Cornell University Library The original of tinis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924083535405 'cORNELr UNIVERSITY LIBRARV GEN. ALBEKT J. MIEK. THE SIGNAL CORPS, U. S. A. IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, BY J. WILLARD BROWN, A.M. DURING roup. YEARS PRIVATE, SBEGBAN'T AND LIEUTENAXT IS THE COUPS. •tiBlitb IRumerous Iflluattations an& flBaps. BOSTON : PUBLISHED BY THE U. S. VETERAN SIGNAL CORPS ASSOCIATION. 3896. COPYKIGHT, 1896, BY J. WJLLARD BROWN. I'RESS OF B. WILKINS &. CO , BOSTON. TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED WIFE, WHO, FOR A FEW MONTHS, SHARED WITH ME THE PLEASANTEST FEATURES OF ARMY LIFE, AND WHO, DURING MANY Y'EARS, INSPIRED ME, UNDER MANY DISCOURAGEM KNTS, TO PERSIST IN MTT PURPOSE OP COMPILING THESE RECORDS OP THE SERVICES OF NOBLE AND HEROIC MEN, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. /. W. B. East Boston, Mass., Jnne 71, 1S9(1. Committee on publication. EDWAHD II. HASKELL. ADIN B. CAPKON. .1. WILLAKU BltOWN. CHAS. D'W. MAKCY. GEOKGE H. GRAVES. INTRODUCTORY NOTE. The Committee on Publication, in presenting this long-delayed history to the members of the Veteran Signal Corps Association and others interested in our Corps, felicitate themselves on the completion of their labors, and congratulate their fellow-members that they are permitted to read and criticise the volume themselves instead of relegating that work to their children. They bespeak for the history a careful reading and discriminating criticism. No work recounting any part of the story of the war has iippeared that has not been sharply — oftentimes mercilessly — assailed. The writer does not for a moment presume that the book is free from errors, or above criticism in other respects. He desires to be informed of all material errors in matters of fact. He ventures ,to add, however, that his experience during the past ten years leads him to declare that he will not receive, or, rather, will give no weight to, any criticism which is not based upon records made " at the time and upon the spot," or essentially so made. For six or eight years he has devoted all the time he could spare from his regular occupation, the oversight of a school of more than 1,600 pupils, to the large correspondence and wearisome researches involved in the writing and condensation of the records of such a scattered and changeable organization as was ours. A few chapters, and many parts of other chapters, were written several times. Additional data called for additions, amendments, or a complete reconstruction of the story. Single paragraphs have often required a large correspondence, necessitating, oftentimes, we regret to say, a long delay, because the query sent was laid aside for a more convenient season. The book was completed essentially a year ago. We have delayed 4 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. its publication that we might make it more valuable and more attractive by the addition of a large number of maps, illustrations, and portraits. The latter feature, the portraits, added considerably to the delay. Our thanks are due to Gen. A. W. Greely for courtesies extended and assistance rendered. We also wish to thank all those officers and comrades of the Corps who preserved their records and official papers?- and who placed them at the disposal of the historian. Public acknowledgment should be made of our indebtedness to the historian's son, Frederick W. Brown, for valuable assistance rendered in the preparation of the history, especially in the matter of the illustrations and the maps, many of the former and most of the latter having been drawn by him. The historian desires to place on record an expression of his indebted- ness to our secretary, Mr. C. D'W. Marcy, without whose practical knowledge, untiring labors, and financial aid, it would have been impossible to publish the history at this time. A. B. Capjkix, Edw. H. Haskell. Geo. H. Graves, J. W. Browx, C. D'W. Mai!(;v, Committee on Publication. J. WILLARD BROWN. PREFACE. In the summer of 1878 the writer addressed a note to Col. Albert J. Myer, Chief Signal Officer of the Army, which he closed with these words: "Since I began collecting material for my Personal Recollec- tions of the War, it has often occurred to me that there ought to be a separate and complete History of the Signal Corps in the War of the liebellion. If no one has taken steps to prepare such a work, or proposes to do so, I should be only too glad to attempt the task. JVIanj' others, I doubt not, are better able to write up the record of the ■Corps than myself, but very few, I am sure, could give to the task a more hearty enthusiasm." Col. Myer, in his reply, indicated that preparations were already making for the compilation and publication of a. History of the Corps. The death of Col. Myer in 1880 doubtless prevented the consummation of this purpose. Some ten years ago I was requested by the Veteran Signal Corps Association to prepare a History of the Corps. By permission of the Secretary of War and the Chief Signal Officer, Gen. W. B. Hazen, I spent a part of my summer vacation, in 1886, at the signal office, ■consulting the records for data. The month of July, 1888, I passed in the same way. Gen. Greely extending me every facility for the prosecution of my work. Says Lieut. W. A. Glassford, of the present Signal Corps, in a brief sketch of the organization : " The genesis of military signalling is written in the labors of Myer. What from the most ancient times other commanders had dimly comprehended. Napoleon first saw clearly •enough to crystallize into his maxim, ' Le secret de la guerre est dans le ■secret de communications.^ What the great captain of modern warfare recognized, but could not attain, was the problem whose solution fell to Albert James Myer, of the Medical Department, United States Army. In all campaigns from the remotest times the maintenance of communi- cation by transient signals had presented itself to commandera as of paramount importance, but in practice it had eluded them. When simple the signal was inefficient, when efficient it was so unwieldy as 6 PREFACE. to be impracticable ; the flashing shield at Sunium and the fingers nf Chappe's semaphore were alike in their unavailability upon the field of battle. The waving flag and torch of Myer were the first contribution to the solution of the problem which were efficient without cumbersome machinery, and while so simple as to be easily extemporized from any chance materials, were yet capable of performing every service which they could be called upon to render. " From the flag and torch of the enthusiastic inventor to a highly developed corps of the general staff is a long step. In the beginning, the Corps was enfolded in the enthusiasm and determination of Myer. In fact there was no corps, but there was Myer. A chief without a corps, it was his consuming ambition to surround himself with a staif -)f trained assistants ; he succeeded in his ambition in 1863, but such were the animosities excited by his success that he was removed from the command of the Corps he had created, and in 1864 was out of the army. Yet such was the influence he was still able to exert that he prevented the confirmation of Col. Fisher twice appointed to succeed him." A military body having such a genesis, such a varied life, and such a multiform organization, presents to the historian almost insuperable obstacles. The History of the Signal Corps certainly presents difficul- ties of which the regimental historian has no knowledge. The regiment, in the War of the Rebellion, was for the most part a compact body, having a uniform, coherent life, and continuity of organization. The Signal Corps, on the other hand, was in a continued state of change, not only as I'egards the body itself, but also in its separate members or detachments. Lieut. Glassford speaks of one difficulty which continually met the writer. He says : " The scanty record of signal operations in the southeast presents one difiiculty, — lack of material ; the record in the northeast, being voluminous, presents another and even harder difficulty, that of selection and condensation. Maj. Myer, who was designated Chief Signal Officer of the Army of the Potomac, published in 1864 his report of its two-year-old signal operations, written with less reference to its military value than to its political bearing upon legislation then under consideration in Congress. From these records, diffuse in details and silent as to essentials, it is a hard task to arrive at the methods by which the signal officer proposed to utilize the military results of his actions, in firmly establishing his own position which as yet had not emerged from the insecurity which must attach to any experiment. PREFACE. 7 " On this northeastern approach there was some signalling done in 1861 ; the officers instructed at Fort Monroe put their lessons into practice, but they contributed little to the success of these early engagements. But in 1862 the Signal Corps, after its full winter's training at Georgetown, was as eager to press on to Richmond as any portion of that luckless army. Myer moved with his Corps ; he saw what each man did, and made a note of it ; nothing escaped his attention and few events but were made to contribute to the greater glory of the new arm of the service." In the preparation of some chapters I have been confronted with this " embarrassment of riches," while I will frankly confess that in some cases I may have added extraneous matter to round out a chapter or give it added interest. One of the most capable and earnest workers in the Corps, in its early days, was Capt. Samuel T. Gushing. He should, many of us believed, have been made its lieutenant-colonel. He was offered one of the majorities, but declined it. No words of mine can so fittingly introduce this history as the words he gave us at the old Camp of Instruction at Georgetown, in September, 1892: "In McClellan's Own Story, page 135, I find the following mention of the Signal Corps : ' The weak point in the Signal Corps as then organized, was that its officers were not trained soldiers and therefore their judgment could not always be relied upon.' This idea pervaded the army in the early part of the war, and may account for the timidity of the high authorities in recognizing the usefulness of the system, and explain why the early efforts of the Corps to take the high position it so obstinately worked for, and so firmly maintained before the war closed, were unsuccessful. The system was the invention of a doctor, — a non-com- batant, — and the Corps was officered by lieutenants of volunteers without prestige. It was experimental, unknowh to students of war. Previous uses of signals had involved myriads of flags or cumbrous machinery, and it was not easy to convince the authorities that the simple processes and equipments adopted in this system would be either useful or successful. The thought of detaching from the fighting forces of the army a number of officers and men to 'flop flags,' was not, at first, favorably considered. The allotment of money was made in the most penurious manner, and it required superhuman energy to obtain recognition' for the Corps until the enemy had shown, by using signals at Bull Run, that it was prepared to adopt the system. How well we succeeded after we had gained a start is known to 8 PREFACE. history, and is well expressed by Lieut. Glassford in his historical sketch. ' First appearing as an idle spectator at Bull Run, later summoned to the council of war at Gettysburg, these two facts terselj^ illustrate the two years' growth of the signal system.' The Signal Corps of our army was the product of volunteer industry. Composed mainly of detachments from the volunteer service, it progressed, onwards and upwards, and, when the war closed, showed what could be done by the citizen soldierj^ The few regular officers who were detailed in its early days had been relieved from duty, and its chief, Col. Myer, had been forced out of service." The story of the Corps as recorded in the chapters on the different armies or detachments will be found to contain many points of sim- ilarity, running frequently into sameness, and even into what to many will seem to be a wearisome monotony. While it has seemed to be necessary to present once and again the same or very similar lines of work, yet each army and each detachment had its own characteristics and special lines or ways of working. It is to be presumed that very few will read all of the chapters on the organization and work of the separate detachments. We fondly believe, we know, that the Signal Corps aided materially in the work of crushing the Slaveholders' Rebellion. We are glad to extend the fraternal hand to those who waved on the other side of the breastworks " The Bonnie White Flag that Bears the Crimson Square." We believe that they, with ua, rejoice that " Old Glory " still waves over all our land, however we may differ as to the causes, events, and issues of the terrible struggle. A Southern poet, a Confederate soldier. Will H. Thompson, has grandly expressed the thought : — " They fell, who lifted up a hand " God lives! He forged the iron will And hade the sun in heaven to stand ! That clutclied and held that trembling hill . They smote and fell, who set the bars God lives and reigns ! He built and lent "Against the progress of the stars, The heights for Freedom's battlement And stayed the march of Motherland ! Where floats her flag in triumph still ! " Fold up the banners ! Smelt the guns ! Love rules. Her gentler purpose runs. A mighty mother turns in tears The pages of her battle years, Lamenting ail her fallen sons!" .1. W. B. Contents. PART I. GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CORPS. CHAPTER I. The Obigin of the Coeps. Albert J. Myer, his early education ; appointed surgeon ; ordered to New- Mexico ; appointed signal officer ; ordered to New Mexico again.— Comanches signalling. — Lieuts. Walworth Jenkins and E. F. Alexander. — Lieuts. Walter McFarland, Horace Porter, and VV. W. McCreery. — Navajo campaign. — Col. T. T. Tauntleroy. — Lieuts. L. L. Eich and O. G. Wagner. — March from Port Defiance to Fort Eauntleroy.— Capt. D. H. Maury.— Col. E. K. S. Canby.— The signal flag. — Topographical duties. — Zuni expedition. — Lieut. C. M. Wilcox. — Maj. T. H. Holmes. — Lieut. W. J. L- Nicodemus.— Gen. D. E. Twiggs surrenders to Texas. —Capt. D. H. Maury.— Col. W.W. Loring.— Lieut. J. E. B. Stuart.— Lieut. Samuel T. Cushing.— Maj. Myer ordered to Washington. Page 19. CHAPTER II. Pkeliminaey Organization. Signal Camp at Fort Monroe. — First use of signals in the war. — First line ■established. — Maj. Myer reports to Gen. McDowell at Bull Run. — Confederate Signal Corps at Bull Run. — Results of Bull Run. — Organization of a Signal Corps urged. — Plan proposed. — Telegraphic train.— Signal Corps details for the Army of the Potomac. — Signal camp at Tenallytown, Md. — Signal camps and schools at Poolesville, Sugar Loaf, and Darnestown, Md. — O. H. Howard's reminiscences of the camp at Georgetown. Page 39. CHAPTER III. Signal Camp of Instruction. Organized by Capt. Samuel T. Cushing. — Officers. — Enlisted men. — Capt. Cushing's reminiscences. — Drill and discipline. — John D. Billings's recollections of Poolesville station. — Examinations. — Plans for signal communication. — Forty- two officers ready for service. — Line, Maryland Heights to Fort Washington. — Alexander Ashley's reminiscences. — Field practice. — Signal office established. — Camp reorganized. — Strength of the Corps. — Oath of secrecy. — Depredations. — Clothing, etc., suggested. — First death. — Corps reorganized and ordered to the field.— Signal Corps song. Page 55. CHAPTER IV. Executive Depaetment. Signal office opened. — Its purpose. — Clerical force. — Examining Board. — Cipher disks.— Col. Myer relieved.— Maj. W. J- L. Nicodemus placed in charge. 10 CONTENTS. —Eecruiting.— Sergeants.— Removal of office.— Lieut.-Col. Nicodemus dismissed. —Col. Fislier placed in charge. —.Condition of Corps.— Abbreviations.— Col. Myer restored.— Alexander Ashley. Page 79. CHAPTER V. Pkixciples and Methods of Signallikg. Kind,s of signals. — Principles. — Elements. — Four-element code. — Two- element code. — Signal apparatus. — Visibility.— A four-element code. — Abbrevi- ations. — Day signals. — Night signals. — Repeating stations. — Elags. — Elag practice. — Rockets. — Coston signals. — Signalling with mirrors; with powder puffs. — Countersign signals. — Parachute-rockets. — Signal instruction at West Point. Page 91. CHAPTER VI. Signal Apparatus. The kit, canteen, and haversack. — Flags. — Torches. — Cipher disks. — Glasses. — Cost of apparatus. — Turpentine. — Care of apparatus. — Expenditures for the Corps, 1860 to 1866. Page 115. CHAPTER VII. Duties in the Field. Choice of flags. — Selecting stations. — Calling. — Constant watch. — Officer.% skilled and alert.— Organization for an army.— Chief Signal Officer.— Officer on station. — Reports. — Three kinds of stations. — Ciphers. — Stampede reports. — Abandoning stations. — The Corps in 1862. — In 1863. — In 1864. — The place for a Chief Signal Officer. — Lieut. I. S. Lyon's estimate of the Corps. — Prescribed duties. — Revealing the code. — Long calls of communicating stations — Ser- geants in charge of stations. Page 125. CHAPTER VIII. Permanent Organization or the Corps. . Weakness of the Corps.— Claim of regimental commanders.— Maj. Myer'& first plan. — His appeal to Stanton. — Brevets. — Influencing legislation. — Con- federate Corps. ^ Maj. Myer' s last appeal. — Bill passed. — Capt. Nicodemus- — Act organizing Corps. — Maj. Myer's recommendations. — Examining Boards. — Brevet rank. — Duties of officers. — Promotions of enlisted men. — Roster of the regular corps.— Dissatisfaction. — Officers promoted from the ranks. — Field- officers of the Corps. — Enlisted men of the Corps. — Sergeants. — Salaries. — Col. Myer removed. — Lieut.-Col. Nicodemus removed. — Col. B. F. Fisher. — Lieut.- Col. Nicodemus restored. — Maj. J. H. Spencer. — Col. Myer's memorial to the Senate. — His address to the President. — His endorsement by Grant and Sheri- ' dan. — His restoration. — Weatlier bureau. — Gen. William B. Hazen. — Gen. A. W. Greely. Page 141. CHAPTER IX. The Field Telegraph. Telegraphic duty claimed. — Field-train proposed. — Train allowed. — Train described. — In the field. — Wire cut. — Expense of line. — Disagreements. — G. W. Beardslee's magnetic telegraph ; successfully used at Fredericksburg. — Adver- tisement for experienced telegraphers.— Contmued disagreement as to control of the lines. — Col. Myer relieved. Page 171. CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTEK X. Personnel and Miscellanea. Character of officers and men. — Interference of regimental commanders.— An embarrassment of riches.' — Details for the Corps. — Instability of the Corps — Officers rejected. — Records and reports. — Characteristics of enlisted men. — An officer or a man ? — Civilian appointments. — Promotions. — Signal code learned. 143434 ! — Assuming airs. — Military duty in undress uniforms. — Horsemanship extraordinary. — Elevating a station. — Playing chess by signal. — Charging a bat- talion of sheep. Page 183. CHAPTER XI. Confederate Signal Corps. Capt. William Norris and Gen. Magruder. — A semi-nautical system. — Capt. E. P. Alexander and Myer's system. — Window signalling. — J.H.Alexander. — Corps organized.— Electric telegraph. — Secret service. — Confederate cipher. — Cipher apparatus. — Easy reading. — Confederate code. — Bogus message to Early. — Lieut. Frank Markoe. — Morris Island messages read. — A code for each de- partment. — Island No. 10. — Stonewall Jackson. — Harper's Ferry. — Magnetic telegraph. — Song of the Rebel Signal Corps. Page 205. PART 1 1. HISTORY OF DETACHMENTS. CHAPTER XII. Department of the Shenandoah. Stations on the Upper Potomac. — "All quiet on the Potomac." — Lieut. W. W. Rowley. — Battle of Winchester. — Retreat to Maryland.— Corps compli- mented by Gen. Banks. — Armies united under Pope. — Battle of Cedar Moun- tain. — Battle of Groveton.— Retreat to Washington. — Station on Sugar Loaf. — Corps complimented by Gen. Pope. Page 227. CHAPTER XIII. Department of the South. First detail from the Camp of Instruction. — O. H. Howard's reminiscences. — H. S. TafEt's reminiscences.— Battle of Port Royal, Nov. 7, 1861.— Battle of Fort Royal Ferry, Jan. 1, 1862.— Corps complimented by Commander C. R. P. Rodgers and Gen. Isaac I. Stevens. — Capture of Fernandina. — New details. — Capture of Fort Pulaski.— Charleston, capture attempted. — Battle of Pocotaligo. — Bom- bardment of Fort Sumter, April 7, 1863. — Capture of a station. — Corps compli- mented by Gen. Seymour and Admiral Du Pont. — Assault on Fort Wagner. — Battle of Secessionville. — Field telegraph. — Flagmen complimented. — Signal line, Hilton Head to Folly Island.— Battle of James Island, July 2, 1864.— Rebel messages intercepted.— Sherman's scout.— Finding Sherman's army. Page 245. 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. Aemy of the Potomac. Details for Generals T. W. Sherman, D. C. Buell, and A. E. Burnside.— Break- ing camp. — Fairfax Court House. — Manassas. — Alexandria, Va. — Details for Generals Halleck and Butler. — Assignments of officers and flagmen. — ^Down the Potomac. — Yorktown. — Naval co-operation. — The camps. — The picket line. — Evacuation. — Williamsburg. — Battle of West Point. — White House. — Bottom's Bridge. — New Bridge. — Hanover Court House. — Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. — Oaines's Mill. — Savage's station. — Glendale, or Frayser's Farm.^^Malvern. — Har- rison's Landing. — Fort Monroe. — Washington. — Maryland campaign. — Freder- icksburg. — Chancellorsville. — Gettysburg. — Return to the Rappahannock. — The Kilpatrick-Dalilgren raid. — The Wilderness. — Spottsylvania. — Cold Har- bor. — Crossing the James. — Enclosing Petersburg. — The siege of Petersburg. — Entering Petersburg. — Jettersville. — Farmville. — Appomattox. — The last camp. Page 289. CHAPTER XV. Department or Vieginia and North Carolina. The first signalling. — Bombardment of Fort Hatteras. — Burnside expedition. — Battle of Roanoke Island.— Capture of Fort Macon. — Rawle's Mills. — Golds- borough expedition. — Kinston. — Whitehall. — Disagreement of Generals Hunter and Foster. — Swansborough. — Siege of Washington, N. C. — Siege of Suffolk. — Telegraph train. — New Berne. — Stations on the James. — Towers. — Position of troops, Oct. 1, 1864. — Yellow fever. — Fort Fisher. — Army of the Ohio. — Fort Anderson. — Occupation of Wilmington. — Battle of Kinston. — Goldsborough. — Raleigh. — Occupation of Richmond. — Camp near Richmond. — The camp at Georgetown. Page 401. CHAPTER XVI. Department of the Cumberland. Department of Kentucky. — Louisville. — Munf ordsville. — Nashville. — Shiloh. — Paducah.— Memphis. — White River expedition. — Corinth, Miss. — Hunts- ville, Ala. — Louisville. — Perryville. — Nashville. — Department of the Ohio. — Murfreesboro. — Chickamauga. — 'Chattanooga. — Lookout Mountain. — Missionary Ridge. — Department roster. — E. H. Russell's notes on Chattanooga. — Allatoona. — Franklin. — Nashville. — Chattanooga. — Huntsville, Ala. — Knoxville. — Cap- ture of Jefferson Davis. Page 457. CHAPTER XVII. Department of the Ohio. Don Carlos Buell.— W. S. Rosecrans.— H. G. Wright.— A. E. Burnside.— East Tennessee. —The siege of Knoxville. — Bragg and Longstreet. — Sherman to the rescue. — Longstreet retreats to Virginia. — A novel use of Roman candles. — The field telegraph. — Grant compliments the armies of the Cumberland, the Oliio, and the Tennessee. — J. G. Foster. — J. M. Schofield.— The Army of the Ohio in North Carolina. Page 501. CHAPTER XVIIL Department of the Tennessee. Cairo, 111. — Admiral Porter. — Mississippi Marine Brigade. — Memphis. — Vicks- burg. — Champion Hills. — The Corps organization. — Chattanooga. — Missionary CONTENTS. 13 Ridge. — The field telegraph. — The movement toward Atlanta.— Kenesaw Moun- tain. —The battle of Atlanta.— Allatoona. — " The Flag That Talks."— The march to the sea. — Fort McAllister. — The rice mill. — Savannah. — Beaufort, S. C— Columbia.— Orangeburg, S. C— Fayetteville, S. C— Bentonville, N. C— Goldsborough, N. C. — Raleigh. Page 507. CHAPTER XIX. Depaetmekt of the Gtjlf. General Butler. — Ship Island. — Labadieville. — Gen. Banks. — The Teche. — Baton Rouge. — Port Hudson. — Sabine Pass, Tex. — Vermillionville. — The Red River expedition. — Mobile Bay. — " An August Morning with Farragut." — Gen. Sheridan.— Texas. Page 569. CHAPTER XX. Department of West Virginia. Gen. Averell's raid. — Gen. Sigel. — Cumberland, Md. — Martinsburg, W. Va. — Massanutten Mountain. — New Market. — Round Top. — Cedar Creek. — Front Royal. — Gen. Hunter. — Port Republic. — Piedmont. — Staunton. — Lexington. — Lynchburg. — Charleston, W. Va. — Maryland Heights.— Point of Rocks.— Sugar Loaf Mountain. — Frederick City. ^ Cumberland. — Charlestown, W. Va. — Gen. Sheridan. — Battle of Winchester. — Strasburg. — Winchester. — Woodstock. — Waynesboro. — Charlottesville. — Tolersville. — White House. — Wilcox's Landing. — Dinwiddle C- H. — Five Forks. — Jettersville. — Appomattox. Page 619. CHAPTER XXI. Department of Washington. The Signal Camp at Georgetown. — The line to Maryland Heights. — Lee's in- vasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania. — Gettysburg. — ^Reorganization in March, 1864. — Early's raid.— The assassination of President Lincoln. Page 649. CHAPTER XXII. Department of the Susquehanna. The college details. — In the Shenandoah Valley. — Along the Potomac. — Gen. D. N. Couch- — Chambersburg, Pa.— Maryland Heights. — Frederick City. — Williamsport, Md. — Greencastle, Pa. — Long-distance signalling. Page 671- CHAPTER XXIII. Department of the Missouri. Fort Leavenworth, Kan. — Roster of the Department.— The Price raid.— Gen. Curtis.— Reorganization. — The District of the Plains.— Gen. P. Edward Connor. — The Powder River Indian expedition .— Julesburg, Col.— Fort Laramie, Wy. — The Pawnee Scouts. — The Cheyennes.— Pa-ni Le-shar. — A scalp dance- — A Pawnee song-— The Sioux- — Powder river-— Fort Connor. — Tongue river. — The Omaha Scouts— The Arapahoes.— The Battle of Tongue river-— Col. Cole —Col. Walker.— Lieut. Amsden. — Gen. Dodge's Report. Page 681. Errata .... . - - 712 Roster of the Corps - - 713 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 1 AGE 1 Initial, Naval Signalling 19 51 1. Comanche Signalling . 21 52 i Walworth Jenkins 21 63 4 Horace Porter ■24 54 5 Navajo Indians . 25 65 6 The Mesa : The Site of Zuni ■38 56 7. Cadmns M. Wilcox . i9 67 8 New Tork Harbor: Fort Wadsworth, 58 on Staten Island 29 59 9 Manual ol Arms by Signal 31 60 10 Santa Fe . ... ■.Si 61 11 Santa Fi-: The oldest dwelling-house in the United States 35 63 13. Semaphore o( Polybius :17 13. Fort Monroe, Va. 40 63 14 Hampton Roads, Va. 4^2 64 l.i Shelling Sewell's Point from Fort Wool, 65 Hip Haps 42 66 IB. Beauregard's Headquartersat Manassas 43 67 17. Arlington House 49 68. IS. Wand Practice 51 CO 19. Army Saddle o3 70 ■21). Initial, Signal Camp, Sept. 'M . .55 71 •21. Cooks at the Camp 56 22. Striking the BMag ut the Cauip, Aug. '65 77 73 23. " Old Glory " 79 74 21. Anemometer S9 76 2.5. Initial, Foot-torch 91 70 2(;. Flag Drill 96 .!-._ Flag Drill 97 77 2S. Rocket Firing 104 78 211. Signal Mound, Montana . 105 79 :l(i. Coston',j Composition Night Signals 106 :!l. Signal Lights 107 SO M. Signal I'i^tol 107 SI .33. Impromptu Signalling 113 b2 31. Signal Apparatus 115 ■'^3 35. Signal Flags 116 84. m. Signal Torches 117 ,■•5 37. Cipher Disks 119 r!6 ;iS. Telescope 120 87 39. Marine-Gliiss 120 t.8 40. Initial, Telescope at rest . 125 89 41. An Impromptu Station 127 90 42. Signal and Telegraph Lines 1-29 91. 43. A Signal Party . 131 92. 44. A Mounted Signalman 134 93. 45. Signalling on Land and Sea 135 46. Signalman equipped . 139 94. 47. Initial, Signal Corps Hat . 141 96. 48. Crossed Flags and Torcli . 169 49. Initial, Field Telegraph 171 90. sa. Running out the Wire 174 97. PAGE . Patrolling the Wire 178 . Lacy .;Delacy) House 180 . Mending a Broken Wire . 181 . Initial, A Signal Corps Grouji 183 . Manassas Junction, Va. 186 . " Any reply, Sir? " . . 187 . Signalling in Alexandi'ia, Va. 189 *' 189 . Entrance to Fort Monroe H)0 . Capt. Norton and Associates . 192 . Lieut. Owen and Flagmen Carle and Redner . . 199 . The Last Camp of the Army of tlie I'o- tomac Signal Corps . 203 . Initial, Confederate Flag 205 . 111. P. Alexander 205 . J. H. Alexander 206 . Col. Wm. Norris . . 210 . Confederate Cipher Machine 212 . Mortar-Boat .... 217 . Station on Parish Church, Yorlitown 219 . Signal Station, Loudoun Heipjhts 221 . Confederate Flag . 223 . Confederate Signal Flag 224 . Initial, 11th Corps Badge . 227 . Point of Rocks, and Potomac River 227 . " All Quiet on the Potomac " 22s . Gen. Banks's Headquarters at New- market, Va. . 233 . Thoroughfare Gap 2;j.j . Culpeper, Va. . 236 . Headquarters of Gen. McDowell near Manassas . . 2:>S . Battle of Cedar Mountain 239 . Summit of Maryland Heights 243 . Initial, 10th Corps Badge 245 . Pope House, Hilton Head . 24S . Port Royal Ferry before the Attack 2.1I . Signal Station at Beaufort, S. C. 254 . Palmetto Station 202 . Craig's Hill Tower 2(;5 . Beacon House . . . 266 . Fort Wagner at the point of Assault 268 . Station at Botany Bay Island . . 271 . Indian Hill Tower on St. Helena Island 273 . Dandelion . . . 283 . Gen. Foster Welcoming Gen. Sherman on the Keniaha . 284 . Monitor Signalling . . 387 . Initial, Badges of 1st, 2d, 3d, 5th, 6tli, 11th, and 12th Corps . 280 , Quaker Gun . . . 291 , Camp 9th Mass. Vols., before Yorktown 298 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 15 PAGE 300 . 301 303 98. Fahrenholt House, before Yoiktown 99. Moore's House before Yorktown . 100. Station before Yorktown . ' . 101. Koad between Yorktown and Williams burg 102. Battlefield of Seven Pines 103. Army Balloon 104. Malvern Hill 103. The Battle of Malvern Hill . 106. Malvern Hill. The Malvern House 107. Crew House, one mile north of M.al- ' vernHill 8J3 103. Berkeley, Harrison's Landing . . 324 109. Maryland Heights, Harper's Ferry, Loudonn Heights . 110. Antietam, Bnrnside's Bridge 111. Elk Mountain Station, overlooking Antietam . 112. McClellan's Headquarters 113. Fredericksburg on the Morning of De- cember 12th 11-1. Phillips House in flames 115. Fredericksburg in the Spring of 1S63 116. Ruins of Chancellorsville 117. Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg 118. Station on Little Round Top 119. Gulp's HUl 120. Lee's Headquarters 121. Meade's Headquarters . 122. Boonsboro, Md., and South Mountain . 123. Washington Monument near Boons- boro, Md. 124. Peeble's Farm Station 12.9. The Last Camp of the Corps, Army of the Potomac 126. Initial, Badges of the 7th, 9th, and ISth Corps 127. Zouave .... 125. The Attack on Fort Hatteras 12U. The Bnrnsidc Expedition 130. Headquarters of Gen. Burnside at New Berne, N. 0. 131. Station at Newport News, Va. 132. Lincoln Gun ' . 133. Pinetree Station, Suffolk, Va. 134. Lieut. Moffat's Station 135. Cobb's Hill Tower 136. Crow's Nest 137. Crow's Nest Tower 138. Hatteras Lookout 139. Acorn, Badge of 14th Corps . 140. Pittsburg Landing 141. Explosion of the Mound City 142. Station at Fort Negley, Nashville 143. Lookout Mountain . 144. Remains of a Rebel Station on Lookout Mountain . 305 309 310 315 317 318 328 332 332 334 341 34S 352 356 359 361 365 367 369 373 375 3'.}4 399 401 ■101 402 403 410 414 414 420 •125 429 4:14 436 455 457 461 4(ji 469 473 At- 145. Howgate's Station on Cameron Hill 146. George W.Landrum's Monument 147. Headq^ilrtejrs Camp, Chattanooga 148. Advanced Station, Ringgold, Ga. . 149. Reynolds's Station, southeast of lanta ... 150. Telescope at rest 131. Crossed Flags dnd Torch 132. Telescope and Marine Glass . 133. Initial, Badges of 15th, 16th, and 17tli Corps (the 13th Corps had no badge) . 154. Sky-Parlor HUl (Confederate) 155. Headquarters Vlcksburg '. ' '.' 156. Chattanooga .' ' . 157. Kenesaw Mountain, June 22, 1S64 158. McClintock's Stationin frontof Atlanta 159. Lieut. Edge's Station before Atlanta 160. Crest of Pine Mountain .... 161. Allatoona Pass . 162. Dr. Cheves's Rice Mill 163. Fort McAllister 164. Initial, Badge of 19th Corps 163. Signal Station on the Richmond 166. Station on the Capitol at Baton Rouge, La 167. Signal Station, CarroUton, La. 168. Crossing Vermillion Bayou 169. Crossing Cane River, La. 170. J. C. Kinney's Station ou the llavtFord 171. Cotton-Boll . 172. Initial, Badge of Sth Cor|is and of the Army of West Virginia 173. Station at Marlinsburg, W. Va. 174. Massanutten Mountain ami Round Hill . 175. Telescope and Rest . 176. Initial, Badge of 22d Corps 177. Fairfax Court House 178. Lieut. Abbot's Station at Fort C. F. Smith . . . 179. Lieut. Brown's Station at Fort Ethan Allen ... ISO. Lieut. Speer's Station at Prospect Hill 181. Soldiers' Home, Washington, D. C. 182. Station at Fort Corcoran, Va. 183. Chain Bridge, ^'a. '. ... 184. Station on ^Vinder Building, Washing- ton .... ISo. Signal Camp and Station, Georgetown 186. Initial, College students 187. Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa. 188. Indian Tepee 1S9. Chimney Rock, Neb. 190. A Scalp-Dance 191. Cheyenne Camp 192. Indian Crypt or Burial-Place 193. Emblems of the Corps 'AOE 479 480 485 493 495 499 501 505 507 514 515 519 629 631 534 .539 .545 561 563 569 674 576 379 5S6 591 614 617 619 623 636 647 649 651 653 635 656 660 662 663 668 669 671 071 681 689 692 696 703 710 INSERTED ILLUSTRATIONS. 194. Col. A. .T. Myer, frontispiece. ' 195. Committee on Publication 1%. Signal Camp, Georgetown 197. Sii?:nal Camp, 1861 198. Group, Signal Camp, imi 199. Signal Camp, 1861 . 200. Signal Camp, 1861 301. Signal Camp, May, 1864 . 202. 158 (1905) F St., Washington 203. 1816 P St., Washington opp. 3 56 64 64 84 PAGE 204. 630 Twenty-nrst St., Washington opp. 84 205. Lieut. Col. W. J. L. Xicodemus 160 206. Col. B. F. Fisher . . . 164 307. Signal Camp, 1S65, Officers' Quar- . ters .168 208. Signal Camp, 1885, Men's Quarters 168 209. Group, Lieuts. Niles, Galhraith, Harts- home, Wicker, McCreary 20O 210. Hospital at Camp . . 664 211. Signalling with the Heliograph 710 For portraits of officers and flagmen of the Corps consult 'ndex, at end of book. LIST OF MAPS. X. W. New Mexico Hampton Roads Battle of Bull Run Telegraph Lines at Frederickaburir Island Kg. 10 The Shenandoah Kernstown . I'ort Boyal and Vicinity Charleston Harbor Port Royal to Charleston Yorktown and Williamsburg Chickahominy River Malvern Hill The Antletam CampalKii • Fredericksburg Chanccllorsvllle Gettysburg . Harper's Ferry to Fredericksburg: The Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid The Wilderness . Spottsylvania Cold Harbor Hatteras Inlet Military Operations in N. Carolina New Berne and Vicinity . PAGE PACE 25 26. Suffolk and the Nansemond 41? 43 27. Richmond and Petersburg 426 44 28. West of Kinston . 450 179 39. Bast of Kinston 451 216 30. Western Kentucky and Tennessee 469 3.W 31. Murfreesboro and Chattanooga 472 231 .33. Chattanooga 482 247 33. Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee ,-)02 258 34. Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss. 511 370 35. Sherman's Advance upon Atlanta . 533 397 36. Atlanta to Savannah . 559 307 37. The Approaches to Savannah 560 316 38. Port Hudson, La. 572 329 39. Red River Expedition 588 340 40. MobUe Bay .... 59S 350 41. West Virginia Campaign . 621 .363 42. Strasburg and Vicinity 634 376 43. Five Forks and Appomattox 639 380 44. Defences of Washington . 651 384 45. N. W. Defences of Washington 052 384 46. Upper Potomac . 672 384 47. Harper's Ferry, West Va. 674 402 48. The Price Raid 684 408 49. The District of the Plain.^ . . 687 413 PART 1, GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CORPS. Lay down the axe ; fling by the spade ; Leave in its track the toiling plough ; The rifle and the bayonet-blade For arms like yours were fitter now ; And let the arms that ply the pen (^uit the light task, and learn to wield The horseman's crooked brand, and rein The charger on the battle-field. — Bryant. CHAPTER ORIGIN OF THE CORPS. IDEA of motion telegraphy, as now practised in the United States Army and Navy, and in some of the armies of Europe, originated with General Albert J. Myer, distinguished in later years as a meteorologist, and as the organizer of the United States and International Storm Signal Service. To his indomitable will and persistent energy may be ascribed the timely introduction of field signals into our military service, with their siibsequent develop- ment and generally successful use in nearly all our armies during the War of the Rebellion. Albert James Myer was born at Newburgh, N. Y., Sept. 20, 1827. His parents soon after removed to western New York. His mother dying in 1834 consigned him to the care of a sister, who devoted the remainder of her life to the faithful discharge of her trust. This lady was of Scottish parentage, and educated her youthful ward in the strictest tenets of the Scottish Kirk. He continued a devout believer in the Christian religion to the end. In later years he attended the Episcopal Church, preferring that form of worship. He was a devoted lover of both ancient and modern art, and an appreciative reader of books on the subject. In science, too, his interest was unflagging. He was always abreast of the times, keeping himself well-informed on the discoveries and advances of modern science. His devotion to his work and his interest in it were so great that when, in rapidly declining health, he was urged by anxious friends to take a rest, he replied, " What rest wduld it be to me if I left my work unfinished?" 