The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1924-07-21
FEW CIVIL WAR q
TELEGRAPH To
RELATE OLD DAYS
Only IT of 1900 Veterans
Survive Today-ReuniOn
in October

NEW YORK. July 21--Ielegraph
operators who served the Govern
ment as members of the United
States Military Telegraph Corps in
the Civil War numbered about 1900.
Today only seventy-seven of them
are registered on the rolls of the
association Of survivors, which is to
hold it's annual reunion in New
Orleans next October.
The dean Of the Civil War tele-
graph operators is David Homer
Bates, who is summering in Allen
hurst, ". j. When in the city Mr.
Bates lives at the Ansonia. He was
manager Of the War Department tel
egraph office and cipher operator
from 1881 to 1866. Mr. Bates is the
only survivor OF the four cipher OPP
orators stationed at Washington dur
ing the war.
Saw Lincoln Daily
There were no telegraph connec-
tons in the White House AT that
period. and when President Lincoln
wished to hear from his armies in
the field or to send orders or inquir-
les TO the generals at the front, he
would walk over to the War Depart
ment building. Thus il happened
that for four years Mr.. Bates saw
Lincoln almost daily, for in that
Period the President spent more time
in the War Department telegraph
Office than he did in any other place
except the White House.
One Of the cipher operators in the
Office had met Lincoln in Illinois
during a political campaign before
the war. and at Lincoln's request
had explained the principles OF the
telegraph. He was deeply impressed
at the time by Lincoln's interest in
this comparatively new development
Of electrical science. Lincoln. en-
countering his former preceptor in
the War Department several years
afterward, gave him a hearty wei
come.
Lincoln at the Telegraph Office
The War Department telegraph
once was a convenient retreat for
Lincoln. and he often spent hours
in this haven. safe from the pes
tering Office seekers" as he once
told one Of the operators. Here he
wrote the first draft Of the Enamel
patton Proclamation, seated at the
desk Of Mai. Thomas 7. Eckert in
the cipher room.
At critical periods of fighting the
President would lean over the
shoulder of the operator taking the
dispatches and when the cipher was
being transferred he often followed
the process word by word. His
custom on entering the room was
TO go to the file Of translated tele-
grams and, starting where he had
left off the previous day. he would
go over every dispatch carefully
until he had completed the sheaf.
Then he would write out in his own
hand the messages he wanted sent.
seldom debating them. but putting
them into neat written form for
translation.
At the outbreak Of the war. An
drew Carnegie. a telegraph operator
earlier in his career, was superin-
tendent of the Pittsburgh Division
Of the Pennsylvania Railroad. under
Thomas A. Scott. vice president Of
the system, who became assistant
secretary of war On April %. 1861.
Carnegie ordered Bates and four
other telegraph operators TO Wash
ington for service in the United
States Military Telegraph Corps. The
7
when ne delivered 10 the President
the message announcing the shoot
ing of Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth Of
the Fire Zouaves, the Eleventh New
York
Cipher Code Confusing
The cipher code used throughout
the conflict, was drafted by Arson r.
Stager, and was developed by Thorn
as T. Eckert, later president of the
Western Union Company: Mr.. Bates
and others. When Charles A. Dana,
as assistant secretary of war, went
TO the front. his dispatches 10 Wash
ington often sent the cipher opera
tors to the dictionary. for they fire.
,quently contained wordsSnot familiar
to the ordinary eye.
The Confederates had a cruder
cipher system, based on symbols, and
Id4coln was interested in watching
thd translation of such of their dis
patches as were intercepted by the
Union forces.
The work Of the Telegraph Corps
is shown by the official report at the
end Of the war. From first to last,
1888 miles Of field. land and sub
marine lines were Iu3lt by the or
ganization. These pioneers laid the
foundation for cipher and telegraph
work in later wars. Nothing like il
had ever been done before.
The Gettysburg Invasion
One Of the most widely known
telegraph veterans in the United
States is Elias Writ Hale Cogley,
now living in retirement in Parkers-
burg, Pa, who passed through New
York a few days ago on his annual
summer trip TO Montreal. Mr.. Cog
ley will be so in December. yet his
eyes are as keen and his cheeks as
pink as when he vas the captain
of army news service Like many
others of his craft. Cogley was under
FIRE in the Civil War. although he
was not technically in the service OF
the United States.