the alphabet arranged as seen below.
ABoD MNoPoRsTUvwxYz
BcDEF GHIJKLMNoP RSTUvwxYzA
EFGHIJKLMN QRSTUvWxYZ AB
DEFGHIJK LMNOPQRS TUVWx YZABC
EFGHIJKLMNo oRsTUvwxY zABCD
FGHIJKLMNO QRSTUVwxY ZABC
GHIJKLMNoP sTUvwxY zABcDEF
HIJKLMNO RSTUvwxYzAB D EFG
IJKLMNOP RSTUvWxYZA BcDE FGH
JKLMNOP QRSTUvWxY ZABCD EFF
KLMNoP STUvwx YZABCD EFGHIJ
LMNoPQR STUVwXYz ABCD EFF GHIJK
MNOPQRS TUVWXYZAB D E G X
NOPQRST UvWxYZAB C D EFF H L NJ
oPQRS TUvwxYZAB EFGHI LINN
PQRS TUvwXYzAB cDEFGHI KLMNo
QRS TUvwXYZAB DEF G HI KLMNOP
TUvwxYZAB EFF CHI KLMN orc
STUvwXYZABC DEFGHI MNoPQR
TUvwXYzABC Eff G HI XII NoPQRS
UVwXYZAB H J N p I
vwxYzA BcDEFGHIJ KLMNoPQRS
wXYZABC DEFGHIJK LMNoPQR STUv
ABcDEFGHIJ KLMNoP RsTUvw
YzABCD EFGHIJ KLMNoPQRST UvWx
ZABCDEFG HIJKLM NoPQRST UVWXY
This must be used in conjunction with the
secret keyword. Any word may be taken,
and it may be changed as often as those
using it agree. Authorities state that
word of seven letters is best adapted to the
purpose in hand, and the more the same let
tiers are repeated in the word the better; for
this is confusing to him who attempts to
decipher.
The undiscovered keyword of the Con-
federacy was interest. In the trial Of
Dreyfus some years ago it developed that
this keyword was used in sending certain
messages. Stewart idly applied it to the
undeciphered messages in the department
archives, and was greatly surprised that it
fitted them and that they could be easily read
through it. Therefore, for the purpose of
indicating the manner of sending cipher
message, the Confederate cipher will be
used and the newly discovered keyword they
used toward the end of the war. Take, for
example, the simple message, ATTACK w
today The message would be written and
the codeword would be placed above it letter
for letter in this way:
INTERE TIME
ATTACK w TODAY