20 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Notwitlistaiiding his marked bias for artistic and scientific jjursuits, he early manifested a predilection for a milita;y life. In his personal bearing he T\-as e\'eiy inch a soldier, tall, erect, alert, having that air of command in every look and every movement which presupposes perfect obedience. Although a strict disciplinarian he vi^as just and impartial. He A\iis quick to discover and reward, as far as he had the power, honest merit and earnest endeavor. He was ambitious, — ambitious to excel, ambitious to succeed, or ^\'in success out of defeat. Inheriting a large fortune, he resisted every temptation to lead a life of mere jiliysical comfort or intellectual ease. A purpose once fixed, an ideal once formed, all the faculties of an acute mind and all the jjowers of a firm will were concentrated upon the accomplishment of that purpiose and the attainment of that ideal. Having determined, after serving an apprenticeship as a telegraph operator, to obtain a collegiate education, he passed through the re(|uired preparatory course and entered Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y., from which institution he was graduated in 1847. Four years later, having taken the regular course at the Buffalo ^Medical College, he received liis degree of j\I. D. It has been said of Gen. 3Iyer as a student, "that he \\'as specially noted for the manner iu which he would take hold of an idea or princip)le, and, following it to its length and breadtli, develop all there was in it or of it." To this characteristic he no doubt owed his success in life. His graduating tliesis, "A Sigu Language for Deaf Mutes," contained the germs of what he subsequently developed into the art of motion telegraphy. During this year, 1ecame necessary to ascend steep and rugged hills, and clamber up jDrecipitous rocks in pursuit of available stations, yet it was not difficult to carry the instruments to any point that man could reach. The trans- mission of messages at distances varying from five to twenty miles, in the midst of boisterous winter A\'eather, served to illustrate the entire feasi- bility of the system and effectually stifled all prophecy adverse to the Corps. The unimpaired Cdudition in ^I'liich the apjaaratus Avas formd on the termination of a campaign of five months, gave conclusive evidence of tlie strength of the materials. The practical character of the system could no longer be doubted, since it had been so readily comprehended and so effectively used by men only recently initiated into its mysteries. During the stay at- Fort Faiuitleroy signal practice was maintained almost constantly. The novelt}- of the service attracted both officers and men; but it was early discovered that a life of activity and not of leisure \\'as exacted. Detachments were daily ordered to the woods and required to devote hours to practice. The points selected were often difficult of access, and the natural obstacles to travel were heightened by the usual incidents of a winter campaign in the llocky iMountains. AV'hen the locality \\-;is reached, the most exposed position was naturallj' recj^uired for occupation, — the topmost peak of a range of lulls, perhaps. Sometunes the highest branches in the tallest trees were sought and occupied for hours together. Tliese re(juirements soon destroyed some of the romance attached to the no\'el service, and left the realities of signal life alone prominent. Occasionally it became necessary to remain over night to experiment with night signals, though the usual custom was to remain till after dark and make the return journey by starlight. The risks attached to these excu.rsions were by no means triflmg. On the 21st of November, in a note addressed to Capt. Dabney H. Maury, Asst. Adjt.-Gen., Dept. of New Mexico, Maj. Myer had requested that Lieut. L. L. Rich, 6th U. S. Infantry, be detailed as assistant signal officer. He adds : "Lieut. Rich has been assigned to ORIGIN OF THE CORPS. 27 this duty upon the Navajo Expedition, and it is desirable tliat his instruc- tion and his services should continue after the close of operations in the field." To this request and suggestion (]apt. ^laury replies by reporting the difficulty of assigning officers to special service on account of the want of a sufficient number of officers on duty in the department. Although a considerable portion of the time was allotted to flag practice, it must not be inferred that during the lengthy period spent at Fort Fauntleroy only routine duty was performed. Many opportunities were presented for active service, and were improved. The Signal Corps continually exemplified its efficiency. The various columns of the expedition were kept in constant communication, and scout service was so completely executed that Col. Canby was able to report to the commanding officer of the Department of New Mexico (Dec. 14, 1860), "that the guides and spies, with a few exceptions, have been discharged, and it will not be necessary to replace them." There was at one time an objection raised to the use of a white flag, from its known character as an emblem of peace. The Indians under- stood this last function, and fears were expressed that it might cause trouble from their inability to distinguish between a flag of truce and a flag of communication. Lieut. AVagner, in a letter addressed to Maj. Myer, dated December 15th, set forth the difficulties apprehended from this possible misapprehension, and suggested that the flag used in signalling should be made distinctive by a bar running diagonally across the flag, but the modification was not adopted. Expeditions were frequently sent into the Indian country, of which the Signal Corps formed a component part, and it materially enhanced the prospects of the organization by its effective service. In addition to its regular duties the Corps was required to make a critical examination of the country. On the 8th of December, an order was issued for the Signal Corps to take the field. A movement in force to the country below Zuni was contemplated, and the columns were to be kept in communication. Lieut. Rich, with six men, was directed to serve with the column under Capt. Lafayette McLaws, 7th Infantry, while Maj. Myer and Lieut. Wagner remained with the main force under Col. Canby. The move- ment began the next morning at daylight, in the midst of a driving snowstorm. The character of the country and the weather combined made frequent halts necessary. The frozen condition of the streams also proved an annoyance by cutting off the water supply. On the 12th the monotony was relieved by the discoverj^ of an Indian trail. THE MESA : THE SITE OF ZUNl. 28 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Instantly the excitement incident to the prfispect of a complete change from the humdrum of daily routine pervaded the camp, and a welcome order was issued for prompt and vigilant pursuit. An infantry company was to fol- low the trail, taking with them one day's rations. The signal officer, vsath Lieut. Rich, accompanied this detachment, having directions to report " the course followed, direction of trail," etc. Lieut. A\'agner remained at camp, A^ith orders to keep a lookout day and night for signals. The route lay across a plain which had little to attract, unless it might be the inijiressiveness of its awful desolation. The scene suddenly changed, however, when the command was brought to a halt by the presence of bluffs of red sandstone, which completely barred the path. The trail was again consulted, but its apparent age rendered it nearly certain that it had long fallen into disuse. In the absence of any other mode of egress this old trail was followed. A precipitous rise of red sandstone wall two hundred feet in the air proved a barrier not to be surmounted, and without alternatiA'e the path was retraced. Another old path was pursued. Progress was slow, and after a short march, or rather clamber, a dense pine grove presented a maze, impenetrable to vision, which still further retarded the search. After considerable journeying in the dark, the party emerged from the forest, only to find themselves on the edge of a precipice over which could be seen the ground s-wdmming far below. To attain the object in view it became necessary to scramble over a rough and uneven surface, interspersed with boulders of large size along the brink of the immense chasm which yawned at their feet. The futility of a further prosecution of a trail \vhich would evidently be barren of results changed the character of the scout, and led to a search for an eligible position from which communication could lie had with the main force. Such a point was soon gained, and, after telegraphing to head- quarters, a return march was commenced. The command was soon ordered back to Fort Kauntlero)'. On his return from this scout below Zuni, Maj. Myer sent to Capt. ]Maury the subjoined earnest protest against frequent changes in officers detailed for signal duty : — " It is essential to the successful use of signals in the field that I should have practised officers. At distances of fifleen and twenty miles no officer not practised ORIGIN OF THE CORPS. 29 (JADMUS WILCOX. in the interpretation of signals can use them. It is not necessary that I should support this fact by reasons. I would request that no officer now instructed by me be relieved while duties in the field, so active and important as those upon which we are now entering, are imminent, or before my arrival at Santa Fe, when, if after my representations the department commander deems such relief proper, my responsibility ceases. The duties of the officers under my command are severe and not always pleasant. I shall try to make them useful. If Lieut. Wilcox is avail- able to serve with me, and is willing, knowing the hardships, I should be most happy to have him do so. I like him as an officer, as a gentleman, and as an associate. I would be pleased to have him report to me either upon this expedition or upon roj return to Santa Fe, not however, relieving any officer now on duty. Immediately on my return to Santa Fe I propose, under the direction of the department commander, to put Albuquerque and Santa Fe in telegraphic communication. For this service I shall require at least three officers besides myself." In a communication from Maj.-Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox, of the Confederate Army, he informs me that he first met Surgeon Mjev in the summer of 1859. The lieutenant, a graduate from the Military- Academy in the class of 1846, was at that time stationed at Fort Columbus, Governor's Island, New York Harbor. After giving Lieut. Wilcox the requisite amount of instruction, Lieut. Myer went to Staten Island to open communication. They were so constantly annoyed by the passing of steamers and sailboats that they were compelled to abandon the attempt. Lieut. Myer then went to Bedloe's Island, but they had even more unfavorable results. Lieut. Wilcox thereupon urged him to select some other officer, and did all that he could to have officers detailed to report to Lieut. Myer, being confident that as soon as this was done, and he had shown the easy practicability of it in the field, his system would be adopted and would remain a part of the regular army instruction, with a corps of officers .NEW-YORK HARBOR : FORT WAD8W0RTH, ON STATEN ISLAND. 30 • SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. and men detailed for that special duty. This was the first attempt at a practical test of the system. In the summer of 1860 Lieut. Wilcox was ordered to take 500 recruits to Santa Fe. He arrived there September 2(!, and in October met Maj. ^lyer, on his return from the east. About the time ~Sh\j. Mjei asked for his detail for signal duty, Lieut. Wilcox was promoted to the captaincy of his company. It was rare in those days that a captain was detached from his company for special service. Lieut. Wilcox served throughout the war in the Army of Northern Virginia as colonel, brigadier, and major-general. He was present in all the battles fought by that army down to ^Vppomattox, except the First Bull Run and Antietam, reaching the former battlefield on the morning f( )llowuig the engagement, if such it may be called. He was prevented by sickness from taking part in the battle of Antietam. On liis return from the Zuni scout, Maj. Mjer sent a communication to each of his associates, — Brevet 2d Lieut. O. G. Wagner, Topo- graphical Engineers, and 1st Lieut. L. L. Rich, — requesting them to furnisli reports of signal duties performed by them since they were detailed as acting signal officers. He suggested that such report ought to mention the circumstances of their detail, the opportunities afforded f(3r uistruction and practice, the service rendered b)- them in the field, specifying in regard to the latter, so far as was practicable, the dates, time employed, and the distance, with any other t'ircumstaiices attending the communication b^- signals; mentioning also any illustrations of the practical value of such communication '\\-hich may ha^'e occurred to them. He further stated that he should be glad to receive any suggestions as to the modification of the signal apparatus, its transpor- tation, or its use, to which their experience may have led them. The routine of camp life was again pursued until the evening of December 24th, when a scout upon the river Puerco and to Ogola Tarra began. This expedition continued until Jan. 6, 18(il. Both officers and men were completely equipped, and, although intended for special service, were ever ready to take a position in the ranks. Great difliculty was occasioned by the lack of available stations, and it was, in conse- quence, necessary to ascend mountains, which were so precipitous that the men were forced to hand the apparatus and muskets from man to man, they meanwhile clinging to the rocky sides. In this expedition the distance traveled by the three signal officers aggregated nearly six hundred miles. Immediately after the return to Fort Fauntleroy, January 6th, orders were issued relieving Lieut. Wagner from further duty as acting signal ORIGIN OF THE CORPS. 31 officer. On January 9th, 2nd Lieut. Wm. J. L. Nicodemus, 5th Infantry, reported for duty. February 7th, while Lieut. Nicodemus was stationed upon a prominent point on the lookout for a wagon train, a feat was performed which deserves mention. An order was given by signal for the detachment to " fall in," and then they were practised in the manual of arms, each movement being called for by the flag. The succeeding day was em- ployed in observation of the Albuquerque :foad, orders having been issued to look out for the appearance of any parties in that direction. Communication was established over a line thirty miles in extent. This duty occupied the command Lintil the 10th, when the party was recalled by signal from headquarters. Each of the Gulf States had now passed the ordinance of secession, following the lead of South Carolina, which had thrown off her allegiance to the old flag on the 20th of December preceding. On the 18th of February, Gen. Twiggs, commanding the United States forces in Texas, surrendered to the State authorities all the troops under his com- mand, together with all the military posts and munitions of war within the limits of that State. On the same day Maj. Myer expressed his own loyalty in a communication addressed to . Col. Lorenzo Thomas, the successor of Samuel Cooper, who was then giving to the Confederacy the benefit of his military training and experience. He informed the adjutant-general of the army that he regarded it as practicable " to render it alniost impossible for an investing force to prevent such com- 32 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. munication as may be necessary between any of the sea-coast forts of tbc Ignited States and the main land, or between them and the vessels in their vicinity." At the c(.>nehision of the Navajo expedition, Maj. Myer returned to Santa Fe. Military signals had been used for the first time in the actual field service of the United States, and were brought into play under all circuinstances of climate and location, with expeditions in the Rocky ^Nldiintains and in the vicinity of Santa Fe. On leaving Col. Canhj^'s command he requested an ex})ression of his views as to the possibility of the use of signals with troops in acti^'e operations, the practicability of their use by the line officers of the army, and the modes by wlrich their employment might be made of the greatest sei-'N'ice to the army and the nation. Col. Canby s response, though indicating general approval of the system of signals invented by Maj. i\lyer, and satisfaction with the I'csults of the ex[ieriments carried on under his own observation, was exjjressed so guardedly, showing a difference of views in some respects with l\Iaj. Myer, and suggesting some modification in the apparatus, that it failed to meet the latter's desires and expectations. Though he subsequently adopted one of the leading suggestions of Col. Canl)y, — the employment of special officers instead of the regular line officers, — the reply made to Col. Canby's criticism shows in so marked a degree some of Major j\Iyer's characteristics that it is worthy of being reproduced almost entire. : — Lieut.-Col. E. R. S. Canby, U. S. A., Santa Fe, N. M., April 11, 1861. Commanding Navajo Expedition. " Sir : If it please you and is a correct expression of your views, I would like to have substituted the altered copy of your note of yesterday. Your first note, though so kindly meant, yet stands to me as an adverse ORIGIN OF THE CORPS. 33 report. For I went into the field to show, and it was my boast I could, that the system was so simple and the apparatus so slight and so easy of transportation, and strong, that the signals could be used anywhere, and the plan was applicable for use with any body of men, large or small, with detachments or by any one man even, who, separated from a main body wished to communicate with it. It ■was with this view that I sent one and two men to the top of mesas or into trees ; that I kept out very small parties a day or two, they being then detachments ; that I made night marches ; that I conducted drills at distances of five miles, and the hundred other trials of last winter. Now I cannot modify the system so as to work any better or more simply. I cannot to any extent modify the apparatus. That I have used was carried five months in the field by a soldier who carried constantly in addition his gun and revolver. I cannot make any essential modification. If I have failed to establish the points I aimed at ; if I have not shown that, supposing the officers generally to be properly instructed, the system and apparatus as it is, applicable for use with any body of men, or by any one man for any purpose of communication anywhere that men can go or signals can be used at all, I have failed absolutely and finally. Life is so short that I will abandon the thing and resign. " I am thus particular in reference to your note for this reason : I look upon your views therein expressed as tantamount to the decision of the whole question. Others may write from hearsay ; you only from the actual observation of a commander in the field. I and others will place more value upon your note when published than upon the report of the department commander. " I regret. Colonel, to have so troubled you in regard to this matter. I have tried to state to you clearly, as I think I ought to do, why tlie clause of the sentence which seems' to say that the system must be modified or altered before it can be made applicable for use with small parties, or in minor affairs, appears in the character of an adverse report. " If I had thought it so meant I should not have mentioned the subject again. For such use there is nothing necessary except that there be attainable the simple poles and flags, and that the officers know how to use them. " As Capt. Maury understands the circumstances and my reasons, the changes I have mentioned can be made, if it seems proper to you, without any official formalities. Your obedient servant, Albert J. Mtee, Maj. and Signal Officer." The modification suggested was the addition of the following note : — "In addition to the opinion heretofore expressed I think it proper to report more specially that the system of military signals invented by Maj. A. J. Myer, Signal Officer, was in practical operation for several months during the campaign 34 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. against the Navajo Indians, and was thoroughly tested under the varying circum- stances of season, climate, and country. "The complete success of this trial leaves, in my opinion, nothing to be desired except such a general knowledge of the system by otficers of the army as will enable it to be used with detachments, and in the minor operations of a campaign." This statement and proposed amendment received the following- endorsement : — "Fort Garland, N. M., April 19, 1861. " Lieut. -Col. Canby acknowledges the receipt of the communication of the Signal Officer of the Army, of the 11th inst. Thinks the substitute proposed will not meet the necessity contemplated in his (Canby's) of the 10th inst. Thinks- it impracticable to instruct all the officers in the army in the system of signals. Does not think it necessary or desirable that the system should be extended to the whole army. In his judgment the telegraphic duties for large commands should be confided to officers and men specially selected for that purpose, and that for small commands the system should be modified or abridged so as to admit of an easy and prompt application to the limited necessities of such commands. Recom- mends that the signal apparatus be made a part of the equipment of every distinct command." Col. Fauntleroy had previously testified to the worth of Maj. ^lyer'n system in these words : — Santa Fe, March 20, 1861. " From the reports of Lieut.- Col. Canby, commanding, and from the state- ments of officers who have been on duty with the Navajo Expedition, the services of the signal party have been valuable in the operations against the Navajos, and have conclusively demonstrated not only the practical usefulness of field signals, but that they can be used under any of the contingencies of frontier warfare. The campaign has been in winter, in a mountainous country, and with many circumstances of disadvantage. Col. Canby has, in several of his dispatches, very favorably mentioned the signal party. " T. T. Fauntleroy, Col., 1st Regt. Dragoons,. "Comdg. Dept." Col. W. W. Loring (Pacha Loriug), who subsequently assumed command of the department, highly commended the work of the Corps^ while the cavalry genius of the rebel armies, J. E. B. Stuart, who early appreciated the value of the system, had personally on the 8th of October, 1860, tendered his services to aid in the dissemination of its. SANTA FE : THE OLDEST DWELLING ORIGIN OF THE CORPS. 35 principles, and requested Maj. Myer to use his influence to haye him detailed for signal duty. The signal officer on his return to Santa Fe was not accompanied by either of the officers who had acted as assistants during the Indian campaign, but shortly after his arrival, March 4th, orders were issued detailing Brevet 2d Lieut. Gushing, 10th Infantry, for signal duty, in place of Lieut. Rich, ordered to report for duty at the headquarters of the department. "°"se m the united states. While Maj. Myer was at the headquarters of the army in New York City awaiting his orders and instructions, he met for the first tiiAe Lietit. Samuel T. Gushing. This officer was then on leave of absence, having graduated at West Point the preceding June. As this casual meeting led to a future acquaintanceship which resulted in Lieut> Gushing's indentification with the Signal Gorps, and in earnest efforts for its prompt reorganization and rapid development, a brief mention of" his earlier army life may not be out of place at this point. Lieut. Gushing's orders carried him to New Mexico at the expiration of his leave of absence, and this fact becoming known to Maj. Myer, he took a more than ordinary interest in the young West Pointer. Maj. Myer started for his station early in September and they did not meet again until December, 1860, when Lieut. Gusliing joined his own command at Fort Defiance, N. M. The signal officer had then nearly completed his field service, and in February, 1861, Lieut. Gushing was ordered to command an escort which accompanied him to Santa Fe. On reaching Santa Fe the lieutenant was detailed as his assistant, and was, under his personal instruction, initiated into the mysteries of the four-element code. During about four months Lieut. Gushing daily took a party of six men, and riding to a hill at a place called Peno's ranch, about eighteen miles distant, opened communication. Signals passed at all hours, sometimes by day and sometimes by night. On the 6th of May, Maj. Myer was relieved from duty in New Mexico and ordered to Washington to make his reports. Lieut. Cushing^s promotion, at this time, to the 2d Infantry, carried him from New Mexico, and he started by stage for Fort Leavenworth to join his command. The news of the capture of Fort Sumter was made known to him about the 3rd of May, when he met the west-bound stage twenty- five miles east of Fort Union. Everything was in confusion when he 36 SIGNAL. CORPS U. S. A. joined his company, and the fortunes of war soon ciiriied liim to Washington, where, about the 20tli of July, he again met .Alaj. INlyer. J^ii added word with reference to ]\Iaj. !Myer's early assistants may not be out of place here. Lucius L. Rich entered the army from West Point in 1S,53. He resigned May 13, 1861. He served in the Confederate Army as a colonel, I believe, in a Missouri regiment. Bvt. Maj. O. G. Wagner died April 21, 1862, of Avounds received wliile making a bi'ave reconnoissance of the enemy's works before Yorktown, Va. The career of AVm. J. Ij. Nieodemus in the War of the Rebellion is recounted in Chapters A'HI. and XIV. When he was mustered out of the Corps, Aug. 23, 186.5, he was immediately i-eappointed captain in- his regiment, the 12tli Infantry, to date from Oct. 24, 1861. He served in various garrisons until 1868, when he was detailed as military insti'uctor in the Western University at Pittsburgh, Pa. He was honorably discharged Dec. 20, 1870, and elected professor of civil engineering in the Univei'sit}' of Wisconsin. Of his success in this position, C. A\^ Butterfield, in liis History of the University of Wisconsin, sa}'s : — "Ambitious and energetic, he soon gave life to the department lo which he had been called. He thoroughly remodeled the course in civil engineering, and soon drew around him a number of students of that specialty, winning from them by his thorough but kindly manliness, by his enthusiastic devotion to their wants, and by his efforts for their subsequent welfare, a warm and lasting regard. Equal success crowned his efforts in the department of military science, where he succeeded in making both popular and useful the drill, which before had always been extremely irksome to the students. His genial manner and varied experience made him a very pleasant companion, and he soon won the regard of his fellow workers at the University. As professor of one of the technical courses, the classes instructed by Prof. Nicodemus were small, and the relationship between teacher and student correspondingly close. Though he met the regular college students but for one term in the class-room, it was not difficult for them to discern, in that short time, those genial heart-qualities, that almost womanly tenderness, which made him the warm personal friend of every worthy man who made his acquaintance. A more striking illustration of the esteem in which the students held Prof. Nicodemus could not be found than the spirit manifested toward him at all times by the university battalion. No man could have been more successful in eliciting an interest in an irksome duty than was he in conducting the military exercises. ' ' The connection of Prof. Nicodemus with the geological survey of Wisconsin began by his being employed to prepare maps for an annual report. In 1875, he ORIGIN OF .THE CORPS. 37 was regularly commissioned topographical assistant of the survey, and personally prepared or superintended the preparation of all the maps for the report of that year. "Since his connection with the University of Wisconsin, Prof. Nicodemus had more than once been tempted to leave ; and, among other proffers, he received one from Gen. Sherman, with whom he was personally well acquainted, asking him to accept a position as professor of mathematics at twenty-five hundred dollars per annum, in gold, in a college just being started by the Khedive of Egypt. Of modest, retiring disposition. Prof. Nicodemus rarely spoke of himself or of his many experiences. Possessed of a large store of nervous force, he rapidly and efficiently accomplished whatever he took in hand. Ambitious to provide for the wants of his family, should they ever be left without his care, he felt pressed to engage in business enterprises outside of the duties of his professorship. As he was never slack in his duty to the University, he must have drawn very largely on his vitality, to accomplish the work he undertook. This is more especially true of the past university year, when, burdened more than usually with the needs for instruction in his growing department, and with his work for geological survey, he shared largely in the labor, the risks, and anxieties consequent on publishing, along with A. D. Conover, a large and very accurate map of Wisconsin. The draft on his nervous system proved great, and brought on insomnia, which finally developed alarmingly. He died in Madison, on the 6th of January, 1879, and was buried near that city, in the beautiful Catholic cemetery of Forest Hill. The position he occupied in the University he continued to fill most acceptably until his death. He was married, in Georgetown, D. C, to Miss Fannie E. Pettit, Dec. 27, 1864." ^dphove of. Poli^foiu? HBBi'ir-"iJ_'C ■«!.■».■.■ Move on the columns ! Hesitate No longer what to plan or do : Our cause is good — our men are true — The fight is for the Flag, the State, The Union, and the hopes of man ; And Right will end what Wrong hegan, For God the right will vindicate. — W. D. Gallagher. CHAPTER II. PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION. Y THE 1st of June, 1861, Maj. Myer had reported to Gen. Scott at the headquarters of the army in New York. As "Washington was to be made the base of future operations, the head- quarters of tlie army were removed to that city, and accordingly the signal officer reported to Col. E. D. Townsend at the War Department on the 3rd inst. There was not a large number of troops in Washington at that time, and as Fort Monroe had become the centre of a large and increasing military force, it was deemed advisable that a camp of Instruction should be opened at that point. On the 10th, the signal officer proceeded to Fort Monroe and formally opened his school for signal instruction. Before leaving the ■city he addressed the War Department, as follows : — . " Washington, June 10, 1861. ^'Lieut.-Col. E. D. Townsend: "1 have the honor to request that 2d Lieut. Samuel T. Gushing, 2d U. S. Infantry, be detailed for signal duty and ordered to report to me at Fort Monroe, Va. " Lieut. Gushing has been on signal duty in New Mexico, and is practised in the use of signals. His services are needed until other officers are instructed. "A." J. Myer." This request was not granted. Two days later the following commun- ication was addressed to Maj. Gen. Butler, who promptly issued the ■order annexed : — "Hdqrs. Deft, of Va. "Maj. -Gen. B. F. Butlek, "Ft. Monroe, Va., June 12, '61. "Gomd'g Dept. of Va. : " I have the honor to recommend the following detail for signal duty : "Two officers to be selected from the regular command at this post by the colonel commanding. "Eight officers of volunteers, one to be selected from each regiment of three years' volunteers by the colonel of the regiment. 40 SIGNAL CORPS U. 3. A. "Three intelligent and able-bodied men, who can read and write, to report with each officer. Men physically powerful should be chosen. "A sergeant and corporal of regulars to be in charge of the party of privates- while here, and three intelligent men, one capable of acting as a clerk, to report to me in person. "A. J. Mykr. " FORT MONROE, VA. " IIdqrs. Dept. of Va. " Special Orders No. 34. " Fortress Monroe, Va., June 12, 1861. "The colonel of each of the two and three-year regiments will select a subaltern and three intelligent and active privates to report to Maj. A. J. Myer, Signal Officer of the Army, for duty in his department. They will report to him at the office of the Act'g Asst. Adjt.-Gen'l on the 13th inst. ' ' By command of "Maj. -Gen. Butler, "T. J. Haines, "A. A. A. G." In accordance with this order these ten officers were detailed, being for the most i^art second lieutenants, though generally promoted a few- weeks later to first lieutenancies : — L. _ f B":VAN THOMAS UaOX'D F. HHPBDRN „» C* F I \ i i ._^ _.. J ~^-^^',^,^.,,-^.'M„ .i -.H U. F, YELVERTON liBNltV AYERS Tims. S. SKABrKV L. II. BBKGI5X WM. S. AN".D'RB\\'S PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION. 41 Wm. M. Maynadier, 1st Art. U. S. A. Evan Thomas, 4th Art. U. S. A. John H. Quackenbush, 2d N. Y. Vols. Leonard F. Hepburn, 4th N. Y. Vols. Theodore S. Dumont, 5th N. Y. Vols. Robert Yelverton, 7th N. Y. Vols. George S. Melville, 1st N. Y. Vols. Leon H. Ballard, 3rd N. Y. Vols. Charles W. Prescott, 9th N. Y. Vols. Theodore H. Rodgers, 10th N. Y. Vols. On account of an unwillingness to serve, or inefficiency as signal officers, the last four were returned to their regiments and were replaced, by the following lieutenants from the same regiments, under orders from Generals Butler, Dix, and Burnside, according to the location of those commands respectively : — Henry Ayers, 1st. N. Y. Vols. Thomas S. Seabury, 3rdN. Y. Vols. "William S. Andrews, 9th N. Y. Vols. L. M. Bergen, 10th N. Y. Vols. With each officer were detailed three enlisted men, as follows : With Lieut. Ayers, — Charles F. Clausen, Michael P. O'Hagan, and Edward H. Ludlow ; with Lieut. Quackenbush, — George R. Dutcher, John Gorthy, and Charles M. Haskins ; with Lieut. Seabury, — Miner T. Broderick, Sebastian Pearce, and Duncan M. Nethaway ; with Lieut. Hepburn, — Chas. C. Myers, Chas. B. Higgins, and Tompkins C._ Gray; with Lieut. Dumont, — Robert Rogers, Thomas i\Ioore, and Henry Little ; with Lieut. Yelverton, — Oswell C. Christopher, Charles Calandras, and Charles Eifler; with Lieut. Andrews, — David W. Dwire, Samuel W. Joues, and Ephraim B. Roberts ; mth Lieut. Bergen, — Francis Chatellier, Jeremiah Houland, and Edward A. Lever. Subsequently the following additional details were made : From the 2d regiment, — Hugh M. Hays ; from the 3d, — Edwin T. Gillet and William C. Halleck; from the 4th, — Erwin L. Greene and William C. Marland ; and from the 9th, Wm. Pulaski Hindes. These officers and their men were rapidly and thoroughly instructed. The first employment of the Corps was in directing the fire of the battery at Fort Wool on the Rip Raps in Hampton Roads, upon the enemy's works at Sewell's Point, one detail consisting of Lieuts. May- nadier, Quackenbush, and Prescott being stationed with the battery, while Maj. Myer, with Lieuts. Thomas, Hepburn, and Dumont, was conveyed in a tug-boat to a point where the effect of the firing could be observed and immediately reported by flag to the battery officers. Thus the very first service of the Corps was an exemplification of the suggestion or prophecy made by Maj. Myer in his note addressed to 42 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. 18, 1861, as given in the Col. U'homas from Fort Famitleroy, Feb. preceding chapter. In reply to a suggestion from Gen. Butler, that selected officers of the navy be instructed in the use of day and night signals, j\laj, Myer said it would afford him much pleasure to give any information in his power to any two commissioned officers of the navy who might be selected to report to him for instruction by the flag officer command- ing on the station at Fort i\Ionroe. On the 26 th of June the fort and the detached post of Newport News were placed in communication. This was HAMPTON EOADs, vA. tliB fiist permanent line of communica- tion by flag and torch that was established in the War of the Rebellion. On the 17th of July, by Special Order 117, War Department, i\Iaj. SHELLING SEWELL'S POINT FROM FORT WOOL, RIP RAPS. Myer was ordered to report to Brig.