COMMUNICATIONStelegraph companies before the war,
and included a significant percentage
of women. Military supervision of an
essentially civilian organization caused
friction. Major General George Meade
frequently complained about the
cavalier attitude of
telegraphers in the
U.S.M.T.S., who
occasionally left
for home during
critical moments
of campaigns. By
1864, however, enough trained
personnel were employed to maintain
a continuous service. During the siege
of Petersburg, General Ulysses S. Grant
enjoyed almost uninterrupted telegraph
communication with both Washington,
D.C., and his subcommanders operating
throughout the South.
Confederate telegraph services
Two civilian companies operated in the
South prior to the war, one of which
was the American Telegraph Company.
The director of its southern branch
was Dr. William S. Morris. In 1862,
Postmaster General John H. Reagan
made Morris “agent of the Confederate
States,” responsible for managing all
military telegraph lines in the South.
Morris and Reagan shared the duties.
For the first three years of the war,
the telegraph allowed Jefferson Davis
to keep in close touch with his primary
generals, although some of them
disliked communicating under the
watchful eye of Morris and Reagan.
General P. G. T. Beauregard, for example,
created his own telegraph system
around the Charleston defenses. Rebel
snags with the telegraph were primarily
caused by supply shortages and raiders.
As Confederate fortunes waned,
Southern telegraph operators rose to the
challenge and kept the lines humming.
During General Sherman’s March to the
Sea, Georgia’s agent advised: “Keep
your offices open night and day. If you
have to fall back,
take it coolly and
gather up the
operators,
instruments,
and material
as you retire.”Signaling on the battlefield
In 1856, Lieutenant Albert J. Myer
had created a system of “wigwag”
signaling, which was used before
the introduction of the telegraph.
Standing on a platform, the signaler
waved a single flag (or a lantern at
night) back and forth to represent
different letters of the alphabet.
By 1861, the system had been
accepted by the U.S. Army and
Myers had been made founding
officer of the U.S. Signal Corps.
On both sides, officers were
assigned at various levels of
army command to facilitate
communication primarily onthe battlefield and on the march, where
the telegraph was less useful. In the
Confederacy, signal corpsmen also
served as guides for blockade runners
at night, lighting lanterns along
entrances to the major ports, and
as military intelligence gatherers,
especially in Virginia.Changing the course of battle
Signal corpsmen proved decisive
in the outcome of some key battles.
At the First Battle of Bull Run, a
Confederate wigwag team warned
Colonel Nathan Evans that his
command had been turned by
the Union army, allowing the
Confederates to delay the Union
advance until reinforcements
arrived. At Gettysburg, Union
signalers on Little Round Top
observed General Longstreet’s
initial movements toward the
Union left on July 2, whereupon
the Confederate general
redirected his troops—using
up most of the day and
losing the element of
surprise, which allowed
General George Meade to
deploy enough soldiers to
meet the Southern attack.
Often targeted by enemy
snipers, signal corpsmen
on both sides suffered
disproportionately high
losses but provided
invaluable services
throughout the
Civil War.Telegraph tower
Signalers man a tall telegraph tower at
the Bermuda Hundred, on the left of the
Union line near the Appomattox River,
Virginia. These tall towers were used to
send telegraphs over short distances.Future conflicts came to rely on the
instantaneous communications provided
by the telegraph.POPULARITY OF THE TELEGRAPH
The telegraph continued to be the preferred
method of fast communication over long
distances in the postwar United States. Its
successful use by both sides during the war also
impressed European military observers, who
believed it would become indispensable.
Helmut von Moltke, future Chief of the Prussian
General Staff, viewed the telegraph and railroad as
linchpins for success in modern war, and used
both to strategic effect in the Austro-Prussian
(1866) and Franco-Prussian (1870–71) wars.AFTER
Night lantern
A member of the Signal Corps uses a kerosene lantern
on a long handle for wigwag signaling at night, moving
the lantern back and forth to send messages. Beside
him a man watches for the replies.
The number of miles
(24,140km) of new
telegraph lines that were constructed
in the North during the Civil War, in
addition to existing commercial systems.15,000