Thomas Eckert Thomas Thompson Eckert ( 23 April 1825 – 20 October 1910 ) was an officer in the U . S . Army , Chief of the War Department Telegraph Staff from 1862 – 1866 , United States Assistant Secretary of War from 1865 – 1867 and an executive at Western Union . Early life . Thomas Thompson Eckert was born April 23 , 1825 in St . Clairsville , Ohio . At a young age Eckert became interested in the use of the telegraph and the actions of Samuel F . B . Morse . Reading " The National Intelligencer " he became fascinated with the proceedings between Morse and Congress in which Morse was granted money to construct an experimental telegraph line . In 1847 , after telegraph lines were built from New York to Washington D . C . , Eckert decided to travel to New York in order to see the Morse telegraph in action and became an operator with the Morse Telegraph Company . Eckert then returned home to Ohio and learned how to telegraph . When Eckert returned home , he took a job as an operator at the Wade Telegraph Company , which was owned by J . H . Wade . While working as one of Wade ' s operators in Wooster , Ohio , in 1849 Eckert was appointed local postmaster as well . Eckert combined these two jobs by connecting the telegraph wire to the post office . In 1852 , Wade appointed Eckert to superintend the construction of a telegraph line between Pittsburg and Chicago on the Fort Wayne route . The lines under Eckert ' s management became part of the Union Telegraph Company , and his jurisdiction was substantially enlarged . Eckert held this position as superintendent until 1859 , when he moved to Montgomery County , North Carolina , to manage a gold mine . In 1861 , Eckert returned to Ohio to bring his wife Emma D . Whitney and his children to North Carolina . But upon returning to the mines , Eckert found he had been accused of being a Northern spy . When his case was heard before a judge , the judge acquitted Eckert due to lack of proof . After the case , Eckert and his family escaped back north to Cleveland with the help of influential friends in 1861 . Service During the Civil War . After arriving in Cleveland , Eckert telegraphed Assistant Secretary of War Thomas A . Scott that his services were available . Eckert was ordered to Washington D . C . and assigned to General George B . McClellan ' s headquarters as captain and aide - de - camp in charge of military telegraph operations , and accompanied him on the Peninsula Campaign as superintendent of the military telegraph for the Department of the Potomac . His service on the battlefield did not last long because in September 1862 he was sent to Washington D . C . to organize and administer the War Department ' s military telegraph ( a position he held until 1866 ) under the rank of major . Eckert was well respected by Secretary of War Edwin M . Stanton and President Abraham Lincoln for his organizational skills . Both Stanton and Lincoln charged him with important missions that went above Eckert ' s formal duties . In 1864 Eckert was brevetted lieutenant colonel and then later was granted the rank of brigadier general of volunteers in 1865 . Later , Stanton went on to appoint him Assistant Secretary of War in 1866 , a position Eckert held until 1867 . After the war . Eckert resigned as Assistant Secretary of War and established himself as a major figure in the American telegraph industry . His first job after his resignation was managing the eastern division of Western Union . In 1875 he became president of the Atlantic and Pacific telegraph company , and then in 1880 , Eckert became president of the American Union Telegraph , Western Union ' s main competitor . When Western Union and American Union Telegraph merged in 1881 , Eckert was named vice president and general manager of the expanded Western Union . Eckert , in his role as vice president , was an integral part of Western Union ' s management and growth . In 1893 , Eckert succeeded Dr . Norvin Green to become president of Western Union . He retired from this position in 1900 to become chairman of the board of directors . Eckert held this position until close to his death on October 20 , 1910 .