-Gen. ^McDowell, commanding the Department of Northeast A^irginia. He was informed verbally by Col. Townsend on the 20th that this assigunient had been made, he being at the time in A\"ashington under si)ecial orders from Gen. Butler. He at once applied for the transfer of Lieut. Evan Thomas and two flagmen from the Department of "Virginia to the Department of Northeast Virginia. As several days would elajDse before the lieutenant could report, no use could be made of signals in the impending battle. The signal officer, however, left Wa.shington at half-past two the next PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION. 43 morning, Sunday, July 21, to report to Gen. McDowell. Hearing firing in the direction of Manassas he proceeded on horseback to that vicinity, arriving on the field between 3 and 4 P. M. It was at that time impracticable to find Gen. McDowell, so he reported to Gen. Tyler for duty and served as an aid until the retreat to Centreville, when he reported to Gen. McDowell and acted as aid to that officer until the general retreat. It will be remembered that Lieut. E. P. Alexander, referred to in the preceding chapter as one of Maj. Myer's most esteemed assistants in the development of his system of signal- ling, had, on the breaking out of the ■ war, resigned from the army and gone South. He reported to Mr. Davis at Richmond, in June, 1861. Mr. Davis refused several applications for him by officers about to assume charge of different departments, and sent him to Beauregard at Manassas, to organ- ize the service there and introduce it BEACREGARD's HEAD-QUARTERS AT MANASSAS. luto thc L/Oniederate amiy. Me says: — " I went to Manassas about the first of July, selected a set of clever young fellows, drilled them, and put the system into operation. " Very early in the morning of the 21st, from my main station on the hill by Willcoxen's house, in the rear of our right near Union Mills Ford, I was i t«I^^ ■fs.1 ' "^i^^^^^^ S^^^ ^j^^ 'M^^ ^ ^'■'-^ ^^M ^^- ^P'^^^^^^M m ^^M 1^^^ ^cjJ^JS^S^ ij^ral l^i^^MBi Ph} fffel fe-^^-jj] ft ^^^ S=^"^ L t^^^^ iffir^ ^_ 44 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. watching the flag of our station at Stone Bridge, when in the distant edge of the field of view of my glass, a gleam caught my eye. It was the reflection of the sun ( which was low in the east behind me ) , from a polished brass field piece, one of Ayres's Battery. Observing attentively, I discovered McDowell's column in the open field north of Sudley's Ford crossing Bull Run and turning our left flank, fully eight miles away, I think. I signalled Evans at once : — " 'Look out for your left. Your position is turned.' "At the same time I sent a message of what I had seen to Johnston and Beauregard, who were at Mitchell's Ford, on receipt of which ( see Johnston's report) Bee, Hampton, and Stonewall Jackson were all hurried in that direction. PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION. 45 The history of the battle tells how they successfully delayed McDowell's progress, till finally the tide was turned by the arrival of troops in the afternoon." Gen. Beauregard, in his report of the battle, says : — " Capt. E. P. Alexander, C. S. Engineers, gave me seasonable and material assistance early in the day with his system of signals. Almost the first shot fired by the enemy (Ayres's Battery) passed through the tent of his party at Stone Bridge, where they subsequently firmly maintained their position in the discharge of their duty — the transmission of messages of the enemy's movements — for several hours under fire." Immediately after the battle of Bull Run, Capt. Alexander was made Cliief of Ordnance of the army, and gradually turned over the signal duties to Capt. ( afterward Colonel ) William Norris, of Magruder's staff, and other officers. jMost of the men whom he had instructed, at Manassas subsequently became commissioned officers in the Signal Corps of the Confederate Army. The seeming disaster at Bull Rim, while it momentarily bewildered the minds of the loyal North, eventually resulted in an increased determination on the part of the government and its supporters to maintain at all hazards the integrity of the nation. It is right to learn even from an enemy. The thinking portion of the country had learned that besides patriotism and courage there are needed, to gain genuine and lasting success, the elements of knowledge, judgment and discipline. " Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." With this increased respect for discipline and system came a higher regard for that branch of the military service which had proved itself so conspicuous, even though its skill and usefulness had been sho\vn in the armies of the enemy. The necessity for the adoption of a system whereby rapid and reliable communication could be established was con- ceded by all. It was dearly learned that the tardy movements of the most expeditious military aids would not suffice in sudden emergencies when the fate of an army hung in the balance. These duties of inter- communication devolved upon the Signal Department. It was already discovered that one requirement for efficiency was wanting, — there was no real organization of the Corps. During the short period of its life, its vitality had been crippled by the unfriendly actions of those who should have been its friends. The officers and men under instruction were detailed by various general officers ; and in many instances these same commanders claimed and exercised the right to recall the detach- ment at any moment. It naturally followed that stability was not one 46 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. of the qualities of the Corps, when the power reposed even with small commanders to disrupt the organization. Another defect, resulting in injustice to the members who were faithful in the performance of their duties, was the entire inability to reward the meritorious actions of subordinates. When a lieutenant entered the signal arm, he was com- pelled by circumstances, over which he had no control, to resign all hope of promotion. He was absolutely condemned to stand still, although performing hazardous acts with brilliant courage, while the more fortunate, who remained in the line, carried off the honors of military preferment. It was not surprising, therefore, that murmurs were occasionally heard, and that a disposition was evinced by a few to return to a field of duty less onerous and more certain of reward. Brave men readily accept a position of danger when it becomes a necessity, and reward is never the consideration anticipated. But few, indeed, desire to hazard their lives, when it is a certainty that all honors will accrue ti) others. The futility of attempting to make the Corps of much practical or permanent value under these circumstances was early pointed out, and the attention of those in authority called to the injustice of sacrificing the prospects of brave and intelligent men in the way then blindly pursued. The consideration of the Secretary of War was called to this false policy and a remedy proposed. The panacea for these ills was simple and reasonable — the institution of a Corps upon a permanent basis. Then a faithful soldier could receive all the prominence to be attained in other fields, and also be promptly and appropriately rewarded for gallant and effective service. Such were the ideas of the signal officer, derived from an earnest and careful study of the requirements of the service and of the diffi- culties which stood in the way of meeting them. The plan by which Maj. i\fyer proposed to accomplish the desired results is indicated in the subjoined letter and proposed bill : — Washington, D. C, Aug. 1, 1861. Hon. Simon Cameron, etc. I have the honor to submit the following project for the organization of a Signal Corps to serve during the present war, and to have charge of all tele- graphic duty of the army. The expense of the organization is trivial compared with the value of the results it is hoped to attain. The necessity of some organization, the members of which shall be responsible for the proper perform- ance of the telegraphic duties of the army, is already felt with our forces. The existence of such corps in other services shows their necessity admitted by them. PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION. 47 It is contemplated that every officer of the proposed Corps should be a thorough telegrapher, practised in the use of both aerial and electric signals, able to avail' himself of either, and competent of himself to direct the construction and to work the apparatus needed for either. The organization of a Signal Corps renders its members responsible under military rule, and secures for them a thousand advantages for co-operation with, officers of the army in the field. The limited period of the service provides that no expense shall be thrown upon the government by the employment of officers not longer needed. I would suggest the following enactment by Congress : — "Be it enacted that the President be authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the U. S., the following officers to serve during the present war, or for such time as their services may be deemed neces- sary by the President, viz. : Two assistant signal officers with the rank, pay,, and allowances of captains of cavalry, these officers to be thoroughly instructed in the use of aerial and electric signals. Five assistant signal officers with the rank, pay, and allowances of 1st lieutenants of cavalry. These officers to be similarly instructed and to serve for a like period. Foi-ty warrant officers with, the rank of cadet and the pay of $50 per month and the allowance of one ration per day, one room when in quarters, and forage for one horse ; these allowances to be commuted in the same manner as the allowances of officers of the army. These warrant officers to be skilful telegraph operators and to be instructed in the use of aerial signals, to receive their warrants to serve during the war unless sooner discharged by the President of the U. S. Forty signal artificers who shall be enlisted to serve during the war with the pay of $20 per month and one ration per day, and who shall be employed as line builders and repairers, and as artificers, and shall further be instructed in such telegraphic duties as may be necessary. And be it further enacted that there be appropriated for the manufacture, purchase, or construction of telegraphic apparatus for the use of the army, and the procuring of the necessary articles for working the same, the sum of fifty thousand dollars." The above plan was based upon the supposition that the army of the United States would number 500,000 men. It was intended that each division of the army should be accompanied by its quota of telegraphists, and that it should be equipped with suitable apparatus and the appur- tenances for both fixed and movable field telegraphs and for the use of aerial and electric signals. 'Instead of fixing the number " 40 warrant officers " or operators, and " 40 signal artificers," those clauses Maj. Myer suggested might read, " So many warrant officers as in the opinion of the President of the 48 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. United States may be necessary for the service," and " so many signal artificers as in the opinion of the President, etc." A copy of the bill was also sent to Hon. Henry Wilson, chairman of the committee on military affairs. It will be remembered that on the 20th of July, Maj. Alyer had sent a request that Lieut. Evan Thomas (a son of Col. Lorenzo Thomas) might be temporarilj^ transferred from Fort ^lonroe to the Dept. of N. E. A'a., bringing his two flagmen with him. He added, with characteristic earnestness, that "under existing circumstances, when the lives of men and important movements may depend upon any signals ordered, I should fail in my duty if I did not strongh' represent these facts to the commanding general. The party can be relieved as soon as others are instructed." Washington, D. C, Aug. 6, 1861. Hon. Simon Cameron : I propose with the permission of the Secretary of War to organize a tele- graphic and signal train to accompany the army on the march. The wagons of this train to carry all articles needed for temporary telegraphic use in the field ; that is, apparatus and supplies for the use of both electric and aerial telegraphs, rockets, and composition night signals, carefully prepared, packed, numbered, and arranged for instant use. It is proposed to carry in the train four flying field telegraphs. The train to be accompanied by, and to be in charge of, suitable oificers and men, to each of whom his duties shall be assigned, and of whom a proper proportion shall be selected electric telegraphists, who shall be instructed also in the use of the telescope and aerial signals, and who, employed for the war, shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties. A plan of regular drills is contemplated, and it is intended that each officer and attendant of the train shall be thoroughly prepared to practise in the field, to meet the emergencies which it is probable will be encountered in active service. A. J. Myer. This proposition was endorsed nearly as follows: — The subject of telegraphic signals and other modes of communicating between posts, etc., is one of great importance, and is respectfully recommended to the consideration of the proper authorities. I am no judge of the particular means within proposed. Ikvin McDowell, Brig. -Gen. Com'dg. I approve of Maj. Myer's proposition to organize a telegraphic or signal train, and recommend it to the favorable consideration of the Secretary of War. Geo. B. McClellan, Major-General. PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION. 49 This paper was sent by Gen. Scott to Gen. Townsend. It was placed by Col. Thomas A. Scott in the hands of Secretary Cameron, who mislaid it : — Arlington Heights, Va., Aug. 6, 1861. Brig. -Gen. Irvin McDowell : I have thought it my. duty to submit the following : — If the general commanding will cause to report to me any number of officers he may deem proper, say forty, of such grade as he may elect, or one or two from each regiment, to be selected by the colonel, I will instruct them in the use of signals as follows : — In three weeks they will be, with the few exceptions of those not competent for the duty, able to send or receive any message signalled between points in view, a distance of ten miles. They will do this from any tree-top, steeple, or place to which a man can climb, and on which he can steadily stand. They will do it by day or night. The messages can be repeated from station to station. The apparatus which will be carried will be strong, simple, and readily transportable anywhere on foot or on horseback, slung over the shoulders of one man after the manner of a musket. It can be brought into use in three minutes' time. During the time of their instruction these officers ought to be temporarily mounted, or at least half of their number should be so mounted, as they must be exercised in rapidily changing position and in opening communication from different points some miles distant from each other. Each ought to be accom- panied by two men selected from the regiment or company to which the officer belongs, to be instructed in the manual of signals. So soon as the officers are instructed, all, or nearly all, as the commanding general may elect, will return to their regiments. Their knowledge can be made available when it is necessary to call upon them. There will be carried with the army on its march apparatus packed for use at any moment. I state to illustrate : A signal officer would readily converse by day or night from the roof of the headquarters of the general commanding with another at any point in view on the Virginia side of the Potomac, or at any point in view in the city of Wash- ington, or by repetition with one at Alexandria. This can be done [so] as to excite little attention. A. J. Myer. For some reason, possibly connected with an impending change of commanding generals,' this paper was not presented to Gen. McDowell. It is published, however, in this connection, as indicating the gradual 50 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. development and extension of the Signal Corps idea, not only in ^laj. Myer's thought and purpose, but also in the mind of his military associates who, even at the outset had faith in him and his system. A little later we shall find that he was not satisfied with such a crude, changeable, and unreliable organization as was outlined in the foregoing plan.* Increased knowledge of the merits of his system and of the effectiveness of his imperfectly organized Corps made him bold almost to the verge of arrogance in his demands for the proper recognition, effective organization, and suitable equipment .of the Signal Corps of the Army. On the '20th of August Gen. JN'IcCUellan assumed command of the Army of the Potomac, which was to comprise " the troops serving in the former Departments in ^^"ashington and Northeastern Virginia, in the valley of the Shenandoah, and in the states of Maryland and Delaware. Six days prior to tliis j\Iaj. ]\Iyer received the following order : — War Department, Washington, August 14, 186). Maj. Albert J. Myer, Signal Officer : " Sir : — You will at once and with the utmost expedition establish a system of signals along the line of the Potomac through Maryland, connecting the column under Maj. -Gen. Banks with those under Brig. -Generals Stone and McCall and the forces in and about this city. Should you find it necessary, you are authorized to purchase a small telegraphic train, to aid you to communicate with those points which cannot be reached by signals, to be paid for out of the telegraphic fund. Maj. -Gen. McClellan will be directed to give you the necessary aid by details of officers and men from the respective columns and also Maj .-Gen. Banks. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Thomas A. Scott, Asst. Sec'y of War." The cause of this order was a demand which had been made for the establishment of some sort of communication between the different divisions of our forces on the Upper Potomac and a desire on the part of the general commanding the Division of the Potomac that the right of his army should be connected by signal «-ith the forces surrounding Washington. ( )n the same day, August 14th, an order was issued directing Lieut. Samuel T. Gushing to report to the signal officer for duty. * See Chap. VIII., on Permanent Organization. PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION. 51 The order under which the details for signal service were made prescribed that the officers should be " intelligent men of good education, possessing good eyesight, and persons in whom the regimental commanders have especial confidence, the privates to be selected on account of their intelligence,. and to be able to read and write." The organization of the Signal Corps of the Army of the Potomac was begun at once. The officers and men detailed from the Pennsyl- vania Reserves, two lieutenants and four privates from each regiment, reported at Tenallytown, Md., just north of Georgetown, D. C, at the headquarters of Gen. McCall, commanding the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. They immediately went into a camp by themselves near the top of the hill at that place, on the east side of the main road, close by a fort then building, afterward called Fort Reno. Similar details were made from the divisions of Gen. Charles P. Stone and Gen. N. P. Banks. These officers and men were brought together in small camps at Poolesville, Md., the headquarters of Gen. Stone ; on the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain; and at Darnestown, Md., the head- quarters of Gen. Banks.* These camps were respectively in charge of Lieuts. Theodore S. Dumont, 5th N. Y. Vols., Evan Thomas, 4th Artillery, U. S. A., and Leonard F. Hepburn, 4th N. Y. Vols., who had been instructed by ]Maj. Myer at Fort Monroe. The course of instruction in signal duty at the three camps mentioned was commenced at once and prosecuted with vigor. Daily communication was maintained by flag and torch between these three camps. I am indebted to Major 0. H. Howard for reminiscences of this early life of the Corps, so vivid and realistic that I shall be pardoned, I am sure, for reproducing them in full : — " In August I was ordered to report at the Signal Camp of Instruction at Darnestown for examination as to my fitness for signal duty. Lieut. Thomas R. Robeson of my regiment, the 2d Mass., received similar orders, and together we proceeded to Darnes- town and reported to Leonard F. Hepburn, acting signal officer in charge. I have no definite remem- brance of the nature of our examination, but it will suffice to say that we passed the ordeal and were accepted. We remained at Darnestown a short time engaged in acquiring a knowledge of our new duties, memorizing the signal code, and practicing with ' wands,' as certain pine sticks were designated. We found * See Map of the Upper Potomac, Chap. XXII . 52 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. in camp other officers recently detailed from the army of Gen. Banks, who had succeeded Gen. Patterson, and still others joined later on. I cannot, I am sorry to say, recall all their names, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, but there were besides Lieut. Hepburn, Lieutenants W. S. Stryker, F. R. Shattuck, E. I. Meeker, N. Daniels, E. E. Burr, J. H. Spencer, W. L. Larned, J. H. Fralich, F. N. "Wicker, S. D. Byram, B. N. Miner, W. W. Rowley, and I. J. Harvey. "Maj. Myer soon joined us, and, as we were to be mounted, a requisition was made for horses. This requisition, duly signed and approved, was entrusted to me with instructions to present it to the chief quartermaster, get the horses, and bring them to camp. I remember that upon presenting the requisi- tion to the quartermaster he scarcely deigned to notice me, kept me waiting about his office tent from some time before noon until nearly sunset before he attended to my business, and then contrived to do it in a manner that impressed me with a feeling that the horses were his private property, and that he had reluctantly decided to give them to me with a string tied to them for the purpose of recovering them should he have subsequent occasion to regret his munificence. Leaving his camp after dark with the horses in charge, I was not surprised, after riding some miles toward our camp, to be overtaken by a messenger in civilian garb, with a verbal command from the quartermaster to bring the horses back. I did not do it. I have never learned why I was not cashiered for my temerity on that occasion." August 31st Lieut. Hepburn reportetl that his station was at Darnestown, at a point commanding a fine view of the mountain. Twenty-four ofiicers with forty-eight men had reported to him on the 26th. Ten of these officers he had sent to Lieut. Thomas at Sugar Loaf Mountain, tlie rest remaining at liis camp to be instructed Ijy him. After these three stations were opened, Maj. INIyer sent the folio-wing commmiication to Lieutenants Hepburn, Thomas, and Dumont : — "I cannot too strongly impress upon you the necessity of immediate and thorough instruction of the officers and men of your party. At least five hours in each day must be given to their instruction. This I wish to be almost entirely practised with small articles held in the hand, and the signals to be made with the greatest rapidity. Practise most thoroughly all officers in repeating signals ; that is, there being three officers, the first makes a message which is repeated signal by signal as fast as made, by the second, and is read by the third officer, who is not to see the signals made by the first. It is answered in like manner." Meanwhile the officei-s of the Confederate Signal Corps were assiduously prosecuting their studies and jDractising day and night on the Virginia side of the Potomac. From the station on Sugar Loaf Mountain the lights of a rebel signal station were discovered August 28th, PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION. 53 and were frequently visible thereafter. Lieut. Thomas was compelled to report his inability to decipher the messages transmitted. "Early in September," continues Maj. Howard, "our camp at Darnestown was broken up, and, bestriding army saddles for the first time, we were conducted by Maj. Myer to the Signal Camp of Instruction at Georgetown, D. C. " Do you remember the feeling of vacuum beneath and ' between ' you, after dismounting from your first long day's work in the saddle ? Do you remember what strangers to each other your feet and knees were for a few days thereafter ? I have since ridden thousands of miles in army saddles, but I can, to-day, recall the feeling of ' twoness ' which I experienced as I rolled out of my saddle in front of the long line of tents at Georgetown, upon our arrival there after that long ride. " Equally vivid is my remembrance of the boundless hospitality of the officers, all strangers to us, whom we found there. Their tents were ours - — none had yet been pitched for us — their mess was ours, their bunks were ours. One of them slept on the ground that night and I slept in his bunk. I had no choice in the matter." Comrades known in marches many, Comrades tried in dangers many, Comrades bound • by memories many, Brothers ever let us be. Wounds or sickness may divide us. Marching orders may divide us, But whatever fate betide us, Brothers of the heart are we. — Chakles G. Halpink. CHAPTER 111. CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. THE 29th of August, 1861, Lieut. Samuel T. Gushing was ordered to " put the signal party in Camp of Instruction at Red Hill, Georgetown, to-morrow. The camp will be formed under your direction, and the of&cei's and men will, with the exception of Capt. Ent, be in my absence under your control. You will make the necessary requisitions for supplies as ' in charge of signal party.' Such articles as are for issue to officers, as horses and saddles, I will receipt for." This order came from Maj. Myer, who remained with Gen. McClellan at the headquarters of the newly-formed Army of the Potomac. Hdqrs. Signal Camp of Instruction, ■General Orders No. 1. Aug. 31, 1861. I. This camp will be known as the Signal Camp of Instruction, near Georgetown, D. C. II. All officers and soldiers attached to this detachment will be required to remain in camp unless authorized specially to be absent. No passes will be granted except in the most urgent cases, and not more than four officers will be allowed to be absent at a time, nor more than five privates. All passes will be granted by the Signal Major, or, in his absence, by Lieut. Cushing, Assistant Signal Officer, on recommendation of Capt. Ent, 6th Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. III. The non-commissioned officers and privates of this command will be under the charge of Sergt. McVay, Co. D., 2d Infantry. He will be obeyed and respected accordingly. IV. Until further orders, the following hours are announced for the different roll-calls : — Reveille, daybreak. [Reveille. Police of Camp, immediately after Flag practice, 6 to 7 A. M. Breakfast, 7.30. Flag practice, 9 to 10. Manual Drill, 10 to 11. Dinner, 12.30 P. M. Flag practice, 1 to 2. Flag practice, 3 to 4. Retreat (Inspection), Sunset. Tattcto, 9 P. M. Taps, 9.20. 56 SIGNAJ. CORPS U. S. A. Sach further drills as may be necessary will be announced from time to time, as occasion may demand V. Until further orders a, guard of six men and two non-commissioned officers will be detailed for the party, mounting at retreat. VI. An inspection of arms and tents will take place at retreat, when every soldier will be expected to have his arms and accoutrements in perfect order. The tents of the commissioned officers will be inspected at the same time. VII. It is particularly enjoined upon all officers and soldiers to devote as much time as possible to the study of their different duties, in order that the party may be prepared immediately for service. VIII. Attention to minute details COOKS AT THE CAMP. argues a good state of discipline. In future all soldiers must salute all officers, and in all cases the proper distinction must be observed between officers and men. IX. Corp. George McGown, Co. C, 2d Infantry, is hereby appointed Quartermaster- Sergeant of this party. By order of Maj. Myer, Samuel T. Cushing, Assistant S. O. in Charge. Signal Camp of Instkuction, Circular No. 1. Aug. 31, 1861. For the purpose of instruction in signals, the different officers will meet at the quarters of the instructing officers at the following hours : — 6 to 7 A. M., 9 to 11 A. M., 1 to 3 P. M. Any failure to report punctually at the time and place designated will be regarded as direct disobedience of orders and be reported accordingly. By order of Maj. Myer, Samuel T. Cushing, Assistant S. 0. in Charge. Signal Camp of Instkuction, General Orders No. 2. Sept. 2, 1861. I. The hour of instruction of classes between 6 and 7 is abolished. The classes will be instructed from 9 to 12, and from 2 to 4 in future. II. AH officers will be required to be present at their tents and in undress uniform at retreat. III. The officer of the day will have general charge of roll calls during fJROni' AT RTONAL CA^HP, GKOKGETOWN, T). C, 1S61 . SIGNAL CAMP, RKD HILL, ISOl. CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 57 the day, and will be excused from class instruction and will superintend the drilling of the flagmen. IV. The following changes are announced in the different roll calls : — Flag practice, 9 to 11 A. M. ; 1 to 3 P. M. Manual Drill, Retreat. Breakfast, 7.15 A. M. By order of Maj. Myer, Samdel T. Cdshing, Assistant S. 0. in Charge. The officers convened at the camp at its formation in August were, as nearly as can be ascertained, the following : — JIajor A. J. Myer, Chief Signal Officer, U. S: A. 1st Lieutenant Samuel T. Cusliing, 2cl Infantry, U. S. A. " '■ R. R. London, 2d Reg't. Pa. Res. Corps. " Benj. F. Fislier, 3rd " " " Fountain Wilson, 5th " ■' Captain "Wellington 1:1. Ent, 6th 1st Lieutenant Jesse Merrill, 7th " " •' " Joseph Pricker, 8th •' " " James B. Ludwicli, 9th " " " Edmund H. Russell, 9th " " ■' George H. McNary, 10th " " " " Lemael B. Norton, 10th " " " Edward J. Keenan, 11th " 2d Lieutenant David Wonderly, 3rd " " Richard Dinsmore, 5th '• " William L.Tamblyn, 6th " •' H. Clay Snyder, 7th Tliomas Foster, 8th '■ John W. Deford, 11th The enlisted men in camp at the same time were, as nearly as can be determined, the following : — Sergeant David McVay, 2d Infantry u. s (( Joseph McDonald, 3rd a if> i Corporal George McGown, 2d (I 1. 1 <■ Private Samuel B. Smith, 5tli i. Ik u Charles C. Myers, 4tliNe V York Vols. ii Joseph A. Goldey, 2d Pa. Res. Vol. it. Michael Kelley, 2d " il U Corporal Samuel Cartledge, 3rd " H Vk Private Thomas D. Boone, 3rd " li a ii George W. Hough, 3rd " i( <.i a George Worthington 3rd " hi a .1 Adam K. Carothers, 5th " V ;( • k n Wallace E. Cranmer, 5th " '; u If Evan Russell, oth " u •' u William F. Ward, 5th " ( i> i h Corps. 58 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Corporal t. H. Goodnough, Gth Pa. Private Jeremiah S. Young, 6th " Lovel 0. Blanding, 6th (I John Chemberlin, 6 th a Charlei? Bliss, 7th a Sydney Kempton, 7th a Simeon White, 7th ii Benjamin F. Eberly, 7th u James Barton, 7th (I Corporal Thomas McGee, 8 th ii. Private David L. Craft, 8th I Alexander McCollin, , 8th (> William N. Baker, 8th I James P. Barry, 9 th a Eichard C. Dale, 9th n James B. Shidle, 9th n John Westlake, 9 th ii Alexander Ashley, 10th (( James B. Duff, 10th (( Luther C. Furst, 10th " Charles Wentworth , 10th (I Serjeant Charles E. Hubbs, nth u (( Samuel M. Reed, 11th li Corporal Daniel Deford, 11th u Private J. K. P. McKarnes, 11th u Sergeant William Goodell, 12 th u Corporal C. F. Oestericher, 12th k. Private John Hudgen, 12th ( h it Christian Smith, 12ch - a Edward Stevens, 12th ;( Res. Vol. Corps. A few weeks after the organization of the camp the party was re-enforced by a detachment from the Upper Potomac, to the number of about ten officers and twenty enlisted men. The following reminiscences of this first permanent Signal Camp, Idndly furnished by Capt. Gushing, will be read with interest by all the " wig-wags " of that early day, and by those who came in such large number four months later : — "Early in September the business of instruction commenced. The different Pennsylvania Reserve officers were made instructors, and wand practice was begun. This was foUovi-ed by flag practice at short distances. Then horses were obtained and the distances were increased. Day and night practice went on ; the countersign signals were adopted. " It was a pleasant camp; each officer was interested in the duties, and there were no petty jealousies or bad feeling. It began to look like business when the details commenced; first, for the Port Royal Expedition, then the detail for Gen. Buell, and then the Burnside Expedition. CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 59 "The camp continued until March, 1862, when the Army of the Potomac took the field. The officers and men at that time in camp were then divided as equally as could be into parties, and each reported to the Corps commanders, while a reserve was held at the headquarters under the direct command of Maj . Myer. "The establishment and management of the camp had been attended with a great deal of difficulty. Constant demands were made by all other branches of service for camp equipage, horses, saddles, and arms, and it was with the utmost difficulty that I could obtain for the little camp the articles required. The Corps had done nothing and was looked upon as a chimera, no one believing in it, and it was only by the most obstinate persistency that I could get my requisitions approved and afterward filled. "The members were collected from all points of the compass, — from, Michigan and Maine, California and New Hampshire. Each private came armed with a ' descriptive list ' upon which to draw his pay and clothing. I do not think that more than three were made out correctly. Correspondence with each company commander corrected this and the men were finally paid. Those who were present at the camp will recollect the varied uniforms. Zouave and others, worn by the various members. "The camp being well up on the hills was singularly free from sickness ; and as the road to Washington was generally knee-deep in mud, the officers remained generally in camp during the evening, and parties would collect in various tents and talk and sing. And what stories and songs ! The collected talent from all over the northern country was there. After a didactic discourse from some Massachusetts fellow had been digested, some one from Indiana or California would break out in a song. I was present at many of the meetings, and to this date I do not hear a story but that an idea comes over me that I have heard it before at the Signal Camp. I believe that every story that had been invented up to that time was told by some one or other of that party. "It was, of course, impossible for us to stay in camp all the time, and occasional visits to the city were made. The 'pass' question was troublesome; orders then in force required that passes should be approved by division commanders, but the camp not being attached to a division this could not obtain for the Signal Camp. So the officers and men went in, armed with a pass signed only by the ' Commanding Officer, Signal Camp of Instruction.' Never shall I forget the angry and haggard appearance of some three or four officers who reported at my office one morning about 11 o'clock. They had been to Washington upon my pass, and were having a very pleasant and satisfactory time, when the provost guard overhauled them. This guard decided that I was not a division commander and that my pass was ' no go.' I do not know at what hour they were arrested, but from information obtained I am led to believe that they spent the balance of the night in the Franklin Street prison. " They called upon me in anger ; they desired to know what I was, and why I 60 SIGNAJ. CORPS U. S. A. permitted them to go to town with such worthless safeguards. I sympathized with them and explained that I could not help it, and then rode in hot haste to the city and laid the matter before the commanding general of the Army of the Potomac. I returned with authority to issue all the passes I chose, and after that time the signal officers had the freedom of the city. ' ■ When the Corps moved out with the Army of the Potomac, Maj . Myer went in command, and I was left behind to run the office at Washington and to look after the supplies, etc. " One little incident occurred showing the care of the public property. I was sent for hurriedly one day, and directed to bring to the office of the Secretary of War, six field glasses, to be used by some officers. I produced the glasses and with them a special requisition . The Secretary of War approved the requisition, and I asked to whom I should look for receipts. ' I will receipt for them,' said he. 'All right,' said I, and I wandered off armed with receipts that I thought were sufficient. This was in 1862. In 1866 the third auditor examined my papers and suspended the account on the ground that ' No authority exists to transfer public property to ataviLiAN.' It took me a year to get that suspension removed. Thereafter, if the Secretary of War wanted anything he had to get a second lieutenant to receipt for it." On the 12th of September the approved officers and men of the detachments under instruction on the Upper Potomac^^were brought down to the camp on Red Hill, as related by Maj. Howard in the chapter on the Preliminary Organization of the Corps. The next day the camp was newly organized ; the course of instruction was decided \ipon ; the Signal Camp of Instruction at Georgetown became the school for all the detailed officers of the Army of the Potomac. An organization had fh'st to be effected, as the officers were new to military life and discipline. The duties exacted of those in camp were manifold. They were habituated by constant practice to the use of the telescope. They were taught the drill of the flagmen. They became accustomed to the saddle, and were instructed how to provide for them- selves and their parties in the field. Tliey were taught some of the duties of reconnoissance. It was the aim of Maj. Myer and his able and enthusiastic assistant to give these officers, fresh from civil life, something of the feelings and habits of soldiers. The officers who were to act as instructors were announced September 14th. They were Lieutenants Edw. J. Keenan, Fountain Wilson, Edmund H. Russell, L. B. Norton, Benj. F. Fisher, John W. Deford, and H. Clay Snyder. They were all from the Pennsylvania Reserves. The officers and men detailed took great interest in the study of the code. Nor was this interest confined to the actual participants. The CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 61 peculiar method of talking by means of a flag, making actual words and sentences, was a continual source of wonder with the unlettered and of speculation with the curious. The simplicity of the apparatus, the power of communication at distances of many miles, in the night as well as during the day, the incomprehensible orders given to the flagmen, and the seemingly more incomprehensible evolutions with the flag or torch, were subjects of ceaseless comment. John D. Billings, in " Hard Tack and Coffee " (Boston, 1887), says :— " To the men in the other arms of the service, who saw tliis mysterious and almost continuous waving of flags, it seemed as if every motion was fraught with some momentous import. ' What could it all be about?' they would ask one another. A signal station was located, in '61-'62, on the top of what was known as the Town Hall (since burned), in Poolesville, Md., within a few rods of my company's camp, and, to the best of my recollection, not an hour of day- light passed without more or less flag-waving from that point. This particular squad of men did not seem at all fraternal, but kept aloof, as if (so we thought) , they feared they might, in an unguarded moment, impart some of the important secret information which had been received by them from the station at Sugar Loaf Mt. or Seneca. Since the war, I have learned that their apparently excited and energetic performances were, for the most part, only practice between stations for the purpose of acquiring familiarity with the code, and facility in using it." On the 15th of September, the officers of the Corps were informed that the board of examination for inquiry as to the proficiency of each officer in signals would convene on the 25th inst., or as soon thereafter as practicable. The Chief Signal Officer at the same time expressed the hope that none of those whose acquirements recommended them for the first selection, and with whom his association had been so pleasant, would fail to come up to the standard demanded. It frequently happened that officers detailed did not possess the capacity requisite to secure admission to the Signal Corps. A deficiency frequently noted by Maj. Myer was a lack of command in language, one of the leading requirements of an officer on signal duty. To remand these officers to their regiments was a disagreeable matter both to ]\Iaj. Myer and the officer detailed. This deficiency, the result of negligence or one-sidedness in education, did not prove that the officers could not do gallant duty in other lines of service. The records of the War prove that this was the fact in many instances. On the following day, Maj. Myer sent out to Lieut. Cushing some torches for night-work. He also directed him to assign additional instructors as fast as any were found capable, thus " diminishing the size 62 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. of squads and enabling the instructor to devote more time to the slow, until each deficient pupil shall have his special instructor. This week's course must be most rigid ; everything must give way to the proper instruction of the Corps." On the -Srd of October, Maj. Myer submitted to Gen. S. Williams, Adj. -Gen., jVrmy of the Potomac, a plan of instruction in signals and for their use, as follows : — " The iustruction.of two officers and four men from each regiment from which details are ordered, to mount the officers and men, to equip them with full signal apparatus and with powerful telescopes, to proceed to any designated point, and to occupy it as a signal station, either alone or in coflipany with other officers. " One officer with two men will be sufficient to make a temporary station for day or night communication. There are now established the following signal stations : one on the top of Sugar Loaf Mt. , commanding Leesburg ; one at the headquarters of Gen. Banks, Darnestown, Md., and one on the ridge near Seneca river. These points command the country in that vicinity. These stations are in communication three times each day, and twice each night. "This communication cannot be had in case of rains or thick fogs. Another station is to be established at Point of Rocks. An additional station is required at JIaryland Heights, and possibly an intermediate station will be required. " There are at these stations a total of ten officers ; at the signal camp of instruction near Georgetown, thirty-six officers and eighty-five men. So soon as the equipments now ordered from New York and Philadelphia arrive, and those asked from the Department are furnished, there can be put in the field forty instructed officers, each provided with powerful glasses and each able to commun- icate with any of the others at any time they are in view, under circumstances reasonably favorable, at a distance of ten miles. Ten days will be, I think, sufficient to complete tliis preparation. Twenty officers can be put in the field by next Wednesday, the 9th inst. " At the time I reported to Gen. McCIellan I had one instructed officer (Lieut. Samuel T. Gushing) and four sets of apparatus in' this city. Since that date forty-six officers and their men have been gathered from different regiments, instructed and examined ; the stations above mentioned have been established ; fifty sets of apparatus complete have been made and shipped from New York, rockets and composition signals have been purchased, and all the supplies ibr a campaign have been procured. "The difficulty of, for the first time, thus equipping and at the same time instructing a party, part of which has to be kept at work in a section of country twenty miles distant from these headquarters, can be imagined. "To complete the pfeparatioit of the party there are needed fifty horses and fifty sets of horse equipments complete." CAMP OF INSTRUCTIOtl. 63 The approved officers detailed from tlie divisions of Generals Banks, Stone, and McCall had been concentrated at the Signal Camp at Red Hill, Georgetown, September 12th, with the exception of the following officers, who remained behind to run the stations on the Upper Potomac : — L. F. Hepburn, Evan Thomas, J. H. Spencer, W. W. Rowley, J. H. Fralich, S. D. Byram, L. R. Fortescue, F. R. Shattuck, I. J. Harvey, William L. Larned, B. N. Miner, F. N. Wicker, William R. Hartshorne. Seven of these officers formed the nucleus of the Signal Corps which subsequently served in the Shenandoah with Gen. Banks, while the others were ordered to duty elsewhere, Evan Thomas rejoining his battery December 9th. October 30th, Maj. Myer reported to Adjt. Gen. Williams that the — " organization and instruction of the signal party first detailed for the Army ot the Potomac is' complete, forty-two instructed officers with two instructed men to each officer. The party is divided into twenty-one sets, two officers and four men, each equipped to move, encamp, and establish itself independently. The officers are furnished with powerful glasses and are mounted. The men who carry the apparatus are mounted and armed with carbines. " The party can be divided into forty-two half-sets, for a few hours, or a few days, or into parties of a number of sets to move into a distant part of the country. An officer can move to any point of view at a gallop and begin communication at once, sending words at the rate, on an average, of three words a minyite. The distance will vary with atmospheric conditions, the average distance being ten miles on clear days. Messages can be sent whenever, wherever, and to any distance at which, the signal flag can be seen. "In addition to field apparatus the supply wagons carry 1200 colored lights for preconcerted signals, and 500 signal rockets. " There will be added to the train some flying electric telegraphs. If the construction be successful, these can be worked by any officer or intelligent soldier, a dial showing a plain Roman letter at the extreme end of the line upon turning a crank opposite to an equally plain letter at the initial end of the line. A special report will be made upon this subject. ' ' Example of Use of Field Signals : — " On Monday five sets left this camp at 10 A. M. About 3 P. M. they had established themselves and opened communication between — 1. Gen. Heintzelman's Headquarters near the Potomac. 2. Fairfax Seminary. 64 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. 3. Upton's Hill. 4. Gen. Morrell's Observatory. 5. Gen. MoCall's Headquarters near the Potomac, thus connecting those points from left to right, a set kept on Georgetown Heights being in communica- tion with Fairfax Seminary, Upton's Hill, and Gen. Morrell's headquarters. On Tuesday parties were ordered from Georgetown Heights to Fort Washington, Fairfax Seminary, Morrell's headquarters, and McCall's headquarters. Communication was opened by 3 P. M. The day being clear messages were exchanged directly from Fort Washington to this camp, a distance of eighteen miles. " A party is today ordered from my camp to attempt to make communication between Gen. Banks's headquarters at Seneca and Gen. McCall's on the Virginia side of the river. "Illustration. " Suppose a general commanding wishes information from, or communication with, a number of points visible and in his vicinity. At the order a signal otHcer and his men will ride to each point designated. Arriving, these parties communicate at once with the point from which they started, remaining until recalled, opening communication with each other, or changing to other positions as they may be ordered from headquarters. Or the general wishes communica- tion in some given direction : If the country is any way favorable a party moves rapidly in that direction by compass. The first station is established as far as signals can be seen, a second is established in like manner beyond this, a third and others are advanced until the point is reached. "Or the general wishes to cross a river: Signal officers sent over with the first troops will keep an absolute communication with others near the command- ing general. " In the battle of July 18th and 21st, signals were used on the field by rebel forces, probably to report the progress of the attack on different points of the line, and to transmit brief orders, to announce the approach of reserves, etc. In the Navajo Expedition of last winter, signal officers equipped accompanied scouting parties everywhere on Indian trails among the Rocky Mountains. " The disposition of the forty-two instructed officers is today as follows : On observatories, from Maryland Heights to Gen. Banks's headquarters at Seneca, twelve; sent to Gen. T. W. Sherman, seven; present at Signal Camp of Instruction, twenty-three. The party is by far too small for this army. It was detailed for special service to counteract the enemy's signals on the Upper Potomac. " The quota from each regiment ought to be two officers and four men, who, being instructed and equipped with glasses and apparatus, should return to their regiments and serve with them. There could then be no contingency in which a force of the army would fail of signal communication. SIGNAL CAMP, KED HILL, GEORGETOWN, D. C, 1861. SIGNAL CAMP, RED HILL, 1861. CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 65 " There should be on duty at each division headquarters one signal officer. Any additional number can now be instructed and return to their respective •divisions in thirty days from the date on which they report." October 13th, Lieut. B. N. Miner liacl been sent to Point of Rocks to open communication from tliat point, and on the 30th, with Lieut. Byram he took charge of the station on Sugar Loaf, relieving Evan Thomas, who subsequently rejoined his battery. November 6th he opened communication with a station opposite Harper's Ferry, twenty-two miles distant. Before the close of November, the chain of communication from Maryland Heights to Fort Washington, below the Capitol, was complete. Dec. 7, 1861, the station at Seneca was abandoned and one estab- lished at Frederick, where Lieut. Hartshorne had a good view of Sugar Loaf Mountain. The subsequent operations of the officers and men who maintained these stations on the Upper Potomac through the Avinter of '61 and '62 will be found related in the chapter on the Army of the Shenandoah. Among those who helped to organize this Camp of Instruction was Alexander Ashley, detailed from the 10th Pennsylvania Reserves. Since the war he has been connected with the Signal Bureau as civilian clerk. Of Lieut. Cushing and" our life at the camp, he thus writes : — " Lieut. Cushing was quite a young man at that time, a West Point graduate who had acquired a knowledge of Maj . Myer's system of military signalling in New Mexico during the Navajo Indian expedition the year before the war. He was very strict, and withal very kind to both officers and enlisted men. In October a number of horses were procured, and nothing delighted Lieut. Cushing more than to take his position in the centre of a ring, around which the men were required to ride single or double file, as the command might be. He had a whip with a long lash, which he used quite freely, and often to the discomfiture of a man who had no experience in horsemanship. It not unfrequently happened that under a stroke of this whip a horse would start on a bee line from the ring and soon the rider would be on his back on the ground, while the horse would make his way to the coral or stable. Many laughable scenes of this character occurred, but in a short time the men generally became fair horsemen, and throughout the war were never more at home than when on horseback bearing dispatches to their officers in the field, thanks to Lieut. Cushing, who is to-day a valued and efficient officer of high rank in the commissary department of the army. The Corps was a mounted one, and from the nature of some of its duties required its members to be at home in the saddle. * See Map, Chap. XXI. 66 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. " Maj. Myer had opened an office in Washington, where he could spend the day to better advantage than in camp in perfecting his plans for the organization of his Corps and in securing and testing signal apparatus. He would ride out, however, to camp nearly every evening, and sometimes late at night, and would often come to the writer's tent and make special inquiry as to what had been going on during the day. He seemed to make a confidant of me. On one- occasion, after I had been talking to him for some time, I put my hands into my pockets, when he immediately spoke in a commanding voice, and, naming me, said, ' You should never talk to an officer with your hands in your pockets.' He then laughed, and remarked that the evening was cold and that I had been standing in the open air long enough, and bade me good night. " The writer was detailed for clerical duty a few days after the camp was organized, and spent the winter in a wall tent that had a good floor and wa& furnished with a stove, a cot, and a pair of blankets, also with a field desk and the record books usually kept at a company's headquarters. This tent being more comfortable than many others in camp I had many visitors, some of whom were more annoying than entertaining. On one occasion an officer who was somewhat noted for his use of profane language came in, and, having laid himself down on the cot with a view to a pleasant lounge, began to swear most vigorously about something which had just occurred outside. ' Lieutenant,' said I, ' there is entirely too much swearing done in this camp, and I have made up my mind that the practice shall not be indulged in in this tent.' He looked up in amazement, and, rising to his feet said : ' By — • — you are right,' and left the tent, as if convinced that my purpose could not be carried out while he remained. " The monotony of camp life was not only relieved by the daily flag and night torch drill, but many a pleasant game of foot ball and other sports was engaged in by both the officers and enlisted men. Most of these officers and men were well educated, many of them being college graduates, and had been selected with a view to this fact for the very important duties of the Signal Corps. They were thoroughly prepared here for the special and responsible service upon which they were about to enter. During the winter of 18 6 1, and in the early spring of 1862^ they were distributed among the Union forces in every part of the army and navy, and in their turn instructed hundreds of others in the art of military signalling." General Orders No. 20, dated Oct. 28,, 1861, provided for the first practical signalling outside of camp. In addition to special instructions as to how to open station, it directed that the officers should remain at the various stations allotted them until communication should have been opened and''messages transmitted between Gen. Heintzelman and Gen. MuCall. One day's rations, the signal apparatus, and canteens filled with turpentine, were to be taken. One message at least was to pass from CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 67 the left at Gen. Heintzelman's headquarters to the extreme right, and be acknowledged if possible by Gen. McCall or the officer in charge. Lieutenants Fisher and Wonderly were to go up the river above the station at McCall's headquarters and establish a new station, communi- cating therewith and also with a point as far up the river as possible. Lieutenants Fricker and Foster were assigned to this station, which was also to communicate with a station east of the Potomac, as near Seneca station as possible. Lieutenants D. A. Taylor and Burr were assigned to the latter station. Circular 7. October 31, 1861. The officers and men of the signal party on duty on the Upper Potomac will hold themselves in readiness to move with the column to which they are attached. After ' describing, in several paragraphs, the necessary tents and equipage, the strength of each signal party, the signal service outfit, the supply and equipment of horses, the manner of pitching camp, etc., the circular goes on to give the following directions : — The officers in charge will report to the commanding general the readiness of the party to move with the column. It is particularly enjoined upon signal officers to proffer to the commanding general their services whenever they may see opportunities in which they can be of use, as in crossing rivers, keeping up communication between different bodies of the same command. In case of battle, signal officers should always aim to keep the communication between the line engaged and the reserves. They should state to the commander their readiness to do this. No opportunity for communication should be lost at any time, each signal officer remembering that by his readiness for duty and his expertuess he must expect to gain his distinction and the favorable notice of his commanding general. Albert J. Mter, Signal Officer, Maj., U. S. A. Special Order No. 23, dated Nov. 5, 1861, placed Corp. Robert Rogers of the Signal Corps on detached service, to take charge of the signal office in Washington. This was the date of its first establishment. It was located at 158 F Street, between 19th and 20th Streets. March 17, 1862, Capt. Gushing assumed the charge of the office. Headquarters Signal Camp of Instruction, General Orders No. 20. Georgetown, D. C, Dec. 29, 1861. The Camp of Instruction reorganized. I. There shall be one Commandant, one Chief of Instruction, one Quarter- master, and one Ordnance Officer. 68 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. To each twelve officers reporting for instruction, one Instructor shall be assigned ; to each thirty enlisted men reporting for instruction, shall be assigned one Lance Sergeant and three Lance Corporals, as Non-Com. -Instructors of the Section. II. Twelve officers shall constitute a Section, said Sections being designated by the letters of the alphabet, as A, B, C, D, etc. Thirty enlisted men shall constitute a Section, these being designated by numerals, as 1,2, 3, 4, etc. Two Sections of officers shall constitute a Class, and to each Class shall be assigned a tent for instruction. Each Section of enlisted men shall be under the supervision of a commissioned officer, who shall superintend its roll-calls and inspections, and shall be accountable for its proper instruction and proper care. Two Sections of enlisted men shall cook and mess together, and shall be provided with a kitchen. III. All questions of instruction shall be submitted, through the Instructors of Sections to the Chief Instructor. All applications and papers of a general character shall be submitted through the Adjutant. Questions as to quarters, fuel, transportation, etc., shall be brought to the attention of the Quartermaster. IV. Calls : Reveille at sunrise ; breakfast, itnmediately after ; guard mounting at 9 A. M. ; Adjutant's call, immediately after ; dinner at 12 M. ; supper at retreat ; tattoo at 8.30 P. M. ; taps at 9 P. M. Recitations 10 A. M. to 12 M., and 2 to 4 P. M. Condition and progress of each Section to be reported to the Chief Instructor every evening. v. Arms and tents shall be inspected each day at Retreat. Each Section of officers shall form in front of, and six paces distant from, their tents, when it will be ascertained whether any, and who, are absent, and whether with or without authority. Instructors shall then take post in the centre and one pace in advance of the Section, which will remain thus formed until the arrival of the Senior Officer or Inspector, who will at this hour make a tour of the camp. Instructor to salute Inspecting Officer and to report, which report will be noted by the Adjutant. The Section will remain formed while the Inspecting Officer inspects the tents of the Section, and will break ranks at the command of the Section Instructor, when the Inspecting Officer arrives in front of the next Section on the left. VI. Instructors of Sections are Assistants to the Chief Signal Officer, and in all matters of Instruction are acting by his orders. By order of Maj. A. J. Myer, William S. Stkyker, 2nd Lieut., U. S. Vols., Adjutant. Headquarters Signal Camp of Instruction, General Orders No. 20. Georgetown, D. C, Dec. 29, 1861. The following named officers are announced as composing the Staff of this Corps : — WM. S. STRTKER SURG. C. S. TAPT PETER H. NILES J. W. DeFORD LEMUEL B, NORTON SAMUEL T. GUSHING GEORGB McGOWN RICH'D DINSMORE 0. C. MATSON W. H. MeCR'EBRY PERLEY J. AIKEN J. W. MeWILLIAMS ELBRIDGB G. HUNT CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 69 1st Lieutenant, Samuel T. Gushing, U. S. A., Chief Instructor. 2d " William S. Stryker, Adjutant. 1st " L. B. Norton, Quartermaster, 2d '' J. W. Deford, Ordnance Officer. By order of Maj. A. J. Myer, William S. Steyker, 2d Lieut, and Adjt. Headquarters Signal Camp of Instrdction, General Orders No. 22. Georgetown, D. C, Dec. 30, 1861. Instructors of Sections announced as follows : — Lieut. E. H. Russell, Sec. A. Lieut. C. C. Matson, Sec. B. " B. F. Fisher, " C. " E. Dinsmore, " D. " H. L. Johnson, " E. " J. B. Ludwiok, " F Acting Sergeants announced as follows : — Corporal Goodnough, Sec. 1. Corporal Cartledge, Sec. 2. " Wentworth, " 3. " Carothers, " 4. Acting Corporals of Sections : — Privates Annis and Barry, Sec. 1. Privates Cowell and Kempton, Sec. 2. " Dove and Geary, "3. " Eussell and Shidle, " 4. By order of Maj . Myer, Stryker, Adjt. In the latter part of December and the opening days of January the Camp of Instruction was further increased by a large detail from the troops encamped in the vicinity of Washington. They were from the following organizations : 1st, 7th, 10th, and 11th ^lass. Vols., eight enlisted men ; 16th, 17th, 18th, 27th, 29th, 32d, 33rd, 36th, 38th, 39th, 41st, 44th, 45th, 49th,' 50th, 54th, 56th, 57th, 58th, 61st, 62d, 66th, 68th, 77th, 85th, and 86th N. Y. Vols., forty-six men; 13th, 23rd, 26th, 27th, 31st, 35th, 40th, 49th, 53rd, 54th, 61st, 63rd, 68th, 81st, 83rd, 85th, 96th, 98th, 99th, 105th, and 112th Pa. Vols., thirty-nine men; 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 11th Maine Vols., seven men; 2d, 4th, 5th, and 6th Vt. Vols., six men ; 1st, 2d, 3r,d, 5th, 6th, and 8th N. J. Vols., eleven men; 2d, 5th, and 16th Mich. Vols., six men; 1st, 2d, 3rd, and 4th Regts. Excelsior Brigade, N. Y., six men ; 1st U. S. Chasseurs, two men ; 5th, 6th, and 7th Wis. Vols., five men; •55th N. Y. State Mihtia and Ist Long Island Regt., three men ; 3rd, and 8th Pa. Cav., six men ; 2d and 5th N. H. Vols., and 4th R. I. Vols., four men; 19th Ind Vols., one man; 2d U.' S. Artillery, one man (John P. Francis). This made a total of 151 men detailed for instruction at Georgetown 70 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. camp in December, 1861, and January, 18G2, the entire numljer being 212 enlisted men. The number of officers detailed at the same time was aljout seventy-five, or one for every two enlisted men, while in the original details, as increased by the detachment from Darnestown, Md., there were about thirty, making a total of about 105 officers who were under instruction at the camp from Aug. 31, 1861, to ^larch 10, lS(i2. Circular No. 11, dated Jan. 9, 1862, directed that officers in charge of sections should personally superintend roll-calls and insjDections and see that the men received from their sergeants their fair and just proportions of the rations. They were to make a morning report to the adjutant of the condition of their sections, cause absentees to be reported to them, and weie charged with the care and comfort of their men. iNIarch 5, 1862, Lieut. Nahum Daniels, in a report made to Maj. Myer, stated that he had " administered the oath of secrecy to all the men in camp with the exception of privates Ashley and White, who refused to subscribe to the same." With this report he forwarded fourteen lists of officers and men who had taken the oath. Whatever scruples Ashley and White may have entertained were suljsequently removed, and they took the required oath. Headquarters Signal Camp of Instruction, General Orders No. 6. Georgetown, D. C, Jan. 15, 1862. Complaints having been made at these headquarters that the members of this Corps have been depredating upon the property of the inhabitants in this vicinity, the commanding officer takes occasion to inform the troops under this command that all offenders will receive the utmost penalties of the law. It is a matter of surprise to the commanding officer that men selected as they have been from their brigades for a duty of a secret and confidential character, — men chosen by their brigade commanders especially, — should so far forget the duties of good soldiers and citizens as to rob the very persons they are sent here to protect. Such conduct is inexcusable in the newest and most lawless regiments ; it merits the severest condemnation when perpetrated by old and picked soldiers. Hitherto the camp has enjoyed an enviable reputation for its orderly conduct. It is to be hoped that no further complaints may be made. By order of Maj . Myer, William S. Strykee, Adjutant. CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 7X Circular .No. 13, Jan. 24, 1862, announced Lieut. L. B. Norton as acting quartermaster and commissary of tlie camp ; Simeon White, quartermaster-sergeant; Charles Wentworth, storehousekeeper ; T. D. Boone, quartermaster's clerk ; while Sergeant J. McDonald was placed in charge of the stables. The allowance of baggage to each officer was limited to one roll of blankets for bedding and one valise or travelling bag. They were recommended to take two suits of outside clothing (one to be worn, the other packed), a canteen and haversack; also to be so supplied with mess utensils as to be able to live alone if necessarj^ Waterproof clothing was also recommended. The men were provided with knapsacks, haver- sacks, and canteens. When on the march they had their blankets rolled and strapped upon their saddles. Both officers and men were •directed to be in readiness to move at an hour's notice: The writer recalls the first death that occurred in the camp. Private ■Charles Vorrast, detailed from the 29th N. Y. Vols., died on the 4th of March from inflammation of the brain. The disease resulted from the kick of a horse. His body was placed in the receiving tomb at Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown. A large number of officers and men attended his funeral, Lieut. John A. Vance commanding the escort. The usual volleys were fired, and the ceremonies were very impressive. Headquarters Signal Cajip op Instruction, General Orders No 16. Georgetown, D. C, March 9, 1862. The old organization of officers and enlisted men is from this date dissolved, and the force is mobilized as follows : — The officers and assigned men of the field Sections A, B, and C will report for duty to the commanders of their sections. The officers and men of the reserve section will report to Capt. Gushing. The officers who have not yet passed the examination of the Examining Board and the unassigned men will report to Lieut. Wonderly. Officers who have passed and are not assigned will, with their assigned men, be attached temporarily ,to the reserve section. Assigned sections for the field will be quartered in tents together, and the commanders of sections will bear the same relations to their commands as do the captains of companies. The official designation of sections and portions of sections will be : " Sections," "Half-Sections," "Parties" (consisting of four officers and eight men), and " Sets " (consisting of two officers and four men). There will be at Retreat, on each evening, a parade of sections and an inspec- tion of implements, under the charge of the section commanders. The parade and inspection will be followed by an inspection of quarters. 72 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. The condition of men, implements, and quarters will be reported- in the usual manner to the commanding officer at parade. For the purposes of this parade for inspection, the officers and men will be relieved from any other duties, during its continuance, upon which they may be, unless the exigencies of the service demand their continuance at that duty. Inspection of implements will be conducted upon the general foi-m of an inspec- tion of implements, mounted, although mounted inspections will be dispensed with except upon days especially designated. Officers in command of sections will at once assign non-commissioned officers, and will hereafter make all requisitions upon the several staff departments for supplies for their several sections. The commands will be habituated to occupy as nearly as possible such quarters as they may be allowed in the field. The signal equipments of officers will be habitually kept in the officers' tents, and any infraction of this will merit and meet with severe reprimand. The reputation and services of signal officers must depend upon the condition of their implements, and every rule must be enforced which will tend to their preservation and order. Each signal officer will see that his horse equipments are in complete and perfect order and placed one upon another in his tent. Commanders of sections will personally inspect at tattoo each day, and note that these orders in relation to horse and signal equipments are obeyed. It is the wish of the Commandant of the Corps that this mode of caring for equipments should be observed wherever parties, however small, may move or be in service. Parties moving in the field or expecting to encounter an enemy will fill their canteens each morning, and the canteen will be constantly worn, strapped upon the saddle, in the manner prescribed for the Corps. The Commander of the Corps cannot too strongly impress upon the command- ers of sections the responsibility of the position they occupy, and his earnest wish is, that they see the Corps so disciplined and equipped that its deeds may reflect credit upon its members, and may aid the country iu the cause for which we are fighting. By order of Maj. A. J. Myer, William S. Stkykek, Adjutant. Headquarters Signal Camp of Instruction, Special Orders No. 41. Georgetown, D. C, Mar. 10, 1862. I. 1st Lieut. F. Wilson will without delay report with one half of his section (A), fully equipped, to Gen. McCall at Hunter's Mill. II. Lieut. Johnson, with the remaining half of the section (A), will report to Gen. Porter at Fairfax Court House. CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 73 III. Lieut. Daniels, with one half of section B, will report to the command- ing general at Annandale. IV. Lieut. Matson, with the remaining half of section B, will report to Gen. Heintzelman. V. Section C, under Lieut. Russell, will report to Gen. McDowell at Centre- ville. VI. These parties are to use the utmost despatch in taking the field at the above named points, and will carry with them four days' rations, cooked, if possible. By order of Maj. A. J. Myer, William S. Strykek, Adjutant. We were drawn up in line before daylight on the morning of March 10, 1862, near the headquarters of the camp. A hasty inspection was made, and the roll was called by Sergt. David McVay by the light of a lantern held by another man. The Signal Camp of Instruction was discontinued May 8, 1862, but was subsequently re-established as a school for officers and men, and as a rendezvous for members of the Signal Corps when duty called them to Washingtoij from their respective departments. The headquarters of the Signal Corps, Department of Washington, were located at the camp for some time. It was thought that possibly the Bill organizing the Signal Corps might be passed before the adjournment of the 37th Congress. Accord- ingly the design of forming a Camp of Instruction was made known as early as January, 1863. A higher grade of proficiency and a more strict application to duty would be expected, and it was, therefore, judged necessary to open this school under the direction of a strict disciplinarian. The selection was carefully considered and the deter- mination was reached to place Capt. W. J. L. Nicodemus, 12th Infantry, in charge. Accordingly the Chief Signal Officer addressed him the following letter : — Capt. W. J. L. Nicodemus, Recruiting Service, U. S. A., Washington, Jan. 15, 1863. Philadelphia, Pa. Captain : I think of forming a Camp of Instruction near Georgetown, at which there will be, say, fifteen or twenty officers, and, say, sixty privates. It will be a permanent camp, and will bear the relation to the Signal Corps that West Point bears to the army. 74 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. I need a thorough disciplinarian in charge of it, to have an absolute command and to be responsible for the soldierly discipline and education of the officers and men to afterward serve in the Corps. I have thought of your thoroughness, known to me in New Mexico. Would you like such a command, and would you be willing to take it as a duty, say, for a year, taking your chances with the Corps in this war ? Very Respectfully, etc. Albert J. Mter. He eoukl not at once accede to this request, but on the 27th an application for the detail of Capt. Nicodemus and Sergt. Eugene Clyde, 12th U. S. Infantry, was forwarded to the Secretary of War, and on February 27th he issued his first order, assuming command of the reorganized camp on Red Hill, Georgetown. There were a great many excellent singers in the camp during the first winter. The writer recalls ^vith pleasure the songs of Fatlierland Avith which our German comrades used to regale us during the long winter evenings. A favorite camp song was one composed by Lieut. A. B. Jerome, and sung to tlie air of " Do They Aliss jMe at Home." It was of the conventional convivial stamp, and sang the praises of the Signal Corps. As a memento of that first winter in camp, it is here inserted. SIGNAL SONG " While there's lU'e there is liope," do not niur. For life'a but a span at the best; [mur— And a soldier's couch and fare, boys, We'll enjoy while hope fires our breast. Then a song and a glass we'll fill now, And drink our success in this war ; Not fogettlng a drop In the cup, boys, For the health of the " Signal Corps." When the cannon first sounded the onset, And the flag which we loved then flrst fell. How we rushed to defend it "en masse" boys. Let future historians tell. Then wave your wands in good token, Tho' it coat you the last of your gore ; We'll drink full success to the Nation, And a health to the " Signal Corps." With numerals as well as with words, boys. We'll join in libation and song ; May the ties which now bind us ne'er sever, Nor death decimate this gay thi'ong. May our signals be signs of affection. Should we meet when we've ended the war; When a comrade waves his wand, boys. Remember the old " Signal Corps." Where the waves of old ocean dash on The coast of European domain ; Come friends to defend our good cause, boys, As friends may we always remain ; Each hand and each heart now united, No matter which state or what shore. And while there's a drop in the cup, boys, Let us drink to the " Signal Corps." Thrown together by fate for instruction, A glass for the friends we met here ; 'Tia but meet we should drink in good bumpers, Our thanks for their kindness and care. Like us drawn together by fortune. As comrades in arms in the war. They will drink as hearty as we, boys, Tlie success of the " Signal Corps." To the mind who has thus interwoven, These numbers in system and form ; In behalf of ourselves and the nation. Our thanks and good wishes conform. May his life be protected In battle. And success give her smile all the more ; For it is he who has brought us together. Then to lilm and his " Signal Corps." CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 75 One more cheer, and our song is ended, A cheer for the " Stripes and the Stars;" For the army who flght to protect it. And tlie shrine of our patron " Mars." Good luclii to the Head of the Army, And our friends far. away from the war ; So fill up your glasses once more, boys. And we'll drink to the " Signal Cokps." In January, 1864, Capt. E. H. Russell was placed in command of the camp and so remained for about a year. " Here," says Capt. Russell, " I had very able assistance from some of the enlisted men and also some officers, instructing the new material which was then entering the Corps by all avenxies at once. " Sergt. Perley J. Aiken rendered me valuable assistance in various ways. .Sergt. Nicewonger gave me efficient aid ; so did Sergeants Durfee, Shepherd Harris, W. H. McCreery, and Elbridge G. Hunt (to whom I became very much attached and who often accompanied me). There were others, also, who would have been a credit to any branch of the ■service, who did their duty with exemplary devotion, competency and fidelity. Lieutenants Onderdonk and Ketcham were notable among the officers for their conscientious discharge of duty. "I think it was about this time that some barracks were put up for the ■enlisted men ; and a small camp hospital. Rev. John Henry Hopkins, Jr., of New York City, interested himself about this time in sending me some entertaining books and reading matter for camp and hospital use, for which I was much indebted to him. Dr. Taft made a highly-efficient medical officer and a delightful companion. As required from time to time the instructed new material in the Corps was sent to the field. I thought some of it was too hastily prepared, perhaps, but that was beyond human power to forecast — men must be had at times whether quite ready or not. The breaking in at the Camp of Instruction must needs be quickly done for that reason, and even raw recruits sent out, if orders were imperative. Whatever the difficulties in the way, none could ask more competent or willing help than many in my command afforded me. " It is in this place I must speak of a matter which much hindered the development of the Corps — regretfully, indeed, but it cannot be ignored. If Maj. Myer (such was then his rank when legislation was at last secured to organize the Corps) had not been a man of iron, his heart would have broken in the struggle which was precipitated bj' jealous opponents and unscrupulous politicians, who combined their forces to 76 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. break down his plans and secure control of the new organization, or, failing this, to destroy his usefulness. It was about the time when promotions to higher rank were being made after examinations by the different boards convened. North and South, and the new material began to come in, that this became apparent. In an evil hour differences arose between the War Department and the Chief of the Corps, which others not of the Corps took pains to incite and foster until estrange- ment followed — then a rash explosion, and thenceforward a wounded and crippled arm of the service was the result. Maj. Myer was not second to any man I encountered in the army or navy in point of high competency for the work he was set to do. And where do I know a man more vilely misrepresented, hampered, insolently abused and trampled upon, than he was at this time ? In this connection I must mention Alexander Ashley, without whose unimpeachable fidelity and devotion to his duty at Maj. Myer's right hand, much that was success- fully undertaken by the Signal Corps could never have been accomplished through the whole war — an exemplary soldier. " One romantic affair occurred during the tune I was in command of the camp at Georgetown, which is worth the telling, and I must begin with 1861 to relate it. Early in August, 1861, my regiment was encamped along the Tenallytown road (9th Pemisylvania Reserves, — jMcCall's Division headquarters being at Tenallytown). On the way thither, — a very dusty, hot day, — as we marched up the rising ground known as Georgetown Heights, and reached a point a little above and opposite to the future signal camp, of whose existence then no one so much as dreamed, some beautiful young girls came out of a large gateway at the road side with fresh sweet water to drink, which they poured out and offered to us. This was doubly refresliing to us, — the bonniest sight we had yet seen in " Dixie," — for since leaving the North via, Baltimore, which then swarmed with rebels, male and female, the two or three loyal white women we had seen were those who came from our homes to visit us, and these were the first to meet us on Southern soil. " It was found afterwards that they were related to the Cans ten family, there resident, — a lineage noble in its gentle blood, refuied intelligence, and superior character. When the Signal Camp of Instruction was- established nearly opposite the Causten place, Capt. B. Franklin Fisher and Capt. L. B. Norton were frequent callers there. " Dr. Causten, a son in that family, had married a beautiful young lady near by (a member of the Homiller family, so hospitable to the Signal Corps), and being a pronounced defender of the Union had been captured CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 77 and taken within the rebel lines while just beginning his honeymoon, shortly before we occupied Georgetown Heights. Capt. Fisher wooed and won Miss Alice Causten (the doctor's sister), a lady worthy of the family whose name she inherited. It so fell out in the fortunes of war that in 1863, Capt. Fisher, who had made a brilliant record in the Army of the Potomac through all its campaigns, was captured by the rebels and taken down to Libby prison, where he first met his future brother-in-law. Dr. . Causten. While here, by an ingenious device of shading characters as he wrote letters to Major Myer, he' contrived to convey information of some rebel movements. Escaping from Libby prison ( I think by the famous spittoon tunnel ), he came to Washington while I was in command at the Georgetown camp, and to my great delight wedded then and there (in Washington^ the lady of his choice. I was present at the wedding reception, held in the town residence of the Caustens, near the U. S. Treasury Building." STKIKING THE PLAU AT THE CAMP, AUGUST, 1865. In God's own might We gird us for the coming flght, And, strong in Him whose cause is ours In conflict with unholy powers, We grasp the weapons He has given, — The Light, and Truth, and Love of Heaven. — Whittiek. CHAPTER IV. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF THE CORPS. The office of Chief Signal Officer was first opened by I\Ia.j. Albert J. ^lyer, on or about Nov. 5, 1861, at No. 158 F Street (now No. 1905), N. W., Washington, D. C. The following order appears upon the order book of the Signal Camp of Instruction, Georgetown, D. C, and fixes the date, perhaps, on which the office was first practically opened : — Headquarters Signal Camp, Special Orders No. 23. Georgetown, Nov. 5, 1861. Corporal Eobert Eogers of the Signal Corps is hereby detailed on detached service to take charge of the Signal Officer's office in the city of Washington. By order of Major Myer, Evan Thomas, 1st Lieut., 4th Artillery, Acting Adjutant. The primary object in opening this office seems to have been that the Chief Signal Officer might there have greater quiet, and be free from the petty annoyances of the Signal Camp of Instruction, and thereby have better opportunity for study, and for completing his plans for developing his system of aerial signals to be used in the great armies of the Republic which were then concentrating at different points, — east, west, and south. Signal equipments and stores were collected here for test and distribution, and also other army equipments necessary for the signal detachment then under instruction at Georgetown, D. C. Lieut. John W. Deford, 11th Regiment, P. R. V. C, Acting Ordnance Officer, was on duty here from time to time during the winter of 1861-2, and a clerk. Private Richard C. Dale, 9th Regiment, P. R. V. C, was assigned to perform clerical duty for the Chief Signal Officer. But it .was not until March 16, 1862, that the office became permanent, and was ever afterwards considered and designated as the 80 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. headquarters of the Signal Corps. On that day the following order was issued : — Headquauteks Signal Corps, General Orders No. 18. Alexandria, Va., March 16, 1862. I. 1st Lieut. Samuel T. Gushing, Acting Signal Officer, will proceed to Washington and assume temporary charge of the oiflce of the Chief Signal Officer. He will be charged with the procuring and furnishing of signal supplies for the Army of the United States, and with the preservation of the records of the Corps. XV. Private Alexander Ashley is temporarily detailed for clerk in the office of the Signal Officer at Washington. By order of Major A. J. Myer, Wm. S. Stryker, Adjutant. From this date a series of orders was issued from this office, and by order of the Chief Signal Officer, of which the following was the first, although a continuation of the series of the Signal Camp of Instruction, Georgetown, D. C, as to its number: — Office of the Signal Officer, Special Orders No. 47. Washington, D. C, March 22, 1862. A Board of Inspection to consist of 1st Lieut. E. H. Russell, Acting Signal Officer, 1st Lieut. J. B. Ludwick, " '' '■ 2d Lieut. A. B. Capron, " " " will convene at this office to inspect such articles of signal equipments and signal stores as may be presented for their examination. By order of Maj. A. J. Myer, Samuel T. Cushing, 1st Lieut, and Acting Signal Officer in Charge. This order was afterwards inserted in the order book of the office of the Chief Signal Officer, Washington, D. C, and numbered one. In his annual report, dated Nov. 10, 1862, the Chief Signal Officer invited attention to the fact that up to that date the duties of the clerks in his office had been performed by soldiers, with the pay of " extra duty; " and also to the great labor incident to their work, making it just that they should have the pay of clerks of Class III., and recommended that two clerlis of that class be provided. The result of \YM. S, STRTKBE SUEG. G. S. TAFT PETER H. ^■ILES J. W, DePORD I V '*s- * °llff?^ •■ ^ UBMUEL B. NORTON SAMDEL T. OUSHEvG GEORGE McGOWN RICH'D DINSMORE 0. 0. MATSON W. H. McCR'EERY PERLEY J. AIKEN J. W, McWILIilAMS EDBRIDGE G. HUNT EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 81 this recommendation was that the Act of Congress approved March 3, 1863, providing for an organization of the Signal Corps of the Army, also provided for two clerks of Class II., in the office of the Signal Officer. In his annual report dated Oct. 30, 1863, and referring to this legislation, the Chief Signal Officer said: "With the appointment of these clerks (which dated April 1, 1863), the office assumed a permanent organization. This office has been, since soon after the beginning of the war, an office for records ; for the issuing of orders ; a purchasing and disbursing office ; an office for the issuing of supplies to officers, and for the auditing of their accounts ; the headquarters of the Corps ; and, virtually, a bureau office. The records of the Corps are now complete The credit for the systematic arrangement, and the precision which has made this possible, are due to Messrs. Simeon White and Alexander Ashley, the appointed clerks, upon whom has devolved the real labor ; and to the energy and care of Captains Samuel T. Cushing, Leonard F. Hepburn, Joseph H. Spencer, and Henry S. Tafft, who have been on duty at different times since the establislunent of the office." It is also proper to state that there were employed, as clerks, at the Signal Office during the years 1861-2-3-4 and 5, a force of enlisted men whose faithfulness, efficiency, and general good conduct were not excelled by a similar number of men in any of the departments of the government. Among these may be mentioned Charles D. Lyon, Thomas M. Durfee, James Lauder, Isaac S. Suydam, B. Frank Wagner, Thomas J. Wiggin, David O. Floyd, and others. Among the messengers who, as enlisted men, were employed at the office from time to time, and who were faithful, intelligent, and efficient in the discharge of their duties, may be mentioned Charles C. Myers, John Beatty, Michael Keegan, George H. Galbraith, and David W. Dwire. Capt. Samuel T. Cushing remained in charge of the office from March 16, 1862, until Sept. 9, 1862, when he was relieved by Capt. Leonard F. Hepburn, Fourth New York Volunteers, and Acting Signal Officer, who assumed charge of the records of the Signal Corps and the receipt and issue of signal equipments and signal stores. But little of special interest occurred during this period beyond the ordinary duties of the office. The office force consisted of Capt. S. T. Cushing, Alexander Ashley, and, at times, two messengers, — Privates John Beatty and Charles C. Myers. It may be said that up to 82 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. this time, and for some time afterwards, the office was but poorly supplied with the necessary conveniences for the transaction of its business. There was but little office furniture, — the two or three desks and half a dozen chairs being of the most inferior quality, — and but an ordinary field desk in which to file papers and books. For some weeks, at first, the building was without gas, and work at night was performed by " candle light. " This, however, was soon remedied. The messengers not only performed such duty at the office as was assigned them, but were frequently ordered to headquarters Army of the Potomac, and elsewhere in the field, in charge of important communications and signal stores. On Jan. 30, 1863, the force of the office was further increased by the assignment to duty of 1st Lieut. W. R. Hartshorne and 2d Lieut. Joseph H. Spencer ; the former to classify the reports received at the office from the organization of the Corps, and other duty of a similar character, while Lieut. Spencer soon after became property officer, and was assigned other and important duties devolving upon the office from time to time. He became one of the most efficient officers of the Corps, and continued on duty at the office until April 7, 1865, when he was ordered to the command of the signal detachment, Department of the Cumberland, and was afterwards promoted to the rank of major in the Signal Corps. On April 13, 1863, a board of officers was convened at the office, under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved March 3, 1863, providing for the organization of the Signal Corps of the Army, to examine such officers for the Corps as might appear before them. This largely increased the work of the office, especially the clerical' duty. The Acting Signal Officers of the Army of the Potomac, and others serving as such in the vicinity of Washington, were ordered to the office, as their services could be spared in the field, for examination and assignment to such rank as each was found to be qualified for. Almost every day during the months of April, May, June, and July of that year, a number of officers were present for examination. On June 2, 1863, Capt. L. F. Hepburn, 4th New York Volunteers, and Acting Signal Officer, was relieved from duty in the office, and ordered to turn over to Capt. Joseph H. Spencer, Signal Corps, U. S. A., all books and papers of the office ' and all public property in his possession. The same order assigned Capt. Spencer permanently to duty at the office, and in charge of the records of the Corps and the receipt and issue of signal equipments and signal stores. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 83 About this time the use of cipher disks became a subject of special thought and investigation, and Capt. Spencer and Lieut. B. N. Miner were ordered to experiment, and to practise therewith daily, in order that definite rules might be established for using disks in actual service. On June 4, 1863, Capt. Henry S. Tafft, 15th Massachusetts Volunteers, and Acting Signal Officer, having reported to the Chief Signal Officer in compliance with orders from the War Department, was placed on duty at the office, and assumed the duties of adjutant, reliev- ing Capt. Spencer from that class of work. The duties of the office now became even more important, and great activity and constant labor were required at the hands of the entire force ; but it was cheerfully and intelligently performed under the direction of the two efficient officers just named. Capt. Tafft had brought with him a first-class clerk from the Department of the South, — Sergt. James Lauder, — who, from that date to the c^ose of the war, proved to be a most valuable addition to the clerical force of the office. Much of the executive work of the office during the months of June, July, August, and September, 1863, consisted in issuing orders and circulars relating to the reorganization of the Corps under the Act of Congress providing for a distinct organization ; convening boards at the various headquarters throughout the army for the examination of officers and men ; the classification of the officers examined, with a view to presenting their names to Congress for confirmation, and kindred work. Nov. 10, 1863, Col. Myer was relieved of the command of the Signal Corps, and the bureau was placed in charge of Maj. Nicodemus. Capt. William J. L. Nicodemus, 12th United States Infantry, had been in command of the Signal Camp of Instruction at Red Hill, Georgetown, D. C, from Feb. 26, 1863, under the Chief Signal Officer, and had been appointed major in the Signal Corps Sept. 18, 1863, and was nominated and confirmed lieutenant-colonel of the Corps, July 3, 1864. He assumed command of the signal office at Washington Nov. 15, 1863, by order of the Secretary of War, and announced the fact in a general order on that date. Receuiting foe the Coeps. Office of the Signal Officer, General Orders No. 6. Washington, May 2, 1863. The foUowiog extract from memoranda approved by the Secretary of War, and submitted to the Board of Officers now in session in this city for the examination of candidates for admission into the Signal Corps, as provided for 84 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. by Act of Congress, approved March 3, 1863, is published for the information of the Acting Signal Corps : — "XIII. Recruiting for the Signal Corps will be conducted under the rules prescribed for the regimental service. Enlistments will be made for the period of three years, or during the war, but enlisted men now on duty in the Signal Corps may re-enlist for the period of one or two years, and will be entitled to the benefits provided by the 18th Section of the Act of Congress, approved March 3, 1863." By Order of the Signal Officer of the Army, Leonard F. Hepburn, Captain, 4th N. Y. Vols., and Acting Signal Officer. On Nov. 21, 1863, 1st Lieut. R. P. Strong wfas announced as recruiting officer for the Signal Corps, with headquarters at the Signal Camp of Instruction, to take effect from November 1st. The old board of examiners at the Signal Camp was dissolved and a new one convened. The work of examination for commission in, and transfer of officers to, the Corps, and the examination for transfer and the enlistment of men for the new organization, received a fresh impetus under the able supervision of Lieut. Strong, and in a few months thereafter a suf- ficient number of men to meet the wants of the Corps had been secured. In January, 1864, four recruiting stations were opened. One was established at the Camp of Instruction in Georgetown. This was in charge of Lieut. Strong, Superintendent of Recruiting. In this connec- tion it gives me pleasure to make the following personal statement : In January, 1864, I was at the Signal Camp awaiting assignment to duty. I obtained a week's leave of absence to visit my home in Abington, Mass. Near the close of my leave it was learned that I intended to take my brother (George A. Brown) to Georgetown for enlistment. The young men of the village thought that if I were willing to enlist my brother in a Corps in which I had served for two years, it must be a satisfactory branch of the service, and they came to me asking that they might enlist. I telegraphed to Lieut. Strong and received informal authority to bring them on to Washington. I presented twenty-one men for enlistment, and all were accepted. If I could have prolonged my leave of absence for a week, as I requested, I could easily have obtained one hundred men. A few weeks after our entry into the camp, and just before we were sent out to our respective fields of duty (we were sent to six different armies), my victims marched to my tent and presented me with a watch, as a token of their appreciation of the way in which they had been victimized. 1816 F ST., N. W. WASHINGTON, HEADQUAKTEKS, MAY, 1864, TO OCTOBER, 1863. HEADQUAKTEES, 530 TWENTY-FIRST ST., COR. OF F, OCTOBER, 1865, TO OCTOBER, 1866. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 85 A recruiting station was opened at Scranton, Pa., and placed in charge of Lieut. Fred Fuller, assisted by Sergt. J. C. Kintner. This station was closed February 23rd. Lieut. J. B. Duff, with Sergt. H. W. Fulton and Private J. W. Churns, opened a station at Indiana, Pa., and between January 30th and February 29th, presented eighty-nine recruits. During April they were running a station in New York Citj^ Lieut. Cyrus M. Roberts opened a station in Columbus, Ohio, and in April transferred it to Indianapolis, Ind. March 8, 1864, Capt. E. A. Denicke, with Sergt. Thos. M. Durfee and Private Lester P. Stickney, was sent to open a recruiting station in Boston, and three days later, Lieut. N. H. Camp, with Sergt: Charles Wentworth and Private James O'Hara, was sent to Providence, R. I. Both of these stations sent a large number of recruits. On the 29th of April all the stations were called in. The total number of enlistments was 937, which, added to the number transferred from other organiza- tions, made the total number of enlisted men who served in the Corps 1,783. Beside this number about 700 had been detached from their regiments, serving temporarily, for longer or shorter terms, and never joined the regular Corps. With the enlisted men, the order was peremp- tory, to join or return to their regiments. The same rule applied to the officers, but there were many exceptions, especially in the case of officers of ability or influence, who had received appointments of lower grade than those they held in the volunteer service. The first list of sergeants appointed in the Signal Corps took rank from Sept. 1, 1863. On Nov. 4, 1863, the first general orders were issued from the office, announcing a large list of sergeants and first and second-class privates in the detachments in the field, the men having passed the required examinations. Other orders of a similar character were issued from time to time, as the results of examinations by the auxiliary boards in the field were received, until the 1st of April, 1864, when the work of transfer and appointment of non-commissioned officers was about complete. About this time the term of enlistment of many of the men expired ; but, almost to a man, they immediately re-enlisted in the Corps, determined to " swing the flag " and " wave the torch " until the rebellion had been crushed and the old flag once more waved in triumph over the entire country. The force of the Corps was also augmented by a large number of recruits, eager to aid in bringing victory to the " Stars and Stripes." About this time the office was removed to No. 1816 F Street, to a building known as the Commodore Meade property. This building was 86 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. much larger, and better arranged for the purposes of an office, than the one vacated, and thfe change was made at the suggestion of Captains Tafft and Spencer. The new office was much better equipped in evety respect, and among other improvements made was the introduction of a printing press, which greatly aided in multiplying copies of orders, circulars, letters, etc., but which, in a few months afterwards, proved the cause of the beheading of the Acting Chief Signal Officer, Lieut.- Col. Nicodemus. Several of the enlisted men were good printers, and the press was kept running much of the time. Capt. Henry S. Tafft, having tendered his resignation, was formally relieved from signal duty Aug. 22, 1864. In announcing the fact, the Acting Chief Signal Officer said: "The lieutenant-colonel commanding takes this occasion to acknowledge the valuable and important services rendered by Capt. Tafft while serving in the Signal Corps, and especially the zeal, ability, and efficiency with which he has conducted the business of this bureau during the past year." On Aug. 24, 1864, Private David O. Floyd was assigned to duty as clerk at the bureau, and proved to be a very valuable addition to the clerical force, being a first-class penman, as well as a man of good judgment and general ability. On or about Sept. 13, 1864, Capt. S. M. Eaton, Signal Corps, U. S. A., was assigned to duty at the signal bureau, and assumed the duties of adjutant. He had served faithfully and gallantly in the Department of the Gulf as a signal officer, and brought to his new duties both experience and efficiency as an executive officer. It may be stated here that, from July 5, 1864, to December 26th of that year, the orders issued at the office were headed, " Bureau of the Signal Corps, Washington," that being the designation of the office used in the order of the War Department assigning Maj. Nicodemiis in charge in November, 1863 ; but for some reason the major had failed to note the wording until about the 1st of July, 1864, when he directed the change to be made in orders. On Nov. 14, 1864, Capt. Eaton was relieved, for the purpose of again assuming more congenial duties in the Department of the Gulf, and Capt. Henry R. Clum, Signal Corps, became adjutant, and continued to discharge the duties of that position with great ability until the close of the war, having signed his last order in that capacity Aug. 16, 1865. About this time a change occurred which has already been referred to ; namely, the dismissal from the army of Lieut.-Col. W. J. L. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 87 Nicodemus, the head of the bureau, and the assignment of Col. B. F. Fisher. Col. Nicodemus had been guilty of giving general publicity tO' his annual report, by sending it out broadcast to the Signal Corps in the field, in pamphlet form, in advance of any action thereon by the Secretary of War ; in fact, before the secretary's own report had been submitted to the President or had become a public document. This, though innocently done, so aroused the secretary that he at once sent an officer and a file of men to the signal bureau to take possession of the printing press (the cause, as has already been intimated, of this unfortunate act upon the part of the colonel), and to seize every copy of the report found in the office, including, if possible, the original manuscript itself. This done, the colonel was, at the same time, summarily dismissed from the army. But, as in the case of Col. Myer, justice was again vindicated, and Nicodemus was restored to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Signal Corps, by order of the President of the United States, in General Orders No. 53, War Department, A. G. O., March 31, 1865, and was honorably mustered out of the service Aug. 23, 1865. On Dec. 26, 1864, Col. B. F. Fisher assumed charge of the bureau, designating it as the " Office of the Signal Corps in the City of Washington, D. C," and thereafter all orders were issued from the " Office of the Signal Officer, Washington City." From this time until the close of the war. Col. Fisher was the executive officer of the Signal Corps, and during his entire administration so directed its duties and watched over its interests as to demonstrate that he was prepared to practise what he had said in his inaugural order ; and the growing usefulness and general success of the Corps were not only to continue, but were to increase as time passed. At the beginning of his administration the strength of the Corps was 168 commissioned officers (sixty-six of whom were acting) and 1,350 non-commissioned officers and privates, eighty-four of whom were sergeants. This force was thoroughly equipped, active, and energetic, performing important and gallant duty in the twelve different detachments in the various departments of the army. By the 20th of October, 1865, the entire Corps had finished its work, and had been honorably discharged from the service of the United States, excepting nine officers and thirty-seven enlisted men serving in the Military Division of the Mississippi, and fifteen officers and ninety-nine men in the Military Division of the Gulf. His first circular to acting chief signal officers in the field called for a list of privates who possessed the necessary qualifications to discharge 88 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. the duties of sergeants, which were hereafter to be of a more responsible character, and the number was to be increased to the maximum autliorized by law. This was an incentive to greater faithfulness and gallantry upon the part of the rank and file. A new, more compre- hensive, and extended list of abbreviations, — 214 in number, — based upon the experience and exteirsive practice of Capt. L. B. Norton, was published to the entire Corps. It was ordered that the abbreviations be thoroughly memorized by all officers and sergeants conducting atations, and when memorized the copies were to be destroyed. In January, February, and March, 1865, a large number of promotions were made among the enlisted men, for faithful and gallant service, and for superior qualifications. On April 7, 1865, Capt. L. B. Norton, Signal ^Corps, reported for duty at the bureau, in compliance with orders from the War Department, and was assigned to duty as property and disbursing officer, relieving Capt. Joseph H. Spencer from that position. In relieving Capt. Spencer the Chief Signal Officer said : " For the able and efficient manner in which Capt. Spencer has performed his duties, as property and disbursing officer for the Signal Corps during the past two years, he merits the thanks not only of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, but of every officer in the Corps, as it is owing in a great measure to the prompt manner in which he has performed the peculiar duties assigned him, that the Corps at large has been able to render the great service to the country which is accorded it by our generals in the field." The war was now coming to a close. Two days after the assignment of Capt. Norton to duty in Washington, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. This ended active hostilities in the east, while Gen. Sherman's march to the sea, through the very heart of the Confederacy, had demonstrated that there was to be but little further resistance to the triumphant and gallant "boys in blue." But little remained for the executive branch to do, except to direct the discharge of the Corps, to arrange for the disposition of its property, and collect its field records at Washington. When Col. Myer again assumed charge of the signal office, Aug. 21, 1867, its force had been reduced to one officer, two clerics, and one messenger; the officer being Lieut. L. B. Norton, 30th United States Infantry, whose resignation as a captain in the Signal Corps had been accepted some time before. The two clerks were Simeon White and Alexander Ashley. It may be said, without any reflection upon the intelligence, efficiency, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 89 and gallantry of the Signal Corps in the field, that its wonderful success in the discharge of its novel and important duties in keeping up communication between the different generals at all times, and especially durmg active operations, and on the field of battle itself, is largely due to the wise and careful discharge of those duties which came directly under the supervision of the executive department at Washington. Col. Myer was the author of the first complete system of signals used successfully on the field of battle ; and so long as the Government of the United States shall provide for the prognostication of the weather, Albert J. Myer — "Old Probabilities"; — will be remembered as the fixst chief of the weather bureau, who brought it safely through the •days of its childhood and made it possible for those who have succeeded him to so advance its efficiency that it stands today among the wonders of the world, — one of the many great scientific achievements of the nineteenth century. In the language of another: "He needs no monumental pile, no stately pyramid, whose towering height shall pierce the clouds and rear its lofty head to heaven, to tell posterity his fame. His deeds, his worthy deeds, alone, have rendered him immortal." Alexander Ashley retained his connection with the Corps nearly thirty years, from Aug. 16, 1861, to June 30, 1891, when he was transferred as civilian clerk to the Weather Bureau. The lines that march deploying thro' the valleys Advance and then retreat, The impetuous mass that up the hill-side sallies, Columns that part and meet — Thine is their purpose and their destination ; Thy stroke their guiding hand, Whose gestures link in close communication Commander and command. — Caroline Stickney. CHAPTER V. PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF SIGNALLING. iS ARE of two kinds, — transient and permanent. The former include those indicated by motions or by sounds ; the latter, those which are held in view for any considerable length of time. The principle underlying Maj. Myer's system, as well as all other known systems, was that of having a certain number of arbitrary, simple signs or symbols, easily distinguished the one from the other, being made to appear separately or in combination. When a meaning is attached to these signs, single or combined, they become signals. The number of different Icinds of signs xised in a combination is called the number of elements of that signal. Thus the system of signals used by Maj. Myer in his experiments in New Mexico, and which was more generally used through the war than any other, was termed the four- element code. The combination signal 11 has one element; 1423 has four elements; 234, three elements; 1114, two elements, and so on. A code of signals is a series or set of signals in which each sign or combination has a definite meaning. The principles upon wliich all signals are based are fixed and unchangeable. The applications of these principles can be limited only by the limitations of human skill and human ingenuity. Signalling is conveying ideas by means of symbols, or conversing at a distance. Talking is the conveyance of ideas by means of vocal sounds made singly or in combination ; through the written or printed page ideas are conveyed by means of symbols called letters, either single or combined ; telegraphing is conveying ideas by means of symbols, dots and dashes, variously combined ; signalling as practised by the Signal Corps is, for the most part, a method of conveying ideas by motions of a flag or torch, or by some corresponding or equivalent means. The four-element code was toward the close of the war, to some extent, superseded by the two-element or one-eight code. The two 92 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. codes are essentially identical, though apparently quite unlike. In the four-element code the numbers particularly describe each motion. In the two-element code only the motions from the vertical position are indicated, the returns to the vertical being undesignated. Thus 1 is one motion to the left, returning to the vertical ; 2 is one motion to the right, returning to the vertical ; 1423 is one motion to the left, returning to the vertical, then passing to the right and returning to vertical, passing to the right again, returning to vertical, passing to the left and returning to vertical. All the motions in a combination must be made without a pause. The movements cannot well be made too rapidly, if there is a distinct pause, however brief, between the combinations. Those who have become accustomed to the four-element code become attached to it and prefer it to the seeniingly more simple one. The two-element code, under the title of the " General Service Code," is now used by the Signal Service and by the Signal Corps Detachments attached to the militia in several of the states.* The symbols have the same meaning now that they had during the war, but the numbering has been reversed. Odd numbers were then made to the left, even numbers to the right. Odd numbers are now made to the right, even numbers to the left. For example, two motions to the left meant " a" or " after," the signal being designated "11." It has the same meaning in the "General Service Code," but its designation is "22." "1423" and its equivalents, "1881" and "1221," meant "b" or "before;" the same flag-movement now has the same meaning, but it is designated " 2112 " or " 8118." " The method of making these signals is simple and is easily learned. They are quite distinct and are easily read. They are very plain. Every signal is, in reality, repeated twice each time it is shown. The waves to the left or right are read ' one ' or ' two,' whether the flag or torch is descending or ascending. It is necessary only to see that the signal is in motion somewhere on the right to read ' two.' " The signal apparatus is very simple. It is strong, portable, can be carried anywhere (on horse or on foot), is not liable to be damaged by an enemy's fire, or by rough handling, and it is always available and ready for use. It can be used in almost any situation. The signals can be seen at very considerable distances. Many devices can be used to make them visible. Such colored flags should be used as will contrast most strongly with the background against which they are shown. The motion of the signal greatly increases its visibility. *The "General Service ,Code'* has, since this was written, been generally superseded by the " Morse Telegraphic Code." PRINCIPLES AND METHODS. 93 An object in motion will be seen and will attract attention, when a similar object resting produces no sensation. We recognize this fact instinctively when we wave a handkerchief, or light, to attract attention. "The signals made with the ordinary equipments, say a staff twelve feet long, and a flag four feet square, or with the torches at night, are easily read at a distance of eight miles at almost all times, except in cases of fog or rain. They are read at fifteen, miles on days and nights ordinarily clear, and have been found legible at twenty-flve miles. Greater distances are reported; but it is questionable if, at those distances, there is reliability." — Myer's Manual of Signals, THE FOUR -ELEMENT CODE. A- -II F— ni4 K— 1434 P-2343 U-223 Z— iiii B- -1423 G — II 42 L— 114 Q— 2342 V— 2311 & — 2222 C- -234 H— 231 M— 2314 R— 142 W — 2234 tion — 2223 D- -III 1—2 N— 22 S— 143 X— 1431 ing— 1143 E- -23 J— 2231 0— 14 T— t Y — 222 ed — 1422 CODE SIGNALS. 5 — End of a word. 55 — End of a sentence. 555 — End of a message. 11,11,11,5 — Signal of assent. "I understand," or "Message is received and understood," or " I see your signals," according to circumstances. II, II, II, 555 — Cease signalling. 234, 234, 234, 5— Repeat. 143434, 5— Error. 142, 142, 142, 5 — Move a little to the right. 114, 114, 114, 5 — Move a little to the left. The flag waved successively from side to side until attention is attracted — " Attention, look for signals from this point." NUMERALS AND 1, 14223 — Wait a moment. 2, 23114 — Are you ready ? 3, 11431 — I am ready. 4, 1 1 143 — Use short pole and small flag. 5, 11114 — Use long pole and large flag. SPECIAL 6 7 MESSAGES. 23111 — Work faster. 2231 1 — Did you understand? 22223 — Use white flag. 22342 — Use black flag, mil — Use red flag. A. Abt. Abv. Acct. Adv. Agn. Agnst. Amb. -After -About -Above -Account -Advance -Again -Against -Ambulance ABBREVIATIONS. Ambsd. Amt. Ans. Apr. A. Q. Ard. Art. Arv. — Ambuscade — Amount — Answer — Appear —All Quiet — Around — Artillery — Arrive 94 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. B. —Before Bat. —Battery Batt. —Battalion B. B. B. —Use Black Flag Bgn. —Begin Bhnd. —Behind Blk. —Black Bn. —Been Bnk. — Bank Brig. — Brigade, Brigadier Brv. — Brave Bst. —Best Bt. —But Btn. — Between Bvt. — Brevet C. —Can Cal. —Calibre Canding. —Cannonading Canstr. — Canister Capt. — Captain Cav. — Cavalry Ch. —Church Chng. — Change Chrg. — Charge Civ. —Civil, Civilian Cld. —Could Clr. —Clear Cmpl. — Compel Concl. — Conceal Co. — Company Com. — Communication Corny. — Commissary Certf. —Certify Crtn. — Certain Cwt. — Hundred-weight Dbt. —Doubt Deg. — Degree Delvr. — Deliver Dept. — Department Dft. —Defeat Dist. — Distance Dk. —Dark Div. — Division Dn. — Done Dr. — Doctor Dwn. — Down Elvn. —Eleven Elvt. —Elevate Emb. — Embark Embs. — Embrasures Eny. — Enemy F. — For Fd. —Ford Fid. —Field Fink. —Flank Fm. — From Fnt. —Front Fst. — First Ft. —Fort Fw. —Few Fwd. — Forward Gal. —Gallon G. B. — Gun-Boat Gd. —Good Gen. — General Gov. — Governor Govt. — Government H. — Have, Has Hd. —Head Hd. Qrs. — Head Quarters Hid. —Hold Hr. — Hear, Here Hrd. —Heard Hvy. — Heavy Impt. — Important Imy. — Immediately Inft. — Infantry Inst. —Instant Jas. — James Jn. — Join Jst. —Just Kp. —Keep Ldd. — Loaded Lft. —Left Lieut. — Lieutenant Lk. — Look L. L. L. —Move a little to the left Lng. -Long Maj. — Major Majty. — Majority Manvr. — Manoeuvre Mil. — Militia, Military Min. — Minute Mk. —Make Mr. — Mister Mv. — Move Mxd. — Mixed PRINCIPLES AND METHODS. 95 N. —Not T. —The Nd. —Need Thm. —Them N.J. — New Jersey Thn. —Then Nm. — Name Thr. —Their Nr. — Near Ths. —This Num. — Number Tht. —That Nvr. — Never Tl. —Tell Nw. —Now Tm. —Time N. Y. — New York Tmbr. —Timber Obs. — Observe Tn. —Train Ofcr. —Officer Trps. — Troops Off. —Official Twds. — Towards Oftn. —Often Twn. —Town 0. K. —All right Twr. — Tower Opp. — Opposite Ur. — Your Ord. — Ordnance u. —You Ovr. — Over Upn. — Upon Pa. — Pennsylvania Upr. — Upper Pnt. —Point Usl. —Usual Pntn. — Pontoon Usls. —Useless Psd. — Passed Va. — Virginia Psugr. — Passenger Ves. —Vessel Pst. —Past Vet. — Veteran Pt. —Put Vig. — Vigilant Q- —Quiet Vol. — Volunteer Qk. — Quick vt. —Vermont Qrs. — Quarters Vy. — Very R. —Are W. —Word Reed. — Received Wds. —Woods Regt. Req. Rev. — Regiment — Requisition — Revolution Wgns. Whn. Whr. — Wagons —When —Where Riv. —River Whs. —Whose Rprt. Rpt. Rqst. R. R. — Report —Repeat — Request — Railroad [rigbt Wht. Wi. Wl. Wld. —What —With —Will —Would R. R. R. L o — Move a little to the Wlk. —Walk Rvl. —Reveal Wr. —Were Wrk. —Work Schnr. — Schooner Ws. —Was Se. —See Wtr. —Water Sec. — Second W. W. W. —Use White Flag —Excellent Sep. Sevl. — Separate — Several Xlnt. Shi. —Shall Xpdtion. — Expedition Shld. —Should Xpos. — Expose Smk. — Smoke Y. —Why Sn. —Seen Yest. — Yesterday Snd. —Send Ys. —Yes Stmr. — Steamer Yr. —Year 96 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. As a rule to be observed in abbreviations of other words, omit their vowels and one letter of every doublet. The following are the exceptions to this rule : — 1. When a word begins with a vowel, retain that letter. 2. Words with a consonant at the beginning and end, and a vowel or two in the middle, must be spelled in full. 3. When two or more words have the same consonants similarly- located, at least one of their distinguishing vowels must be used, as "impasbl" for impassible, and "imposbl" for impossible. 4. When the omission of one letter of a doublet will form another word, both letters will be retained, as " lattr " for latter, not " latr " which would signify later. The general order promulgating the foregoing list of abbreviations was prefaced with the suggestion that a lack of famiUarity with them on the part of officers and sergeants conducting stations would be " deemed a proof of neglect of duty, and of the incompetency of the delinquent." Ready ! 2! PRINCIPLES AND METHODS. 97 2343 ! Day Signals. The flagman takes position facing the station with which communi- cation is desired. To call the station the flag is waved right and left, or the number given to that station is called until the response "11 — 5 " is made. To make "1," the flag is .waved from the vertical position to the ground at the left of the flagman ; without pausing, the vertical position is then resumed. To make " 2," the flag is moved to the right in the same manner. To make "3," which always follows "2" or "4," wave the flag from the ground on the right to the ground on the left of the flagman, and immediately return to the vertical position. To make "4," which always follows "1" or "3," wave the flag from the ground on the left to the ground on the right of the flagman, and immediately return to the vertical position. To make "5," wave the flag directly in front to the ground, returning to the vertical position immediately. Night Signals. There being furnished the regulation signal equipment, night signals are made, for this code, by motions of a flying-torch, a stationary torch burning at the feet of the signalman ; or they may be made by motions and positions of lanterns, the signalman being equipped with a reference lantern fixed at the waist, and a moving light to be moved by the hand. The positions, motions, pauses, etc., of the signal light at night, are similar, for, the same signals, to those made with the flags by day. 98 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Signals by torches are easily read at a distance of ten miles, and have been often used at fifteen. It is probable that torches can be very much improved, or a better light may be substituted for them. If vi^icks of asbestos cloth or wire gauze could be substituted for those in common use, it would, doubtless, be a valuable improvement. These would give no sparks and require no trimming. Possibly the magnesium light or electricity may in the near future supersede the apparatus now in use. The foot-torch is to be filled as often as it becomes exhausted, without stopping signals or extinguishing its light. If the flying-torch is to be filled, while transmitting a message, the torch is dropped to the left, extinguished, refilled, lighted, and then raised to the vertical position, which is the signal that the message is to be continued. A flying-torch is til be filled, on an average, every fifteen minutes. A wick properly managed will last for a week. In cases of emergency torches may be constructed of pitch-pine knots, old rope, canvas, rags, or other material, saturated with tar, or with any combustible fluid. Any light that can be visible at a distance will afford sufficient means by which to transmit messages. [circdlae.j " Office Chief Signal Officer, " Dept. of Washington, 22d Army Corps, " Washington, May 24, 1864. " In working repeating stations the following rules should be observed : — " 1st. The officer sending the message should call the station to which the message is to be sent, and interspersed with the call of said station should be thecallfor repeating messages, thus — 142, 142, 1422, 1422, 142, 142, 1422, 1422, and so on, until the next station takes up the call. "2d. The next station will not make 11, 11, 11, 5, but will call the next in the same manner as he was called, and so on, through all the stations, until the officer to which the message is to be sent receives it, when he will make 11, 11, 11,5, which will be repeated by all the stations until it reaches the station which desires to transmit the message. "3rd. The flagmen will be faced toward the station which is to receive the " 4th. The first station makes a combination and sees that the second station repeats it before making another. "5th. If the second station does not repeat correctly, it is the duty of the first to make the combination for an error, which will be repeated by all, after which the combination in which the error occurred will again be sent. PRINCIPLES AND METHODS. 99 " 6th. Where only an officer occupies an intermediate station, it is the duty of the flagman to see that the next station to him repeats correctly. " 7th. When an intermediate station sees a mistake, the officer will cause his flag to be held at a perpendicular, and make no more combinations until the mistake is corrected by the officer sending the message, who will know that an error has been made, and will repeat back far enough to cover the combination in which it occurred, usually to the beginning of the word. " 8th. When the stations are so far apart that the flagman cannot see them with a marine glass, errors cannot be rectified by intermediate stations, and the only alternative is to make no mistakes. "9th. A repeat will be called for and repeated in the same manner as sending messages. " 10th. When the disk is used, the key (in which the message is to be sent) will be sent as soon as the stations are all called up. " Wm. B. Roe, " To Lieut. J. W. Brown, " Capt., Chief Signal Officer, " S. O., U. S. A. " Dept. of Washington." Signalling in Ciphee. If signals are to be displayed in the presence of an enemy, they must be guarded by ciphers. Tlie cipliers must be capable of frequent clianges. The rules hy which these changes are made must be simple. Ciphers are undiscoverable in proportion as their changes are frequent, and as the messages in each change are brief. When alphabet ciphers are used, the aim should be never to allow any letter to appear twice alike. The number of letters under each key is to be as small as possible. The terminations of words are to be concealed. The letters in each word ought to be made in unusual sequence. For this purpose a message to be enciphered may be wholly reversed — that is, written with the last word appearing first. Each word may also be reversed. It does not do away with the utility of ciphers that they may be sometimes deciphered, for we must often use them, conscious that, with sufficient time and the appliances, they can be interpreted ; but knowing, also, that the time interpretation will require will render the message useless to an enemy. Simple devices have rendered it practicable to so exhibit signals that their interpretation becomes almost impossible. The entire code may change with every day, with every message, or with every word of every message. The Signal Disk is as follows : — Description of Signal Bisk. — On a small disk of cardboard or other material (see Illustration in Chap. VI.) are written or printed the 100 SIGIJAL CORPS U. S. A. letters of the alphabet in irregular sequence and arranged around the circumference of the disk. These letters are so placed that when the disk is properly held, all the letters are upright. On this small disk are also printed those combinations of letters which frequently occur in words, as " tion," "ing,"" " ous," etc., etc., and a sign to mark "the end of a word." On a larger disk are written or printed, arranged around its circumference in the same manner, either the letters of the alphabet or the symbolic numbers of signals which are to be used. The disks are fastened concentrically together in such manner that one may revolve upon the other, and that they may be clamped in any position. They are of such sizes that when so fastened^ the letters, etc., upon the inner disk, ^^dll each appear close to and directly opposite one of the signal combinations upon the outer disk. ( See Illustration in Chap. VI. ) The figures •• 1 " and " 8 " are sometimes used instead of the figures "1" and "2," to symbolize the elements " one " and " two," because the figure " 8 " is upright in most positions of the disk. Having a disk arranged and clamped, as in the illustration, it will be clearly understood by any signalist that, so provided, he has before him an alphabetic code with every letter opposite its signal symbols. And he will comprehend that, by referring to the disk, he can transmit a message without the study of any particular code, and can transmit it in secret signals oi- cipher by moving the disks upon each other, and so making changes in the code. Thus, to make "A," the combmation "112," "one, one, two," is signalled; to make " C," the combination "1221," "one, two, two, one," is signalled; to make " T," the combination "211," "two, one, one," is signalled; to make "ing," the combination "2112," "two, one, one, two," is signalled. And there is sf) signalled the word " acting." To denote the end of the word, the common " pause-signal," " 3 " " three," may be used, or whatever combination may be in the compart- ment opposite the character for " end of word." This is arranged by preconcert, and so for any Avords. Clauses, etc., are made by repetitions of the pause-signal. Now, it is evident that with any change of the relative positions of the disks made, as by rotating one upon the other, the whole code of alphabetic signals is changed. Thus, suppose the inner disk rotated until the letter " A " is opposite the combmation "1112," "one, one, one, two." Then referring to the same Plate, to signal the "acting:" "A" is "1112;" "C" is "2121," "T" is " 22," "ing" is " 2212." The signals do not in any way resemble those PRINCIPLES AND METHODS. 101 before exhibited for the same word. The signal for the " end of word " will also be different. These changes can be indefinitely varied. It is for making them that the disks are movable. Where different parties, as the officers of a corps or of an army, are to be in communication, rules for the changing of the disks issued to all enable each to use them whenever the officers are in view of each other ; each finding that his cipher will then correspond with that of the officer with whom he is signalling. And this may be, though the signalists have never met, and may be serving with detachments which have these communications with each other for the first time. The following is an example of a general rule for the use of signal disks. The signal disk is supposed to be arranged for a code of two elements. The communicating parties have disks similar, and like Fig. 1, in the illustration. Rules and Explanations foe the Use of Signal Disks. The signal to indicate that " Cipher follows " is made by three circular waves of the flag or torch from left to right, and will always precede a cipher message. I. — Explanation of the Signal Disks. The numerals on the outer rim of the disk represent the combinations to be made with a flag or torch. Each combination represents, when made, that letter on the inner disk which coincides with it. II. — To make Signals. The signals, for whatever code may be represented by the symbols upon the outer disks, are made according to the rules heretofore given while treating of the different codes. III. — The Adjustment-Letter. The adjustment-letter is any letter selected on the inner disk, which, placed opposite a given combination or key-letter, on the outer disk, adjusts the disks for the cipher, and is the key to any communication sent in that particular cipher. The letter E, is understood to be the adjustment-letter, if no other letter is given. The combination to be used with the adjustment-letter is called the key-number. The adjustment-letter and the signal combination being given, the inner disk will be turned so that the letter will coincide with the combination. Example : The' combination is " 1212," adjustmeni^letter R — the inner disk will be turned so that R will coincide with "1212." Any letter may be the adjustment-letter. Any signal combination may be chosen for the key-number. 102 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Example: The signal " 1121— 3— 1122— 333," would indicate that "W" was the adjustment-letter and "1122" the cipher combination. The disk would in that case be arranged as follows : " W " would be brought to coincide with "1122." IV. — To send a Message in a Cipher. Station " A " calls station " B," and gets " B's " acknowledgment. " A " gives " B " the cipher combination in which he intends to send the message. Example : " A " gives "B" "2122 (right, left, right, right), 333;" "B" answers by repeating "22,22,22,3,-2122,333;" wliich indicates to "A" that " B " has got the correct cipher. " A " and " B " adjust their disks as follows : each turns the inner disk so that the letter R will coincide with the combination " 2122 " in the outer disk. The dislts of both parties are now alike, and the message commences. To signal the word " pickets " in the foregoing cipher, station A woidd make "221,11,1221,2211,1212,211,122, 3," = pickets. If "W" was the adjustment-letter and "1122" the cipher combination, then "W" would coincide with "1122," and the word "pickets" would be presented by " 122, 1211, 212, 2, 2222, 112, 2111, 3," = pickets. A description of the various ciphers used or suggested can be found in the next chapter. In " ^Nlyer's ^Manual " -^^dll be found an exhaustive treatise on ciphers and their multiform applications. "Office of the Signal Officer, " General Orders No. 7. "Washington, D. C, May 25, 1863. " For the information of the officers now serving in the Signal Corps, the following abbreviations are announced as official and will be used when practicable : — " Sixty-four abbreviations of words most commonly used. Thirty-six abbre- viations, initial letters of principal words of orders, e. ^"'~=>'^=' a full set of signal apparatus iready for immediate use. A regulation set of signal equipments, when packed complete, was comprised in three pieces, — the kit, .the canteen, and the haversack. The kit, or canvas signa.l-case (Fig. 1), contained the signal staff, flags, torch-case, torches, and wormer. These were all compactly rolled together and: bound by straps, as in Fig. 2. The canteen (Fig. 6) was Scalelftjpi^iri made of copper, with one seam, and soldered, capable of containing one gallon of turpentine or other burning fluid. The haversack (Fig. 4) contained wicking, wind-matches, pliers, and shears for trimming torch, a small funnel for filling the torch, two flame-shades, a wind-shade, etc. The kit-case, canteen, and haversack were fitted mth shoulder-slings or straps, by which they could be easily carried. The service can (Fig. 5) was a strong copper can, with rolled seams hard soldered. The nozzle was fitted with a screw cap to prevent leakage. It contained five gallons. 116 SIGNAL CORPS O. S. A. The kitrcase contained — 1st. The signal staff (Fig. 2), a staff of hickory, made in four joints or pieces, each four feet long, and tapering as a whole from one and one- fourth inch at the butt to one-half inch at the tip. The joints were ferruled at the ends with brass, and fitted to be jointed together as fishing rods sometimes are. The third joint was guarded with brass for six inches at its upper end, to protect it from the flames of the torch, which was attached, when in use, to this joint. The tip or fourth joint was that to which the flag was attached for day signals. When in use, two or more joints of the staff were fitted together. 2d. The signal flags were made of cotton, linen, or some other very light and close fabric. The flags were seven in number : 1. The six-foot white, six feet square, white, having at its centre a square of red two feet square. 2. The six-foot black, with white square in the centre. 3. The four-foot white, with sixteen-inch red square at the centre. 4. The four-foot black, with sixteen-inch white square at the centre. 5. The four-foot red, with sixteen-inch white square at the centre. 6. The two-foot white, with eight-inch red square at the centre. 7. The two-foot red, with eight-inch white square at the centre. All of these flags were fitted with tapes or ties, by which to tie them SIGNAL APPARATUS. 117 to the staff. This was found the most simple and the best mode of attaching. The ties were one foot apart. 3rd. Torch-case (Fig. 3) and torches. The torch-case was a piece of rubber cloth about three feet long by two feet six inches broad, fitted on one side with pouches, in which the torches were inserted. At the opposite edge were ties. The torches were packed by being placed in the pouches, with the case then rolled around them so as to envelop them in two or three folds of the cloth. The flying-torch was a copper cylinder, eighteen inches long and one and one-half inch in diameter; it was closed at the lower end, with the exception of a nozzle, through which it could be filled, and which closed with a screw cap ; it was open at the wick end, and on its sides, at this end, were four fenestrse or openings, one inch long and half an inch broad, which opened into the wick, so providing that however the flame might be driven by the wind, it would find a portion of the wick exposed. The foot-torch was a copper cylinder, eighteen inches long and two inches in diameter. It was similar in its structure to the flying-torch. The torches, prepared for use, were fitted with a wick of cotton wicking six inches long. This fitted closely. The body of the torch was then filled with turpentine or other burning-fluid. The flying- torch was attached to the staff third joint by clamp-rings and screws. Each torch was furnished with a flame-shade, — a circular flange of thin copper two inches wide, fitting by a socket upon the torch in such a way that the flange encircled the torch. This was placed about one inch below the fenestrse or openings. The use of this shade was to prevent the flame from travelling down the sides of the torch and thus overheating it. The flame-shade was always detached when the torch was packed. Each torch was fitted with " wedge-strips " below the f enestree ; the flame-shade could be tightened by pressing it firmly down upon these. A shade, called a " wind-shade," was sometimes used in high winds. It consisted of fine strips of copper attached to a socket, and was adjusted upon the torch in the same way as the flame-shade. 118 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. The funnel, pliers, and shears were used in filling and trimming the torch. A screw or wormer was placed in the tf)rch-case to be used when the wick might, by accident, be drawn so far into the torch that it could not be seized by the pliers. Every kit haversack was supplied with wind-matches, so j^repared with composition as to be inextinguishable by wind or rain. It was also thought desirable to have some yards of quick-match and some prepared slow-match. Cotton string or rope made a good substitute for the latter. The cipher disk is fully described in the preceding chapter. Col. Myer, in his Manual, speaks of a very ingenious and valuable plan of cipher devised by Sergt. Edwin H. Hawley, of the Signal Corps. The apparatus consists of twenty-six long and narrow tablets fastened together at one end, arranged as the tablets or strips of some kinds of wooden fans are. On each tablet is inscribed an alphabet and the numeral signals for its letters, and the combinations of letters generally used. The alphabets are so arranged that the alphabet on the first strip com- mences with the letter A and its signal at the top of the strip ; the letter B and its signal are at the top of the second strip, and so on. In enciphering a message, a countersign-word being given, the alphabets and signals upon these tablets are used, each being taken in such sequences as are indicated by the letters of the countersign-words. For illustration : Suppose the countersign-word be Act, the word to be enciphered. Board ; then the numeral signal for the letter B is sought on the tablet commencmg mth A, the signal for O is sought on the tablet commencing with C, the signal for A on the tablet commencing with T. The key-word, act — a-c-t — has now been once used ; so, for the signal for the letter R, we return to the tablet commencing with A, and the signal for D is sought on the tablet commencing with C. The signal to indicate the close of a word is sought on the tablet T. The signal for the first letter of the next word is found on the tablet A ; and so by repetitions of the process the message is completed. He also calls attention to "an ingenious arraiigemeut proposed hy Private John C. Anton," who was transferred to the Signal Corps from the 30th Missouri Volunteers. The alphabets, with the numerals and abbreviations, were mscribed upon a single card. It could be easily prepared and easily destroyed. It is fully described and illustrated in " Myer's Manual." Sergt. Francis M. Metcalf called attention to a defect in the cipher SIGNAL APPARATUS. 119 used in 1864. It was the sign or character used to indicate the end of a word. The cipher of two concentric disks could, of course, give only Figure 1 . ridure 2. ';riv^o]?,i§ps. Verucal Secu'on Figure. 3. Two Discs. thirty different combinations or alphabets. It could easily be memorized. The frequent occurrence of the number attached to this sign would enable one easily to catch the key. Metcalf also invented a cipher of four concentric dislcs, the first and second having the letters and the tliird and fourth having the numbers, — fifteen on each disk. He finally discovered that it would be better to have all the letters on the inner disk, and have the thirty numbers divided among the three outer dislts. Tills gave an almost unlimited series of combinations. Capt. Norton forwarded the four-disk cipher to Washington. In the letter of transmittal he called attention to the objections to the use of the character gp in the cipher in vogue, and adds : " To Sergt. Metcalf belongs the credit of being the first to discover this very serious defect." Metcalf thought that the combinations of his disk were so nearly infinite that the objectionable character would do no serious harm. Capt. Norton, however, in the letter referred to, said : " With the character left on, it would, even with Metcalf 's disk, still reveal one-third of the code," and suggested that it be left off, and some abbreviation be put in to fill the space. As thus modified it is referred to in the archives of the Bureau as " Metcalf 's Disk, with Capt. Norton's Improvement." 120 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Telescope and Marine-Glasses. The telescope of the Signal Corps pattern was determined by experience to be the best for general use. These telescopes were of about thirty powers. They had a focal length of twenty-six inches. The tube was cased in leather, instead of wood or metal. The draw was of four joints, bronzed black, in order that there might be no glitter to attract the enemy, nor glare to disturb the eye of the observer. Leather caps were fitted over both eye and object glasses, and the whole was supported by a strong leather strap, long enough to pass over the shoulder, and connecting the caps and glass in such a way that there were no loose parts. Binocular-glasses, frequently called marine or field-glasses, have, with a low magnifying power, an extensive field of view. They were for use in extensive movements, where tracts of country could be taken in one field of view, or in sweeping the landscape in view, to find the tents of the enemy, his wagons, artillery, pickets, or other objects, to be afterward more closely examined with the telescope. They were also very useful on shipboard or in boats, where the motion interfered with the use of the telescope. The marine-glass was held by both hands when in use ; and to steady it the arms were kept close to the body. For reading signals at short ranges, five miles or less, these glasses were better than the telescope. Signals were frequently read with glasses of this description at the distance of ten miles. Officers of the Corps were also furnished with a good pocket compass, which was found most useful in recomiois- sance and in locating and discovering signal stations, our own and those of the enemy. The average expense of the different articles of equipment may be of interest, and are given in the appended table. Telescope . Marine-Glass . Compass Six-foot Flag . . Four-foot Flag Four-foot Red Flag Flagstaff Foot-Toi-ch . . $21 50 22 00 1 50 2 50 2 00 2 25 5 00 2 75 Flying-Torch . Canteen ... Haversack Five-gallon Can . Telegraph Telescope . Set of Signal Equipments Turpentine per bbl. . " " sal. . . S3 50 3 25 1 50 8 00 65 00 45 00 115 00 2 90 SIGNAL APPARATUS. 121 April 26, 1862, the Secretary of the Treasury directed the Collector of Customs at New York to deliver to Beckel Bros, a case of marine- glasses ordered for Maj. Myer free of duty, but that they should pay duty on any that should be rejected. Turpentine was an expensive but seemingly indispensable item of signal supplies. As North Carolina was the chief source of supply, the cost kept increasing as the war went on. Dec. 24, 1862, the price paid was 12.60 per gallon. A few days later Capt. L. F. Hepburn, from the office in Washington, wrote to Capt. David A. Taylor, Chief Signal Officer of the Department of North Carolina, asking him to be on the lookout for turpentine to capture and appropriate ; said it was very high and growing higher. As early as Feb. 15, 1862, Lieut. Deford had sent a barrel of kerosene oil to Capt. W. W. Rowley to test its fitness as a substitute for turpen- tine. The writer recalls the fact that about a year later, a barrel of benzine was sent to Capt. Charles L. Davis, at Fort Monroe, for a similar purpose. It proved to be utterly inadequate to the demands of the service. Neglect of apparatus Col. Myer considered a matter for discipline. Daily inspections should insure that the telescopes, etc., are clean and in perfect order. If the common field-sets of the army are to be used, the torches must be each morning cleaned ; they can be scoured with ashes, or washed with turpentine. The torch- wicks must be examined, trimmed, and renewed. They must be made tighter by adding new threads to them, if they seem too loose ; and this can be judged to be the case, if there is even a slight dropping of turpentine ; or they must be loosened by lessening their size, if so tight that the fluid cannot readily flow through them, to feed the flame. The torch screws and catches must be examined, and the torches prepared, in every part, for the labor of the coming night. The torch is not to be filled, however, during the day. The flags must be examined, each by itself. If there are rents or loosened ties, they must be repaired. If the flag has become soiled by usage, it must be well washed and dried. A clean-washed flag is seen and read with ease, where flags dusty and dii^y with use are invisible. Signal-flags in use should be habitually washed each week. The joints and bands of the staff must be scoured and tightened if loose, or carefully fitted again if any shifting or springing has been noticed. Rivets must be reclenched, if started. The staff itself ought to be cleaned aild scraped. The copper cans and the service canteens are to be examined and filled. They must be cleaned ; and if there is a leakage, it must be 122 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. stopped. Steps should be taken to turn into the depot any article thus damaged. If the leather in the top screws of either the canteens or cans is worn or loosened, it must be replaced. The carrying straps and buckles of the canvas case and of the canteens must be examined, and the bind- ing-straps counted, to render certain that none are lost. All leather parts must be cleaned, and kept pliable with neatsfoot or castor oil. When the apparatus is to be packed, the torches must be perfectl}- emptied of any fluid they contain, or the flags and other portions of the set may be ruined by its leakage. The total expenditures of the Signal Department from June 30, 1860, when Maj. M3-er received his commission, to Nov. 30, 1861, out of an appropriation of seven thousand dollars ( $7,000 ) was six thousand four hundred and fifty-two dollars (1^6,452 ). This included what had been expended in equipping the party in New ^Mexico ; the party detailed in June at Fort Monroe ; and those who had more recently been under instruction at the Signal Camp of Instruction and on the Upper Potomac. This, of course, does not include the salary and monthly pay of oflicers and men, nor money expended for quartermaster and ordnance stores, camp and garrison equipage, or commissary supplies. On the 30th of November, 1861, Maj. Myer asked for an appropria- tion of twenty thousand dollars ( i!<20,000 ) for the manufacture or purchase of signal equipments and signal stores, and one thousand dollars ( $1,000 ) for contingent expenses. On the 27th of February following he asked for an additional appropriation of thirtj'-four thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars ( if 34,950 ) for the manufacture or purchase of signal equipments and signal stores, and for counter- sign signals " to prevent the collision of friendly regiments." In his report to the Secretary of War, dated Oct. 31, 1864, Col. Nicodemus says : — " The entire expense of the Acting Signal Cbrps for the year ending June 30, 1862, was $192,523.40; for 1863, $545,612.64; and for 1864, $848,584.00. " This includes pay for officers and men, clothing, transportation, forage, arms, and signal apparatus and stores. In his report to the Secretary of War, dated Oct. 20, 1865, Col. B. F.. Fisher says: — " There were expended during the year ending Sept. 30, 1865, $8,537.06, leaving a balance, which, added to that yet remaining of former appropriations SIGNAL APPARATUS. 123 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866, makes the sum of $248,062.00 still available." In the report of the same officer, dated Oct. 20, 1866, he says : — " There were expended during the year ending Sept. 30, 1866, of the sums previously appropriated by Congress for the Signal Corps, $3,900.15 ; there were realized from sales of surplus and unserviceable supplies during the same period $2,455.18, — ^making an excess of expenses over receipts of $1,444.97. The books of the Treasury show a balance of appropriations remaining untouched and still subject to requisitions on Sept. 30, 1866, $245,856.49. Balance on deposit to the credit of the Disbursing Officer of the Signal Department on Sept. 30, 1866, $6,709.48 ; total amount available for Signal Service on Sept. 30, 1866, $252,565.97. " No appropriation for Signal Seryice was requested at the last Congress, nor will any be required of this." On yon height, Linstock in hand, the gunners hold their breath : A signal rocket pierces the dense night, Flings its spent stars upon the town beneath : Hark ! the artillery massing on the right, Hark ! the black squadrons wheeling down to Death ! — Thomas Bailey Aldrich. CHAPTER VII. DUTIES IN THE FIELD. SIGNALS used in the field, during the War of the Rebellion, were almost always those made with flags in motion. They were made if possible with the regulation signal equipment, using a code of two or four elements. These signals were so rapidly made, and were legible at distances so great, that others were rarely needed. It was important that the flags should be of bright colors, and clean ; that the colors should be such as would contrast most strongly with the background against which they appeared when viewed by the person receiving the message ; that they should be of light, smooth material, moving easily through the air, as cotton or linen stuffs, instead of bunting. There were, as occasion demanded, two kinds of stations, — stations of observation and stations of communication. A station of observation is one from which observations, as of an enemy or of a tract of country, are made and reported. A station of communication is for purposes of signal communication. A signal station may partake of both characters. In selecting a signal station, a point was chosen perfectly in view of the communicating station. The flagman was placed, if possible, so as to have a background of the same color for every position in which the signals might be shown. The color of the flag should contrast as strongly as possible with that of the background. With green or dark, or most earth-colored- backgrounds, the white flag was used. With a sky exposure the black flag was used ; while with broken or mixed backgrounds, the red flag was usually selected. The red flag was generally used at sea, as it was exposed against a mixed background of wood-work, sails, sky, and water. But for general use the white flag was found to be the most satisfactory. It was used, probably, in nine cases out of ten. 126 SIGNAL CORPS O. S. A. A station should never be located in a camp, or among tents, or where the white canvas of tents can form a background of signals viewed from the other station. The passage of squads of men in an encampment, the smoke from the numerous cook-fires, the dust thrown up by mafchihg troops or trains, the curiosity of persons not attached to the station, render the camp the most unsuitable locality for a signal station. The difficulties are increased at night by the glare of the numerous fires apt . to be kindled between the communicating stations ; the smoke that, then more heavily than in the day, rests over the quarters ; and the almost impossibility of distinguishing, at great distance, the signal-torches or lights from the changing lights of the encampment. Every precaution should be taken to avoid these annoyances. The point chosen ought to be one sufficiently near the headquarters of the general commanding, but outside of camp, and on one side of it, on some clearly visible spot, and with as few encampments between it and the communicating station as possible. Signal stations should always be chosen elevated from the ground as much as is possible, when there is difficulty about smoke, or haze, or dust. The undulation of the atmosphere, noticeable on a hot summer's day, is always less at a distance from the earth's surface. Thus it is sometimes practicable to read from a tree or a house-top when it is almost impossible to so read from the ground. This undulation is less also over spots well shaded than in the glare of the sun. This should be borne in mind in all telescopic examinations. Permanent stations should never be placed in hollows, or on low land, when high ground is attainable. The greatest elevation should invariably be sought. In the cool night air, the smoke and dust of the day lie close to the ground, filling the hollows and obscuring low lands, while the higher points emerge in view like islands. So, too, the elevated points are free, to a great extent, from heavy moving mists and the malaria of imhealthy locations. There are these advantages, aside from their better location for working. By careful selections of high ground, stations can often be worked when signals on the lower fields would be invisible. For these reasons, it is well to have, sometimes, a station for night work on a house-top or in a tree, while during the day the station is worked from the ground. When the officer receiving the message wished to have a white flag used, he directed his flagman to make 2234, 2234, 2234. If red was desired he called 142, 142, 142, and if black was demanded, 1423, 1423, 1423. The flag was most easily read when the sun was shining directly DUTIES IN THE FIELD. 127 upon it and not behind it. The most favorable conditions for easy reading are a clear atmosphere with the sun covered by clouds. It was on such days that messages were read at the longest distances. The station having been selected and the background noted, the next step was to secure the exact bearing of the communicating stations, "and AN IMPROMPTU STATION. to see that no intervening object concealed or obscured the foot-torch or the flag or the flying-torch in its entire sweep. When a station was discovered, the telescope was steadily fixed upon it, and the flag waved to attract attention. The presumed number of the officer was then called and communication opened. It was customary for stations to arrange a few preconcerted signals for giving special directions. They were of such character as these : " Wait a moment ; " "I see you but cannot reply ; " " Cease signalling ; will call you soon." When a station had signalled all the messages on 128 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. hand, the signal' to cease signalling was made.. If the receiving station had nothing further to communicate it gave the same signal, — - 11, 11, 11, 555. An officer was not supposed to leave his station until this signal had been exchanged. A station ceasing to work for a short time only, displayed a flag flying ; while the flag was flying an observer was kept constantly at the glass. It was sometimes difficult to assure the attention of stations at unex- pected hours. The number of men was frequently insufficient. Under such circumstances it was sometimes arranged that a station should be called by raising a flag on a flagstaff, or discharging a gun, or throwing up a rocket. Stations were kept concealed as far as possible from the view of the enemy. On stations of observation no flags were shown, and no persons were allowed to be present except those actuall}- on duty. Every precaution was taken to ^jrevent the enemy from ascer- taining the purpose for which the point was occupied. When communi- cation by signal was needed, the flag was screened from observation, as far as possible, and employed for as short a time as possible, communi- cations, as far as was deemed necessary, being sent in cipher. When two officers were oh duty at one station, one was presumed to be available at a moment's notice. An enlisted man was kept at all times at the glass. He was directed to keep a strict watch upon the points to be observed, make himself familiar with the part of the country to be viewed, and promptly notify his officer of any changes or movements he might discover. He was directed to examine, through the glass, the communicating stations, at least every two minutes, and report all calls. If reply could not be made at once, he was to make the signal 14223, " wait," and immediately report the fact to the officer in charge. Failure to promptly recognize and reply to calls, to transmit messages, to notice and report upon movements, rendered those in charge of the station subject to trial by court-martial for neglect of duty. Officers were directed to abandon stations only at the last moment, and to destroy all material rather than allow it to fall into the hands of the enemy. It was Maj. Myer's ambition to have the Corps so organized as to offer a body of educated and sldlful officers, practised in the duties of reconnoissance, capable of maldng clear and condensed reports, skilled also in the arts of cryptography and telegraphy, and familiar with ciphers. It was also his desire to have the officers and enlisted men well disciplined and drilled in the use of arms. The useful service of the Signal Corps was by no means limited to those brief periods when the army was in actual movement against the DUTIES IN THE FIELD. 129 enemy. When the army was at rest and. time hung heavily for want of active service, the signal officer could never act amiss if his parties were kept in motion, scouting systematically in the direction in which the enemy were; gathering knowledge of their position and probable intention ; exploring and roughly mapping the country, with its roads, trails, springs, watercourses, etc.; noting its facilities for the transit of troops and their supply. They would thus collect for future use information of every character which the commanding general would not fail to appreciate. From a single elevated peak, the general contour of the country, its water courses, its forests, its grazing grounds. SIGNAL AND TELEGKAPH LINES. and its valleys, etc., could often be marked with an exactness which it would require days of painful marching and the movement of large forces to secure by following the roads. A few signal stations near a camp or post afforded a better guaranty for its safety, or that of herds, trains, etc., near it, than could otherwise be secured. Any military commander who had ever employed a detachment of the Signal Corps and had faithfully and intelligently availed himself of its co-operation, never afterward willingly found himself without a representation of the Corps. For service vnth a grand army, consisting of several corps in the field, the following organization was recommended by the Military Board of 1863: — 130 signal corps u. s. a. Basis for an Army of Two ok. More Corps. At (General Headquarters, Staff of General Commanding: — One Captain, Chief Signal Officer of that Army. One Lieutenant, Adjutant, Officer in charge of records. One Lieutenant, Quartermaster, Ordnance Officer and Property Officer. Three Sergeants, as clerks. Six First-Class Privates, as assistant clerks, flagmen, and escort. Two Sergeants in charge of reserve camp, depot, and stores. Four First-Class Privates in care of stores, repairs, etc. Second-Class Privates, detailed, three from each corps party, as guard of reserve camp, etc., and in charge of depot trains upon the march. For each Army Corps : — One Captain, Chief Signal Officer of the Corps. One Sergeant, as clerk. One Sergeant, as Quartermaster and Commissary Sergeant of the corps party and in charge of train. Eight Lieutenants. Five Sergeants. Twenty First-Class Privates. Thirty- four Second-Class Privates. The number of lieutenants was estimated to provide for a corps of three or four full divisions. The officers to constitute reserve detach- ments were detailed from the corps parties as occasion required. The form of this organization was greatly modified hy further experience. The chief signal officer in a military division or department consol- idated at headquarters the rolls and returns of officers and men, and was responsible for their proper sujjply and instruction. Each chief signal officer was urged to see that the work of the Corps and its value was comprehended by the general officers with whom he was serving ; and each chief was directed to see that every post in Ms department was furnished mth equipments and codes, and with instructions regarding their use. The senior officer on a station, or with a party, was primarily responsible for the condition of all the apparatus ; and it was his duty to see, each day, that the whole equipment was read)- for instant use. Each set was usually placed in charge of an enlisted man, who was held responsible for its condition. DUTIES IN THE FIELD. 131 An efficient signal officer, serving with troops, never allowed himself to be without his telescope and field-glass, his signal equipments, his compass, a message book, and, when attainable, a map of the country to be traversed or occupied. The occasion might at any moment arise when the power to communicate a few sentences would be invaluable. It was considered indispensable not only to have the equipments at hand, but to have them so accessible that they could be quickly adjusted and brought into prompt and effective service. A SIGNAL PARTV. On the 22d of April, 1863, Maj. Myer, in a circular addressed to the chief signal officers, said : — " The Signal Officer of the Army has noticed with regret that reports of the operations of the Signal Corps have been sent to him, after different battles and expeditions, showing by their address that they have been made to him only. This course is injurious to the interests of those who compose the Corps. The reports of battles, each accompanied by a map, illustrated as directed by orders from this ofKce, must be made as soon as possible after each battle, to the general who commanded in the battle, or to the general commanding the military department in which the battle has been. These reports must be addressed to the adjutant- general of the particular army, or to the adjutant-general of the geographical department, thus, — to 'Col. J. B. Jones, Adjutant-General, Dept. of Va., etc' A complete copy of this report, of the map accompanying it, and of its address, must be sent to the office of the Signal Officer. It is by pursuing this exact course only, that signal detachments will ever find themselves properly mentioned 132 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. in the reports of the commanding general, or that justice will in this way he done to meritorious officers and men." In the maps referred to a wavy line indicated a field-telegraph line ; dotted lines in red ink showed the lines over which signals were worked ; similar lines in blue, the lines of couriers under orders of signal officers. Signal stations were shown in red ink thus : — 13 A working station. ni A station of observation simply. A signal telegraph station. Office of the Signal Officer, General Orders No. 8. Washington, June 17, 1863. I. Hereafter all communications of an official character, transmitted by signals, whether in presence of the enemy or otherwise, will be sent in the cipher adopted in circular issued from this office, dated April 14, 1863. II. Instead of the usual manner of designating an official message, "off," 3 (wave from right to left) , will be the signification used for an official communi- cation transmitted by signals. III. The address and signature of all messages must be in cipher, no messages being ever addressed or signed by any name or initials by which the enemy can learn the presence in the army or the location of any general or other officer. IV. All messages of general information intended for the Chief Signal Officer of an army or department, will be commenced "444," signifying, "To the Chief Signal Officer," or "General Commanding." V. Each chief of corps or department will see that the officers of his command are fully instructed in the use of the cipher, and conform to the instructions contained in this order, and that it is habitually used at every signal station under his command. VI. The chief signal officers of every department or army cox-ps are especially enjoined to carry out these instructions, that the enemy may not in any case be able to read our signals and thereby become informed of important movements of our army and navy. By order of the Signal Officer of the Army, Henry S. Tafft, Captain and Signal Officer. Office of the Signal Officer, General Orders No. 9. Washington, June 26, 1863. I. It having come to the knowledge of the Signal Officer of the Army, that in some instances, officers of the Signal Corps have transmitted information by DUTIES IN THE FIELD. 133 signals of such a character as to produce alarm, uproar, and confusion among troops and the inhabitants of towns and cities with which they may be in communication, which reports have often been without foundation, the officer thereby being guilty of " conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline," it is hereby ordered and enjoined that all signal officers shall be held fully responsible and amenable to the military regulations of the army for such stampede reports forwarded without foundation or forethought. II. Under all circumstances must officers of this Corps be fully cognizant of the responsibility resting upon them, as proper and reliable sources of information, or means of communication, such information being in most cases, for the use of the commanding general, or other officers commanding troops, and often being the foundation of important movements or operations of the army or navy. III. Reports must be made full and concise, detailing all important discoveries, such as movements of the enemy, direction taken, probable numbers, ^whether artillery, infantry, or cavalry, and their position taken by compass from the station of observation. They must be made quietly, and written or delivered without the slightest exaggeration or excitement. IV. Should the enemy be discovered advancing toward an officer or station, the signal party must not fall back until it is absolutely necessary to prevent capture, previously reporting to headquarters the advance of the enemy, and then a retreat must be effected quietly, and as much under cover as possible, taking: care to create no needless alarm. V. Every precaution must be taken that no signal apparatus, glasses, or papers of any description fall in the hands of the enemy. If necessary to prevent capture, they must be destroyed. VI. Chief signal officers of departments or army corps are required to see that the provisions of this order are fully carried out, and that it is fully promul- gated to every officer of the department. Nothing gives commanding generals greater confidence in their informants than to see that they at least are not in the slightest dgeree excited, stampeded, or alarmed. VII. It is designed that the officers and men of this Corps shall become known and noted throughout the army for their bravery, coolness and reliability under the most trying circumstances. Every officer not only bears upon himself the responsibility of sustaining his individual honor and reputation, but the honor of a corps pecforming its duties in the dangerous undertaking of establishing stations of observation and communication almost within the lines of the enemy, and amid the perils of the battlefield. ' By order of the Signal Officer of the Army, Henry S. Tafft, Captain and Signal Officer. The Signal Corps during 1862 was not so organized as to be most effective. There was reason to regret, in almost every battle, the want 134 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. of the field telegraph trains, so essential to the greatest usefulness of the Corps. The army was new ; the duties of the Corps were novel, and were understood by few generals in the service. The acting signal officers, with two or three exceptions, were volunteers with no knowledge of military life. They had been hastily instructed and equipped, and were thrown upon their first campaign in districts, for the most part, very difficult for the performance of their duties. There were few at first who aided them, even when it was within their power to do so. At the close of 1863 more favorable conditions prevailed. The armies were older, the generals more experienced and with a better comprehension of the manner in which the Signal Corps could be used to advantage. They more constantly employed the detachments with their commands and learned to appreciate their services. There were fewer interferences with the work of the Corps, and parties were able to take the field with more complete appliances for effective service, and with a skill increased by practice. The portable telegraph lines were at last furnished by a wise liberality of the War Department, and the equipments for aerial telegraphy and reconnoissance were improved by such additions as experience seemed to suggest. It was noted with much satisfaction that the services of the Corps were approved and sought for in proportion as generals commanding proved enterprising and successful. The demands for detachments were proportioned to the activity of the campaigns. In most of the great movements of the year, the demand for signal officers was greater than it was possible to supply. The year 1864 was marked by the same activity, and the same success as the preceding year, interrupted in a measure by the labors and demands of the Examining Boards, and the changes incident to the reorgan- ization of the Corps. The character and extent of the interruptions are detailed in the next chapter. In considering the services of the Corps, it ought to be remembered that, wherever its officers were on duty, they rendered a service otherwise impossible ; they forced the enemy to introduce new elements into his calculations, and gave our own commanders a most efficient aid, which seemed at first novel DUTIES IN THE FIELD. 135 and which was regarded by many as of doubtful value. Whatever standing was secured and maintained by the Corps was the result of Col. Myer's invincible faith and untiring zeal, supplemented by the earnest co-operation of those officers who were constantly on the alert and eager to make their services invaluable to their commanding officers. There were instances of chief signal officers and their assistants whose ambition seemed to be satisfied if they could wear brilliant uniforms around headqiiarters and be reported as serving on 'he staff. Instances are on record of officers on signal duty who seemed eager to do any staff duty rather than the legitimate work of the Corps. Col. Myer in his report dated Nov. 10, 1862, says : — " Experience has seemed to indicate that the duties of the Corps with an active army are most efficiently rendered when these services are controlled by one officer, who, properly informed at headquarters of movements contemplated or making, understandingly takes steps to place his officers where their labors may be most useful." Near the close of 1864, Col. B. F. Fisher, then Signal Officer of the Army, addressed a communication to a chief signal officer, in which he refers to the noble service rendered, in the campaign just closing, by 136 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. tlie general on whose staff the officer addressed was serving, or rather to which he was attached. He closes his letter with the following words : — " . . While these important operations have been going on, your communications would indicate your presence in City. Does the general think your services more valuable in than with your command in the field ? This may be his experience. But I ever found that the place for the chief signal officer of a detachment was where he could personally superintend the operations in the field. It may not be so comfortable, but it would certainly seem more soldierly. " The duties of a chief signal officer can by no means be performed on paper. In an active campaign hard work is before him. His stations should be daily inspected, and every exertion made to improve upon them, and establish new ones for the purpose of observation or communication. "I shall expect and require the chiefs of detfichments to be live men. Men earnest in the cause in which they are serving, and with wills to do what they can to forward it. Comfort and ease cannot be expected by the soldier, but hardship and exposure are necessarily his lot. With the hope that I shall hear of your success upon the field, I remain, etc., etc. " As an illustration of the efforts of one chief signal officer to meet the demands of the service and the desires of the Signal Officer of the Army the following orders issued hy Capt. L. B. Norton are here inserted : — Headquarters Dept. Virginia and North Carolina, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Aug. 24, 1864. General Orders No. 7. In order that there may be a uniform method of using signals, and of conducting stations throughout this department, the following instructions are published for the guidance of signal officers, and acting signal officers in this command, and they will be governed accordingly : — I. All stations must be kept hidden from the enemy whenever possible. If the station is one of observation merely, no flags will at any time be raised, no person or persons allowed on or near the " lookout " except those having proper authority for being there, and every other precaution will be taken to prevent the enemy discovering the purpose for which the point is occupied. When flag communication is necessary, the flag will be screened from the enemy's observa- tion, even when the station cannot be; and when neither is possible, then the flag must be kept flying only whilst working, and the Cipher Code used invariably, for all official or important dispatches. II. No signal officer, acting signal officer, or sergeant will permit his station to be " called " over three minutes (when the " calling station is visible") DUTIES IN THE FIELD. 137 without answering, and if reported for that offence, will be arrested and tried by court-martial, unless satisfactory excuse be given. III. When two officers have been assigned to duty at a station, one must be upon the station constantly, during the day, and if it is a point of communication, at least once every hour during the night, when communication is possible. If the station is one of observation merely, the officer on duty is required to visit it but twice during the time of darkness, at 11 P. M., and again at 2 A. M. IV. When there is but one officer assigned to duty at a station, either of observation or communication, he shall be on the station and at the glass ( whenever the points to be observed are visible ) at least once every fifteen minutes during the day, and twice during the time of darkness, at 1 1 P. M., and again at 2 A. M. V. Whenever the officer on duty is not required to be upon station, there will be an enlisted man upon it, who will keep a strict watch upon the points to be observed, make himself perfectly familiar with all of the country in view, and promptly notify his officer of any changes or movements he may discover. He will also examine through the glass, at least every three minutes, the stations with which he communicates, and will promptly report all " calls " to his officer, and if said officer cannot immediately answer, the man on watch will face the " calling at station," and make with his flag 14223-5, reporting the fact to the officer on his arrival. VI. Officers will see that their men appear upon stations neatly and cleanly dressed, that they thoroughly understand their duties, and are formed into proper reliefs as " watches." They will also see that the horses of the party are properly fed, watered and groomed, at stated times ; that the saddles and equipments are placed upon horizontal bars raised from the ground, and that they are secured from the action of the sun and rain. Saddles and equipments must be frequently oiled. The oil for the purpose can be obtained from the acting ordnance officer, at these headquarters. VII. Enlisted men will be promptly punished on stations where their offences have been committed, except for continued carelessness on watch, and frequent neglect to give notice of the " calling" by an opposite station, when they will be confined and court-martialled. VIII. All reports of observations will be sent at once to the immediate commander of the forces, with which the signal officer may be serving, and to the Chief Signal Officer ; other messages to the parties addressed. In reporting the results of observations, the statement must be made so explicit that the person to whom it is sent may receive as thorough an understanding of the facts discovered as the officer has who sends the message. If points, places, or roads cannot be named, their distance and compass-bearing from some well known object or place must be given. If a moving column is seen, the arms of service represented in it must be noted, the approximate number of each, and whether it is accompanied by its wagon-train. In reporting firing it must be stated, when- 138 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. ever possible, whether it is musketry or caunonading, the point fired at and from, the cause, and the damage done. In fine when making reports of discoveries, nothing more than is absolutely necessary must be left to be inferred by the party to whom they are sent, and nothing stated as a fact, except what is seen or heard by the officer making the report. If other information is transmitted, it must be accompanied by the name of its author. IX. No officer or enlisted man of this detachment shall make known in any manner, or to any person whatsoever (whether he is of the Corps or not) , any signal code, part of code, or method of working the same, without authority from the Chief Signal Officer ; and a disobedience of this order will result in the prompt arrest and trial of the offender. As soon as it shall have come to the knowledge of any signal officer that an unauthorized person has received any code of signals ever used by the United States, he will immediately make a statement of the fact to the Chief Signal Officer, in order that the matter may be investigated. By order of the Chief Signal Officer, Samdel N. Rogers, 2d Lieut., Signal Corps, Acting Adjt. Headquarters Dept. Virginia and North Carolina, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Dec. 26, 1864. General Orders No. 13. I. It having been brought to the notice of the Chief Signal Officer that portions of General Orders No. 7, current series, from this office, are violated upon some of the signal stations in this army, without the fact being properly reported, it is therefore ordered, that hereafter, whenever a station is "called" and fails to answer within the time prescribed by the aforesaid General Orders, the officer or non-commissioned officer making such "call" will note the moment at which the " call" is made, and the length of time consumed before eliciting a reply; he will then immediately forward a written report of the facts in the case to the Chief Signal Officer, when the cause of the inattention will be learned and the oifender, if without a satisfactory excuse, will be punished. II. Officers and non-commissioned officers in charge of stations, will keep a record of the names of the men placed on watch each day, noting opposite their respective names the time at which they were put upon each duty, and when relieved. III. Hereafter, sergeants in charge of stations will make, on the last day of every month, a report of their operations during that month (the same as required of officers) , and will forward it through their immediate commanding officer, to the Chief Signal Officer of this Department. IV. Reports of operations will, in all cases, contain the number of the messages which originated during the month at the station under the immediate DUTIES IN THE FIELD. 139 command of the officer making the report, and a transcript of such messages, but of none others, will be forwarded to this office. V. Every officer and sergeant in charge of a station will keep on file the " original copy " of every dispatch which is first started from his station, and a record of all other messages transmitted. VI. Hereafter, commanders of separate detachments only will be required to transcribe their daily record for the information of the Chief Signal Officer ; but a " Diary " will be kept at each station, as usual. By order of the Chief Signal Officer, Samuel N. Eogers, '2d Lieut., Signal Corps, U. S. A., Acting Adjt. From every valley and hill they come, The clamoring voices of fife and drum ; And out in the cool, fresh, morning air The soldiers are svirarming everywhere. Fall in! Fall in! Fall in! Every man in his place. Fall in! Fall in! Fall in! Each with a cheerful face, Fall in! Fall in! — Michael O'Connor. CHAPTER Vlll. PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. EFORE the close of the year 1861 it was discovered that one requirement for efficiency in the signal service was wanting. There was no real organization of the Corps. During its short period of Hfe its vitality was crippled by the unfriendly actions of those who should have been its most earnest supporters. The officers and men under instruction were detailed by various general officers ; and in many instances they claimed and used the right to recall the detachments at will. A stable organization or efficient service was not possible when it was in the power of regimental or brigade commanders to recall the detailed officers and men at any moment. Another weakness was the inability of commanders to reward the meritorious actions of men detached from their own organizations. When a lieutenant or an enlisted man entered the unorganized Signal Corps he almost necessarily gave up all hope of promotion, as officers serving with their regiments were unwilLLng to see detached officers promoted over their own. heads unless the absentees were willmg to return to their regiments and assume the duties of the advanced position. Many officers became restive under this condition of things. A number returned to their regiments to accept positions as field officers. Most of the detailed officers, however, to their honor be it said, stood by Maj. Myer, having faith in the ultimate and, perchance, speedy recognition and appreciation of the Corps. Under the date of Aug. 1, 1861, the Signal Officer proposed a plan for the formation of a Signal Corps as an independent branch of the service. It will be noted that the plan differed very materially from that which was ultimately adopted by Congress. This first plan embodied the following features : — As th§ design was to operate electric as well as aerial signals, every officer was required to be a practical telegrapher. The created officers were to be two assist- ants with the rank of captain, and five assistants with the rank of 1st lieutenant. 142 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. In addition to tliese, forty warrant officers were to be selected, with the rank oi cadet, the monthly allowance being |50 and one ration. Three of the warrant officers were to be telegraph operators, and were also to receive instruction in aerial signals. There were also to be forty signal artificers to enlist for the war, the monthly allbwance being $20 and one ration. At the same time a request was made for the appropriation of $30,000 to purchase telegraphic apparatus. This estimate was based on a supposed force of a half million men, and was intended to supply every division of the army. This, briefly stated, was the proposition laid before Congress. The legislation asked for, however, was not granted, the objection being that a new and expensive addition would be made to the army, which would not be warranted after the war was concluded. In a letter addressed to Secretar}- Stanton, April 13, 1862, referring to the services of the Signal Corps at the battle of Winchester, Maj. M3'er complains that the officers are without recognition or notice of their services, even when rendered on the field of battle, and under circumstances of exposure. The best officers would naturally become dis- satisfied and ask relief from signal duty. On the 20th of the same month the bill passed the House, but was indefinitely postponed in the Senate. On the 29th of jVpril, the Chief Signal Officer sent to Secretary Stanton the reports of Gen. Banks and Gen. Bu.rnside. He expressed the hope that they would lead to legislation for the Corps. Six weeks later, in a letter adressed to Capt. S. T. Cushing,'^M5ij. Myer says : " In reference to the ivquests of Lieutenants Jesse Merrill and Edwin I. Meeker, though they are considered eminently just by me, I can take no action. The War Department, or Congress, having decided that plans, the best I could devise, were not the best for the service of the United States, and that signal duty must be done by detailed officers, it is not proper that I should recommend the relief from duty of any efficient officer. "In compliance with the suggestions of the War Department, conve}ed in the letter of which you have a copy, I shall recommend for brevets and other distinctions, such officers and men as are shown to have faithfully and' zealously discharged their duties. This is all I can do at present." About this time Maj. Myer sent the following confidential letter to each Chief Signal Officer: — " Sir : As unforeseen troubles may arise threatening to the permanent existence of this Corps, produced by the influence of interested and designing men outside PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 143 of the Corps, it is thought prudent to call the attention of each officer serving in it to the necessity of gaining the influence of such members of Congress as can and will represent their interests at the coming session. " In order to guard against and frustrate any attempt by any persons to inter- fere with this organization, with a view to its abolition by Congress, every officer must consider himself as one of its defenders. His personal claims must be secured, and justice to him for long service in the Corps must not be lost by the machinations of any party or clique, who from pecuniary or other motives, may be arrayed against the Corps in which he has so faithfully served. No person with a proper understanding of the service rendered by, this Corps can be blind to the great interest secured to the United States by retaining its present organ- ization untrammelled by any political bonds or moneyed power. " The Corps has been brought to its present high standard by its officers and men. They have nobly earned their reputation, and the records of their deeds upon many a bloody field present a page upon which all may look back with pride. " The manifest injury to the service which would follow its disorganization, is an argument in favor of its being permanently established, which no man with honest and patriotic views can overlook or disregard. It must be retained as a distinct branch of the service, and its members must be entitled to like I'ecognition for services rendered as in other Corps. ' ' I should also suggest to each officer to use every effort to obtain from the general with whom he may be serving, testimonials as to his own personal efficiency, and as to the degree of use, as an auxiliary to the army, of the signal system as used for aerial or magnetic field lines. Of the latter let it be distinctly understood that we claim only the portable or flying lines. We desire no permanent lines. We are not a corps of civilians. Our service is purely military, and as an auxiliary to the Corps these lines should not be taken from us. Our officers andinen have a military training, and their great experience in all the exigencies of modern warfare have fitted them to perform this service in a manner eminently superior to that of any undisciplined and inexperienced class of men. " If in your opinion the transfer of the Field Telegraph lines and apparatus to another organization is deemed injurious to the service, and as impairing the efficiency of your Corps, it will be your duty to make such representations in writing to the general commanding, accompanied by the request that they again be placed under your charge. "Every member of the Corps having these views presented to him, and knowing the imminent danger which may threaten the organization, should at once act upon the above suggestions. " Our future success must not be endangered, nor our efficiency weakened. Thus far we have sustained an honorable reputation, and we must together strive to oppose any endeavor to stain it. 144 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. " It will be well to make known to the officers of your detachment the views herein presented in such manner as you may deem proper." On the 22d of December, 1862, Gen. Rosecrans telegraphed to the adjutant-general of the army : — "Lieutenants Henry Ayers, J. B. Ludwick, B. R. Wood, and G. H. McNary are transferred, Orders 388, from this army to Memphis. -This order breaks up my small Signal Corps, which I had just in working trim. Cannot believe it intended to deprive this army of Signal Corps. Therefore earnestly ask order to be rescinded." This was forwarded to Maj. Myer, who returned it to the adjutant- general with the following endorsement : — "Upon the within representation of Maj. -Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, it is requested that so much of Special Orders 388, C. S., recommended by this office, as relates to the Signal Corps in the Department of the Cumberland, be rescinded. It becomes the duty of the Signal Officer to now state that it is impossible for him to properly supply the many demands for the services of signal officers with active armies, and to urge upon the honorable Secretary of War the propriety of recommending immediate legislation for the organization of the Corps." Two days prior to the reception of the foregoing request from Gen. Rosecrans, Gen. Butterfield, commanding the 5th Corps, had asked for a signal party. The application was indorsed in nearly the same way. Jan. 20, 1863, Maj. Myer sent a communication to Secretary Stanton, informing him of two Acts of the Confederate Congress, organizing a Signal Service. He adds, " The contest is not a fair one." The last hours of the Thirty-seventh Congress were drawing near. It seemed probable that that body would adjourn without action on the bill for the organization of the Signal Corps, which was then in the hands of the Military Committee. Maj. Myer therefore addressed the following statement to Secretary Stanton : — Office of the Signal Officer, Washington, March 2, 1863. Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C. Sir : The Signal Officer of the Army has the honor to represent that in com- pliance with the authorization of the Honorable Secretary of War, he appeared before the Military Committee of the Senate and submitted the papers previously PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 145 laid before the Secretary relating to the organization of the Signal Corps of the; Army. The Committee acting thereon caused a printed report to be made and a bill (Senate 609) to be laid before the Senate for action. This bill was passed by a unanimous vote of the Senate. It was then sent to the House of Representatives, where it and the report were considered by the Military Committee. The House Military Committee have approved the bill, and have ordered that it be recommended to pass without amendment. The sense of the House of Representatives is believed to be to pass it. It is now upon the Speaker's table of the House and awaits its order. There is danger that it will not be reached at this session, and will, thus not be taken up unless it is designated by the War Department as one of those measures bearing upon the better organization of the army, and so tending to the successful prosecution of the war. Its passage will greatly increase the effectiveness of the Signal Corps of the Army. Should it fail to pass at this session, the signal service will be seriously embarrassed by the complications now daily accumulating. The attention of the Honorable Secretary of War is respectfully directed to this subject. I remain, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, Albert J. Myeb, Signal Officer of the Army. The next day the bill was passed ; not as a separate Act of Congress, but, commingled with immense appropriations, it was born under a profusion of wealth satisfactory to the most avaricious. The Act creating the Signal Corps read as follows : — Sect. 17. That the Signal Corps of the Army shall, during the present rebellion, be organized as follows : There shall be one Chief Signal Officer, a colonel, who shall be Signal Officer of the army ; one lieutenant-colonel ; two majors, who shall be inspectors ; and for each army corps or military department, there shall be one captain, and as many lieutenants, not exceeding eight, as the President may deem necessary, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice of the Senate, who shall receive the pay and emoluments of cavalry officers of similar grades ; and for each officer of the Signal Corps there may be enlisted or detailed one sergeant and six privates, who shall receive the pay of similar grades of engineer soldiers : Provided, That no officer or enlisted man shall be allowed to serve in the Signal Corps until he shall have been examined and approved by a military board, to be convened for that purpose by the Secretary of War. Sect. 18. That the officers and enlisted men herein provided for shall be 146 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. subject to the rules and articles of war. They may be mounted upon horses, the property of the United States, and shall serve in any military department, or with any forces to which they may be ordered. And officers of the army who maybe appointed in this Corps, may, after the rebellion, be restored to their respective regiments or corps, and receive the same rank as if they had continued to serve therein. Sect. 19. That there shall be appointed in the office of the Signal Officer two clerks of class two. And in selecting officers and men for the organization of the Signal Corps, as herein provided, preference shall be given to such as have served faithfully, or as are now serving in the acting Signal Corps of the Army. Sect. 20. That in order to allow time for their thorough examination, the President may appoint the officers authorized by this Act, during the recess of Congress ; which appointments shall be submitted to the Senate at their next session, for their advice and consent. Approved, March 3, 1863. By order of the Secretary of War, L. Thomas, Adjutant-General. Office of the Signal Officer, AVashington, March 18, 1863. Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of \Ya.r. Sir : In reference to carrying out the Act providing for the organization of the Signal Corps of the Army, a certified copy of which is herewith enclosed, I have the honor to submit the recommendations under the following heads : — 1st. Of the Signal Officer. That he be examined by a Board of three officers convened for that purpose by the Secretary of War, for appointment as Signal Officer of the Array and Colonel of the Corps. 2d. Of the General Examining Board. That a Board be convened by the Secretary of War for the examination for appointment in the Signal Corps of the Army of such persons as may be properly brought before it. That the Board determine the rules and subjects of examination, and the form of its record; and that it be directed to submit to the Secretary of War, at as early a day as practicable, a list, showing in their relative order, the names of those recom- mended for appointment as officers of the Corps. That this Board be instructed to report favorably on no case admitting of a reasonable doubt. 3rd. Of the Composition of the General Examining Board. That the General Examining Board shall consist of five officers of known character and attainment ; of whom two at least shall be officers of the Signal Corps, to be detailed as soon as there are that number of officers available. That this Board shall advise with the Signal Officer of the Army. That, in cases of absolute necessity, three officers may act. That, in deciding the results of examinations, each member shall vote. PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 147 4th. Places of Meeting. That the Board be authorized to hold its sessions at such times, and in such places, as will enable it best and most promptly to discharge its duties. 5th. Of Boards to Examine for Non-commissioned Officers and Enlisted Men. That, on the application of the Signal Officer of the Army, Boards of three commissioned officers, whose names he will submit to the Secretary of War, shall be convened at the headquarters of the different military depart- ments, who will examine such persons as may be properly brought before them as applicants to serve as non-commissioned officers or privates in the Signal Corps of the Army. That these Boards shall submit to the Secretary of War, a list, designating in their order those found competent for warrants as sergeants, or for enlistment as privates, and designating privates as privates of the first and second classes in the Signal Corps. That examination shall be made by these Boards in branches which the Signal Officer shall designate, with the approval of the Secretary of War. 6th. Appointments. That, on the recommendation of these Boards, officers, non-commissioned officers, or privates, be commissioned, warranted, or enlisted. That all appointments to those now serving in the Corps, rank from March 3, 1863, the date of the Act providing for the organization of the Corps. That the Examining Boards may, from time to time, or on request of the Signal Officer of the Army, report to the Secretary of War the names of officers, recommending their immediate appointment as officers in the Corps of certain grades, but not specifying their relative rank in those grades ; this to provide those officers whose aid may be needed to properly organize and command the Corps, and to retain in the service persons whose terms will soon expire. That recommendations may be similai-ly made for warranting, or enlisting enlisted men. That, so soon as practicable, one officer of the Corps be appointed in each geographical military department, who shall be recruiting officer, to there enlist, as privates in the Corps, approved men. 7th. Of Relative JRanh in the Corps. That, as rank in the volunteer service has been unworthily bestowed in several cases, upon officers while serving in the Corps, no attention be paid by Examining Boards, in the formation of their lists, to the present relative rank of those who may be applicants. That in determin- ing relative standing, they are to take cognizance of the record of the standing and services in the Corps in this war of each applicant. 8th. Of those Enlisted to Appear before Examining Boards. That, as relates to the acting Signal Corps of the Army, those who in the terms of the law have served faithfully, or are now serving, be considered as entitled of right to appear before the Board ; of which right, the permission of the Secretary of War, or satisfactory evidence of such service, submitted to the Board, shall be sufficient evidence. That the Signal Officer shall furnish from the records in his office, lists of officers and men, recommending that they be permitted to appear 148 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. before the Board. That in the cases of other persons, permission to so appear must be sought from the Secretary of War. '.Ith. Of the Appointment of Clerks. That the clerks provided for the office of the Signal Officer in Sect. 19 of the Act, be appointed immediately. 10th. Of the Publication of the Law. That the law organizing the Signal Corps of the Army, with instructions as to the manner in which applications to enter must be made, be published in orders to the army. That notification of the convening of Boards and the modes in which to apply to enlist in, or to enter the Corps, be published in newspapers when necessary. 11th. Of Orders. That, to insure promptness in the transaction of business while the organization of the Corps is in progress, the Signal Officer cause to be drafted, in his office, such orders as may be necessary, which, being approved by order of the Secretary of War, will be a sufficient order for the movement of any members of the Corps, or for the performance of any duty therein directed ; and that he shall further submit, for the consideration of the Secretary of War, drafts of such other orders as he may deem necessary. I am, sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, A. J. Myek. On the 22d of April, Col. Myer sent a circular to the signal officers of the acting Corps in which he said that he had information " which induces the belief that officers of the acting Signal Corps appearing before the Examining Boards will be examined in reading, writing, arithmetic, composition, geography, and the elementary branches of surveying, topography, natural philosophy, and chemistry, in the latter branches particularly as relates to the subject of electricity applied to telegraphing ; the use and theory of field signals and the field telegraph, the management of parties in the field in the presence of the enemy, and the preparation of the proper papers and reports, requisitions, quarter- master and commissary returns, etc. He takes this opportunity to circulate this information to the Corps, in order that by study they may prepare themselves to appear creditably. It is suggested to officers that they procure elementary works on the subjects indicated, and read up with as little delay as is practicable." For the information of acting signal officers and others desiring positions in the Corps the following order was issued : — War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, General Orders No. 106. Washington, April 28, 1863. 1. A board of five officers (the Signal Officer and a medical officer of the army being members) will be assembled in this city for the examination of PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 149 officers now on signal duty in the Army of the Potomac, the Middle Department, and the Departments of Washington and Virginia ; and thereafter, such persons as may be authorized by the Secretary of War to report to the board for examination as candidates for commissions in this Corps. The same board will examine enlisted men of the signal parties on duty in the Department of Washington, and such other candidates for enlistment in, or transfer to, the Corps, as may be brought before it. 2. As soon as practicable, the colonel and the two majors authorized by the Act of March 3, 1863, shall be appointed. 3. Immedia,tely after the appointment of the majors of the Signal Corps, auxiliary examining boards, in each of which one of the majors and a medical officer of the army shall be members, will be appointed for the examination of the officers now on signal duty in the army corps,' Departments of the South and West ; and thereafter, such other persons as may be authorized by the Secretary of War to report for examination as candidates for commission. 4. The commander of each army corps or department in which the employment of signal parties is now, or may be, authorized, will immediately appoint a board of their officers, two of whom shall be officers now on signal duty, and the third a medical officer, for the examination of enlisted men now on signal duty who are candidates for transfer to, or enlistment in, the Signal Corps ; and, if necessary to complete the organization of the signal parties in their command, such other persons as they may authorize to report for examination as candidates for enlistment. If the army corps form part of an army, then orders will be subject to the approval of the commanding general of that army. 5. The board instituted by the 1st section will hold its session in the city of Washington ; will adjourn from time to time according to the business before it ; and be re-assembled by the order of its president. It will call before it the officers to be examined by requisitions upon the commanding generals of the armies or departments in which they are serving ; but in order that no inconven- ience to the service shall result, these requisitions shall be subject to the discretion of the commanding general as to the time and order in which the officers called for shall report, care being taken that the officers to be withdrawn shall be replaced in advance, as far as practicable, by others who have passed satisfactory examinations. 6. The boards instituted by section -3 will report in succession at the headquarters of the army, army corps, or departments in the districts to which they may be assigned, and will be subject to the discretion of the commanding generals as to the time and place of meeting, and the order in which candidates are to be examined. ' 7. Examining boards will be governed by the following rules : — First. Candidates for commissions shall be examined upon reading, writingi composition, and arithmetic; elementary chemistry, and the elementary branches of natural philosophy, surveying, and topography ; the use and management of 150 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. field signals and field telegraphs ; and those who ha^e served in the acting Corps, upon the mode of conducting signal parties in the field, and in the presence of the enemy, and upon rendering the proper papers and reports. Second. Candidates for warrants shall be examined upon reading, writing, geography, and arithmetic. Tliird. No person shall be recommended for appointment or enlistment in the Signal Corps who is not of good moral character, and physically competent for the duties. Fourth. The several examining boards will adopt such forms of proceeding in questions upon the different branches of education enumerated above, or employ such other methods of ascertaining the merits of the different candidates as may seem expedient, having due reference to their mental and physical qualifications. 8. The principal and auxiliary examining boards will make to the Secretary of War, through the Signal Officer, weekly reports of the examinations made by them, designating by name, regiment, age, nativity, etc., of the persons examined, the grade for which they are recommended, and their recent standing, as determined by the examination, and by their record of service. In the case of the auxiliai-y bosfrds directed by sections 3 and 4, these reports will be transmitted through the commanding generals of the army or department in which the examinations were made. 9. As soon as the examinations of the auxiliary boards have been completed, a revising board, constituted as directed in the first section, with the addition of the majors who were members of the boards directed by the third section, will assemble in this city for the purpose of reviewing the action of the several examining boards ; determining the relative standing of the officers of each grade ; the rules to be observed in the appointments to the grade of 1st and 2d lieutenants ; the classification of enlisted men ; and making such other recommendations as may have been suggested by observation and experience as essential to a perfect organization of the Corps. 10. Until the reports of the revising board have been approved by the Secretary of War, the appointments in the Signal Corps will be limited to the colonel and the two majors, one captain, two 1st lieutenants, and four 2d lieutenants for each army corps or department in which signal parties have been or may be authorized, and the enlistments or transfers, to one sergeant, two privates of the first class, and four privates of the second class. The appoint- ments thus made to be temporary, and the permanent standing of the officers to be determined by the the action of the President, upon the recommendations of the reviewing board. 11. In order to facilitate as much as possible the organization of the Corps, the commanders of the army corps and departments are authorized to transfer enlisted men now employed on signal duty who have passed satisfactory exam- inations, to the Signal Corps, copies of the muster and descriptive rolls of the PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 151 men so transferred being sent to the headquarters of the Corps in this city, and the Chief Signal Officers in each army corps or department are authorized to complete the signal parties under their charge by the enlistment of a sufficient number of approved candidates : Provided, That all officers and men now on signal duty, who may fail to pass satisfactory examinations, shall be returned to their regiments, and any officers and men retained in the service under the pro- visions of War Department General Orders No. 92, who in like manner, fail to pass satisfactory examinations, shall at once be discharged from the service of the United States by the commander of the army or department in which they are serving. 12. The Chief Signal Officer in an army corps or department is authorized to appoint, upon the recommendation of the Examining Board, and subject to the approval of the colonel of the corps, the sergeants authorized for the parties under his charge, and, upon a like recommendation and approval, to designate the privates of the first and second class. 13. Recruiting for the Signal Corps will be conducted under the rules prescribed for the regimental recruiting service. Enlistments will be made for the period of three years, or during the war, but enlisted men now on duty in . the Signal Qorps may re-enlist for the period of one or two years, and will be entitled to tlie benefits provided by the 18th section of the Act of Congress, approved March 3, 1863. By order of the Secretary of War, E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. Office of the Signal Officer, [Circular.] Washington, D. C, May 9, 1863. Acting Signal Officers appearing before Examining Boards will be required, in addition to being examined upon the branches promulgated in Circular bearing date this office, April 22, 1863, to remove the top of the signal telegraph instru- ments and explain the course of the currents. By order of the Signal Officer of the Army, Leonard F. Hepburn, Capt., 4th N. Y. Vols., and Signal Officer. (^Brevet Rank.) Office of the Signal Officer, General Orders No. 6. Washington, D. C, May 4, 1863. The Chief Signal Officer and Colonel of the Signal Corps of the Army announces to the acting Corps that the permanent organization of the service has commenced, and that the first Examining Board is now in session at Washington, D. C. 152 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Officers of the Signal Corps of the Army will be, by virtue of their commissions, entitled as are other officers of the army, to brevets, and may thus obtain by merit, rank higher than that of the actual appointment they may receive in the organized Corps. The colonel commanding desires and directs that the Chief Signal Officers in departments and with armies, commence now the formation of " brevet-lists," i. e., such lists as will enable the colonel of the Corps to submit hereafter, to the President, the names of officers or men, and to properly recommend them for brevet rank or promotion for gallant or meritorious service. These lists will be called for when needed. They must state accurately the name, rank, regiment, state, etc., of each nominee, the brevet to which it is recommended he be nominated (not more than one for any one action) , and following this, " Extracts from reports," with date, and full reference of his senior Signal Officer, and of commanding generals, and other officers by whom he is officially commended in writing. These nominations may be made for service daiting at any time from the commencement of the war, but they must be sparingly made, and only for really distinguished deeds, or prolonged meritorious service. While it is the duty of Chief Signal Officers to see to it that justice is done to each of their officers in the presentation of his record, and in laying it before authority, it is justice to himself and to them, that nominations for reward be made with careful thought and deliberation. Little attention can be given to the recommendations of any officer who has not personally commanded his party in the field. The acting Signal Corps look back with pride to their undimmed record throughout this war. It is the hope of their commander that that record shall be made yet brighter with its continuance. Albert J. Myer, Colonel and Signal Officer of the Army. Office of the Signal Officer, Brig. -Gen. L. Thomas, Washington, May 5, 1863. Assistant Adjutant-General. General : I respectfully recommend that the within memoranda issue as a General Order. A. J. Myer. Memorandum for General Order. I. The duties of the signal officers in the army will be performed only by members of the Signal Corps, and under instructions transmitted through Chief Signal Officers of Departments, who will be held responsible for their proper discharge. Inexperienced and incompetent persons, or officers not regularly detailed as signal officers will not be permitted by any authority to transmit official messages. PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 153 II. Signal Officers, when on duty, will report to their immediate commander and to the Chief Signal Officer of the Army with which they may be serving, for the information of the general commanding, all movements of the enemy, or other facts relating to the general interest of the service coming within their knowledge. III. Communications transmiitted by signals are always confidential; they will not, be revealed by officers on stations to others than those officially entitled to receive them. IV. The senior officer present for duty with an army will be the Chief Signal Officer of the Army. He will have charge of all signal duty, and will keep himself well informed of the position of the army and of the enemy, and will, under the instructions of the general commanding, so establish his stations that they may be most advantageously posted. He will take care by inspections and timely requisitions that his party is well supplied with all equipments necessary to render it effective. He will make from time to time the proper reports of his operations in the field to the general commanding, and will, with the assent of the general, forward certified copies of the reports to the office of the Signal Officer. He will make the usual returns and semi-monthly statements, and, at the end of each month, a report to the Signal Officer of the Army, as to the condition of his party, and of such matters as pertain to its particular duties. Under the provisions of the Act organizing the Signal Corps, the following Examining Boards for the several Departments were appointed : — Department of the Tennessee: — Pol. J. H. Blood, 6th Missouri Vols. ; Lieut. Col. J. H. Hammond, A. A. G., U. S. V.; Maj. H. S. Hewitt, Surgeon; Capt. 0. H. Howard, Signal Corps; Capt. J. C. Audenried, A. D. C. Twenty-one applicants appeared before the Board, of whom twelve passed. Department of the Cumherland : — Capt. Jesse Merrill, Signal Corps ; Capt. A. C. Mason, 105th Ohio Vols. ; Ca|it. W. W. Woodbury, 2d Maine Vols. ; Lieut. John Ogden, 1st Wis. Cav. ; Asst. Surgeon D. Bache. Of eighteen applicants, seventeen passed. Department of the Gulf. — Lieut. -Col. Edwin Ilsley, 12th Me. Vols. ; Capt. James H. Whitmore, 15th Me. Vols. ; Capt. A. W. Clough, 13th Me. Vols. ; Asst. Surg. Coventry, 11th N.Y. Vols. ; Capt. Charles L. Davis, Signal Corps. Of six applicants five passed. Department of the South. — Maj. Atherton H. Stevens, 1st Mass. Cav.; 154 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Surg. M. F. Newton, 10th Conn. Vols. ; Capt. W. L. M. Burger, A. A. Q. M. ; Capt. W. G. McCreary, Signal Corps. Of eleven applicants nine passed. Depaitment of North Carolina. — Maj. Wm. A. Walker, 27th Mass. Vols.; Surg. George Derby, 23rd Mass. Vols. ; Capt. H. R. Clum, Signal Corps ; Capt. James Tucker, 25th Mass. Vols. Seven applicants appeared before the Board and all passed. The Examining Board at Washington consisted of the following : — Col. George Thorn, A. D. C, U. S. A.; Maj. I. C. Woodruff, U. S. Engineers; Maj. W. J. L. Nicodemus, Signal Corps ; Capt. T. M. Anderson, 14th U. S. Inf. ; Asst. Surg. W. F. Norris. They met from time to time but no one appeared before them. The following circular addressed to the officers of the Army of the Cumberland will more fully explain the plans and purposes of these several Examining Boards : — Winchester, Tenn., Aug. 8, 1863. To the Officers of the Acting Signal Corps, Department of the Cumberland : In accordance with General Orders No. 223, War Dept., and Special Orders No. 120, from Signal Office of the Army, I have reported to the commanding general for the purpose of being one of a Board of Examination to be immediately assembled for the examination of those officers who make application to appear before it. The application must be made in writing in accordance with General Orders No. 223. The approval of the colonel commanding the Corps required, has already been given for all acting Signal Officers in this Department, and to prevent delay, the applicant should be sent to me immediately. Some officers seem to have formed erroneous ideas with reference to the effect of an appearance before the Examining Board, and as to the future organization of the Corps, and I take this opportunity of giving them what information I have on the subject. The application of an officer to appear before this Board for examination, and his appearance there and examination, does not necessarily compel him to accept any position which may be offered him in the Corps. When these appointments are made, he will have an opportunity of accepting or refusing, as he may choose. I can assure the members of the Corps that in the new organization, those who have so largely contributed to the success of the system are not to be overslaughed or forgotten. The openly and freely expressed intention of those who control the PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 155 organization assures us of that fact, and that assurance I am willing to take and give to you as my own. Vei'y respectfully, Your obedient servant, Jesse Merrill, Captain and Signal Ofiicer. The following communication from the Signal Office indicates one trouhle met with in the organization of the Corps, resulting from an embarassment of riches in its material. The most intelligent men were called for by the orders which directed the detail of enlisted men. It was natural, therefore, that the Examining Boards should desire to give the men a grade higher than that of second-class private : — Lieut. J. B. LuDwicii, A. S. O., Hdqrs. Dept. of the Cumberland, August 17, 1863. Winchester, Tenn. Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication ol the 10th inst., enclosing report of the Board of Examiners for enlisted men, Department of the Cumberland, to July 30. This report, with the previous one, contains the names of sixty-six men recommended for positions in the Corps. Out of this number thirty are named for warrants, and a large proportion of the balance for first-class privates. The recommendations made in your last report are disapproved. It is judged that your Board cannot act advisedly in making its recommenda- tions. It is not intended that every good man, simply, is to be made a sergeant. Education is not alone the only requisite for good non-commissioned officers ; they must be men of good moral character and capable by their soldier-like conduct and deportment of commanding respect from their inferiors. It is a mistaken idea, if such obtains with the Board, that all the men who have served faithfully in the Corps should be promoted. If this were the case, much the larger num- ber of our armies everywhere would be officers. A certain number of warrant officers are authorized for each department detachment, but the recommendations of your Board thus far, if followed in its future action, would constitute much the larger number of your men non-com- missioned officets. It is not understood how it occurred that the detachment of the Department of the Cumberland should have been so fortunate in its selection of enlisted men, as to find so large a proportion fitted for officers or first-class privates. It is not desired that any persons be recommended for warrants, that are not, in every way, capable of holding the position with honor to the Corps, and for the good of the service. .... H. S. Tafft. 156 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. It has always seemed to the writer that this trouble could have been avoided if the organization had called for sergeants, corporals, and privates, instead of sergeants, first-class privates, and second-class privates. This would have involved no additional expense and would have obviated the use of the degrading designation, " second-class private." The lists presented by the several Examining Boards were carefully reviewed by the Revising Board. The list as ultimately presented for confirmation, with the additions and modifications subsequently made, was as follows : — Colonel, Albert J. Myer, Major and Signal Officer, U. S. Lieut.-Col., Wm. J. L. Nicodemus, Capt. I2th U. S. Inf. Major, Benj. F. Fisher, Capt. 3rd. Pa. Res. Corps. Major, Frank W. Marston, ist Lieut. 75th Pa. Vols. Major, Joseph H. Spencer, 2d Lieut, ist Minn. Vols. CAPTAINS. 1. William G. McCreary, Capt. lo2d Pa. Vols. 2. Henry R. Clum, " 5th Wis. Vols. ■3. Stephen M. Eaton, ist Lieut. 12th Me. Vols. 4. Samuel S. Satuple, " " 5th Iowa Vols. (Not com's'd in the Corps.) 5. Franklin E. Town, ist Lieut. 42d N. Y. Vols. 6. Charles L. Davis, Capt. 82d Pa. Vols. 7. Henry S. Tafft, Capt. 15th Mass. Vols. (Resigned Aug. 20, 1864.) 8. James S. Hall, Capt. 53rd Pa. Vols. 9. Gustavus S. Dana, 1st Lieut. 6th Conn. Vols. 10. Samuel Bachtell, " " 15th Ohio Vols. 11. Ocran H. Howard, Capt. 2d Mass. Vols. 12. Lemuel B. Norton, " loth Pa. Res. Corps. 13. Jesse Merrill, " 7th 14. James B. Ludwick, ist Lieut. 9th Pa. Res. Corps. 15. J. C. Paine, Capt. 57th N. Y. Vols. 16. Edwin I. Meeker, ist Lieut. 3rd Wis. Vols. 17. Peter A. Taylor, " " 49th N. Y. Vols. 18. Edmund H. Russell, ist Lieut. 9th Pa. Res. Corps. 19. Isaac J. Harvey, Capt. 2d Pa. Res. Corps. (Retired Feb. 15, 1864.) 20. Paul Babcock, Jr., ist Lieut. 7th N. J. Vols. (Resigned April 30, 1864.) FIRST LIEUTENANTS. 1. William H. Hill, Capt. 99th Pa. Vols. 2. Charles R. Case, Capt. 36th Ind. Vols. (Commission cancelled June 16, 1865.) 3. Amos M. Thayer, 2d Lieut. 112th N. Y. Vols. 4. Clifford Stickney, 2d Lieut. 72d 111. Vols. 5. Sylvester B. Partridge, ist Lieut. 92d N. Y. Vols. 6. William F. Warren, 2d Lieut. Miss. Marine Brigade. 7. William Ware, ist Lieut. 20th 111. Vols. 8. Theodore C. Vidal, ist Lieut. 48th N. Y. Vols. PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 157 9. Charles P. Cross, ad Lieut. 50th Pa. Vols. 10. Isaac S. Lyon, 2d Lieut, nth Conn. Vols. 11. Thomas P. Rushby, ist Lieut. N. Y. Vol. Eng. 12. N. Henry Camp, ist Lieut. 4th N. J. Vols. 13. Townsend L. Hatfield, ist Lieut. 48th N. Y. Vols. 14. William S. Stryker, ist Lieut. 12th W. Va. Vols. 15. Peter H. Niles, 2d Lieut. 23rd Mass. Vols. 16. Paul Brodie, 2d Lieut. 79th N. Y. Vols. 17. Henry Ayers, ist Lieut. 1st N. Y. Vols. 18. Adin B. Capron, ist Lieut. 2d R. I. Vols. 19. William H. Sherfy, ist Lieut. 97th Ind. Vols. 20. George A. Fisher, 1st Lieut. 23rd Mass. Vols. 21. Richard P. Strong, 2d Lieut. 139th N. Y. Vols. 22. W. C. Magner, 1st Lieut. 12th 111. Vols. fCom. cancelled June 16, 1864.) 23. Jacob P. Sampson, ist Lieut. 9th Iowa Vols. 24. J. Calvin Wiggins, ist Lieut. 3rd N. J. Vols. 25. George J. Clarke, ist Lieut. 62d N. Y. Vols. 26. Joseph Gloskoski, Capt. 29th N. Y. Vols. (Declined commission and resigned April 26, 1864. ) 27. Thomas H. Carrique, 2d Lieut. 3rd R. I. Art. 28. Jehu L- HoUopeter, ist Lieut. 49th Ohio Vols. 29. George W. Bailey, ist Lieut. Miss. Marine Brigade. 30. Wilson Bruyn, 2d Lieut. N. Y. Vol. Eng. 31. Henry W. Howgate, ist Lieut. 22d Mich. Vols. 32. Richard Dinsmore, Capt. 5th Pa. Res. Corps. (Declined commission and com. cancelled June 16, 1865.) 33. A. Brainard Jerome, ist Lieut. 1st N. J. Vols. 34. Ernst A. Denicke, Capt. 68th N. Y. Vols. 35. Isaac H. Walker, 1st Lieut. 23rd Iowa Vols. (Declined commission.) 36. Joseph B. Knox, 1st Lieut. 25th Mass. Vols. 37. William S. Andrews, 2d Lieut. 9th N. Y. Vols. (Resigned July 21, 1864.) 38. William J. Galbraith, ist Lieut. 78th Pa. Vols. (Resigned April 26, 1864.) 39. Charles C. T. Keith, 2d Lieut. 23rd N. Y. Bat. (Resigned April 13, 1864.) 40. Thomas S. Seabury, 1st Lieut. 3rd N. Y. Vols. (Resigned Jan. 25, 1864.) SECOND LIEUTENANTS. 1. Charles Herzog, ist Lieut. 41st N. Y. Vols. 2. William Leonard, Capt. 38th Ind. Vols. 3. James H. Connelly, 1st Lieut. 37th Ind. Vols. 4. John C. Abbot, 2d Lieut. 13th Conn. " 5. Washington W. Hopkins, 1st Lieut. 79th Pa. Vols. 6. Cyrus M. Roberts, " " 78th Ohio " 7. Edward L. Halsted, " " 40th N.Y. " 8. William Quinton, " " 19th 111. " 9. Alfred K. Taylor, " " 3rd Ohio " 10. Frank N. Wicker, '• " 28th N.Y." 11. Burch Foraker, " " 24th Ohio " 12. Cornelius Conard, ist Lieut. 48th Ohio Vols. (Declined commission.) 13. Nahum Daniels, Capt. 3rd Wis. Vols. 14. Harvey W. Benson, 1st Lieut. 17th N. Y. Vols. 15. Amos M. Jackson, " " 24th Me. 158 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. i6. Chaarles H. Messenger, ist Lieut, ist Wis. Vols. 17. Alfred F. Berry, ist Lieut. 15th Ind. Vols. (Declined commission.) 18. John E. Holland, ist Lieut. 36th Ind. Vols. 19. Milton Benner, " " 112th Pa. " 20. Henry R. Flook, " " 33rd Ind. " 21. Joseph L. Hallett, " " 31st Mass. " (Resigned Aug. 8, 1864.) 22. Davis E. Castle, Capt. 19th Ind. Vols. (Declined commission.) 23. Theodore F. Patterson, ist Lieut. 67th Pa. Vols. (Declined commission.) 24. Samuel J. Brent, 2d Lieut. 52d Ohio Vols. 25. Julian R. Fitch, 1st Lieut. 35th " " 26. Thomas B. Kelley, Acting Lieut. Miss. Marine Brigade. 27. Edward S. Moffat, 2d Lieut. 9th N. J. Vols. 28. W. A. Harris, ist Lieut. 63rd 111. Vols. (Declined commission.) 29. Samuel F. Reber, ist Lieut. 24th Ohio Vols. (Declined commission.) 30. John Q. Adams, Acting Lieut. Miss. Marine Brigade. 31. Ephraim A. Briggs, ist Lieut. 43rd N. Y. Vols. (Declined commission.) 32. E. F. C. Klokke, ist Lieut. 24th 111. Vols. 33. Julius M. Swain, 2d Lieut. 39th Mass. Vols. 34. Thomas E- Weber, 2d Lieut. 97th Pa. " 35. Andrew J. Holbrook, 2d Lieut. 5th Mass. Vols. (Resigned Aug. 19, 1864.) 36. William F. Barrett, 2d Lieut. 27th Mass. Vols. 1^37. Frederick E. Beardslee, Capt. A. Q. M. Vols. 38. S. Cary Tuckerman, 2d Lieut. 19th Wis. Vols. 39. William A. Pigman, Capt. 46th Ind. Vols. 40. A. Clarkson Merritt, 2d Lieut. 119th N. Y. Vols. 41. Joseph R. Putnam, 2d Lieut. 3rd Minn. Vols. (Declined commission. Commission cancelled June 16, 1865.) 42. James B. Duff, Private loth Pa. Res. Corps. 43. J. Willard Brown, Private 7th Mass. Vols. 44. Eugene Clyde, Sergeant 12th U. S. Inf. 45. Asa T. Abbott, Private ist Minn. Vols. 46. Samuel N. Rogers, Private 21st Mass. Vols. 47. David L. Craft, Private 8th Pa. Res. Corps. 48. Edward H. Wardwell, 2d Lieut. 24th N. Y. Bat. 49. Frederick J. Amsden, ist Lieut. 136th Pa. Vols. 50. Edward P. Adams, ist Lieut. 2d U. S. Col. Troops. 51. Myron Adams, Jr., 2d " ' " 52. Frederick S. Benson, ist Lieut. 22d Mass. Vols. 53. Albert N. Seip, ist Lieut. 2d Pa. Cav. 54. Lucius A. Dillingham, Capt. I22d N. Y. Vols. 55. Sumner E. Orr, Sergeant Indep. Bat., Pa. Vols. 56. Henry Mayell, Sergeant ist N. Y. Mounted Rifles. 57. Joseph Andrew Kerbey, Private 2d U. S. Cav. 58. George C. Round, Private ist Conn. Art. 59. Oscar B. Ireland, Civilian, New York. 60. Thomas H. Fearey, " 61. Edgar Ketchum, 62. Francis K. McCloskey, Civilian, Pennsylvania. 63. Charles Weihl, " New York. 64. Otho E. Michaelis, " New York. (Vacated by appointment in Ordnance Corps.) 65. Nathan B. Roberts, " Massachusetts. 66 67 68 69 7o 71 72, 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 159 Preston Carpenter, " Pennsylvania. Charles Roberts, Jr. " Massachusetts. Robert E- Duvall, " District of Columbia. William W. Clemens " Pennsylvania. Theodore Mallaby, Jr. " New York. Michael D. Reymer, " Pennsylvania. John E- Bradford, " Rhode Island. Reuben Bartley, " Pennsylvania. John R. Onderdonk, " New York. John S. Speer, " Ohio. George F. Young, 1st Ivieut. 5th N. Y. Art. Alonzo V. Richards, Private 7th Wis. Vols. William Wallace, Corp. 6th Minn. Vols. William J. Clarke, Civilian, Vermont. J^hn D. Colvin, Private 47th Pa. Vols. 81. William S. Sizer, 2d Lieut. N. Y. Vols. The above assignments, as was to be expected, caused much dissatis- faction, especially on the part of those officers who received a rank lower than the grade in which they had been serving. Much pressure was brought to bear upon the different Boards and appointing officers to influence their action. Aug. 20, 1863, an order was issued directing that " hereafter all acting signal officers, who shall be promoted in their regiments to the grade of captain, shall be relieved at once from duty in the Signal Corps, and ordered to rejoin their regiments." A month later Col. Myer wrote to Capt. L. B. Norton, Chief Signal Officer, Army of the Potomac, allowing him to retain Captains E. C. Pierce, Fountain Wilson, and Richard Dinsmore as acting signal officers with the rank which they had held as such. He adds that the best that could be done for Captains Gloskoski and Castle, who had been commissioned 1st lieutenant and 2d lieutenant, respectively, was to recommend them for brevet captains, suggesting that they might be promoted thereafter. A number of officers failed to secure appointments in the Corps, from the fact that they were unable to appear before the Examining Boards, being held as prisoners of war by the Confederates. Among these were Lieutenants Fortescue and Kendall, who were in rebel prisons from July, 1863, to March, 1865, and Lieutenants Henry C. Dane and John W. Dana, who were captured while serving in the Department of the Gulf. Capt. "William B. Roe was detained by Gen. Banks in the latter Department and failed to appear before the Board. In August, 1864, Lieut.-Col. Nicodemus requested that the Examining Board might be reconvened to examine Capt. Roe and Lieutenants Dane and Dana. His request was not granted. 160 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Many of the enlisted men felt that injustice was done them in failing to recognize their faithful services, while commissions were granted to civilians and subordinate officers and enlisted men from other organ- izations. Out of about 2,500 enlisted men who served for a longer or a shorter jJeriod in the Corps, only nine received commissions as signal ofiicers. They were J. Q. Adams, James B. Duff, J. Willard Brown, Asa T. Abbott, Samuel N. Rogers, David L. Craft, George C. Round, Alonzo V. Richards, and John D. Colvin. May 14, 1863, the Board of Examiners recommended Capt. Samuel T. Cushing, 2d U. S. Infantry, for the lieutenant-colonelcy, and Capt. B. F. Fisher for one of the majorities. Capt. Fisher was then in Libby Prison. On the 9th of the September following. Col. i\Iyer transmitted to Secretary Stanton the report of the Examining Board recommending Captains W. J. L. Nicodemus and B. F. Fisher as majors of the Corps. Capt. Fisher was still in Libby Prison. Oct. 21, 1863, the Roll of the Signal Corps was made up as follows : — Captains, 45 First Lieutenants, 88 Second Lieutenants, 65 Total commissioned officers, . 198 Sergeants, 47 Privates, 767 Total number of enlisted men, . 814 Grand Total, 1012 Of the foregoing list it must be added that many were " acting Signal Officers," especially among those classed as captains and 1st lieutenants. Of the officers enrolled above there were serving in the Army of the Potomac, 26; Army of the Cumberland, 42; Army of the Gulf, 15; Army of Virginia and North Carolina, 18 ; Army of the South, 21 ; Army of the Susquehanna, 3 ; Army of the Tennessee, 41 ; Head- quarters and Signal Camp, 22. Total, 198. While the bill organizing the Signal Corps was luider consideration, (!ol. Myer sent the following reply to a communication urging the advancement of Lieut. Frank W. Marston : — Gen. E. a. HrrcHCOCK, War Department. Sir : Should the bill organizing the Signal Corps become a law, the claims of Lieut. -Col. Ward Marston (U. S. Marine Corps) will have every consideration. Lieut. Marston has done his duty faithfully and well. Albert J. Myer. tJEUT-COL. WJI.LIAJH J. 1.. NICODEMPS, PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 16X March 1, 1864, Maj. Nicodemus, in charge of the Signal Bureau, protested againt the action of the Reviewing Board, in recommending Capt. F. W. Marston to a majority. He considered sucli promotion deleterious to the best interests of the service. He stated that he had been promoted from a 1st lieutenancy and had always occixpied a subordinate position, which he had filled with great credit to himself and the Corps ; but which would in no wise entitle him to a majority nor give him the preparation necessary to perform its duties. He then mentions the following officers as having been in charge of detachments and as having displayed great abilities, both adminstrative and executive. He recommended them in the order named: Capt. Henry S. Tafft, Capt. Henry R. Clum, Capt. Jesse Merrill, Capt. Paul Babcock, Jr. Six weeks later he addressed the following to the Secretary of War : — Washington, April 13, 1864. Hoi). E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Sir : Feeling that great injustice has been done by the Reviewing Board, in grading the officers of the Signal Corps of the Army, I have the honor to recommend that the Board be directed to reconsider their action. I also recommend that Col. A. J. Myer, Signal Officer of the Army, be a member of that Board. Very respectfully, etc., William J. L. Nicodemds, Major, Signal Corps, U. S. A. In charge of Signal Bureau. All efforts to secure a reconsideration proved unavailing. Aug. 10, 1864, Maj. Nicodemus accepted his commission as lieutenani^colonel of the Corps, six days later forwarding Maj. Fisher's commission, and on the 18th of the same month the commission of Maj. Marston. During the war one hundred and forty-six officers were commissioned in the Corps. Of this number about twenty declined the appointments offered them, and some ten or twelve resigned from the army soon after the reorganization was effected. The number of acting signal officers, omitting all who entered the regular Corps, was about two hundred and ninety-seven. Many of these served for only a brief period and rendered no actual service. A considerable number of acting signal officers were permitted to continue as such, retaining the volunteer rank held by them prior to the establishment of the regular Corps. The number of enlisted men connected with the Corps, first and last, was about 2,500. Of this number about 700 were detached from other 162 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. organizations, never joining the permanent establishment ; 84(j were transferred to, and 937 regularly enlisted in, the Corps. Of the 1,783 making up the regular Corps, 1 20 received warrants as sergeants, and 256 were designated as flrstnilass privates. Candidates for warrants were examined in spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. The examinations of the enlisted men were made by the Examining Boards of the several Departments. The Boards generally were troubled with an embarrassment of riches, finding a larger number of men who were deserving of warrants at least, than the bill orgamzing the Corps would sanction. The Examining Board of the Army of the Potomac examined one hundred and tliirty-three, and recommended for sergeants, forty ; for first-class privates, sixty-six ; and for second-class privates, seventeen. This report was disajDproved, and the following weve appointed sergeants, Oct. 6, 1863 : — Evan Russell, William H. Woodall, H. W. Holman, Samuel Cartledge, Bela B. Reynolds, James R. Gage, C. W. Hequembourg, Adam K. Carothers, William H. Tinker, George W. Hough, Amos C. Jordan, Charles F. Gage, John Chemberlin, W. E. Cranmer, Harlow A. Sofield, Charles Wentworth. A number of men failed to receive warrants promptly because the Examining Boards had recommended them for lieutenancies. ]Mauy of these ultimately failed to receive commissions and were somewhat tardily furnished with warrants. Through an inadvertence the writer, then acting as 1st sergeant of the party serving in the Army of the James, was not called before the central board in ^Vashington until the issuance of commissions was temporarily stopped, although he was, quite early in 1863, recommended for a lieutenancy by the local Board. Col. Nicodemus made partial amends for this by giving him a sergeant's warrant. The salaries attached to the several grades of the Corps were as follows : colonel, $211 ; lieutenant^colonel, $180 ; major, $163 ; captain, f 130 ; lieutenant, $114 ; sergeant, $34 ; first-class private, f 17 ; and second-class private, $13. It must be borne in mind, however, that in the case of commissioned officers the salary named included everything, and that there was deducted and turned over to the Internal Revenue Bureau three per cent, on all above $50 a month ; the enlisted men received in addition to their pay, clothing, rations, etc., with no PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 163 deductions. It should be added that signal officers were supplied ^vith horses by the government. After the organization of the Corps, it was commanded successively by Col. Myer, Lieut. -Col. Nicodemus, and Col. B. F. Fisher. A brief recital of the circumstances attending these changes of commanders should here be given. Sept. 18, 1863, Maj. Myer was appointed Signal Officer of the Army, with the rank of colonel, to date from March 3, 1863. In consequence of a disagreement or misunderstanding with Secretary Stanton, recounted in the chapter on the Field Telegraph, Col. Myer was, on the 10th of November, 1863, relieved from the charge of the Bureau of the Corps. Wm. J. L. Nicodemus, the ranking major of the Corps, was then placed in charge of the Bureau. The Chief Signal Officer was crushed, and, on returning from the War Department, was greatly agitated, and announced that he was about to be ordered from Washington, and that he hoped good care would be taken of the records. He at once issued a general order, taking leave of the Corps, in which he said, " The Chief Signal Officer of the Army expresses to the officers and men with whom he has served so long, and whose progress he has watched so interestedly, his appreciation of the zeal and gallantry with which they have brought forward this infant arm of the service ; and the hope that, directed by others, their progress may meet with better success and higher reward. To each and all, officers and men, he extends his warmest regards ; and the feeling of the kindest friendship, now and hereafter, to every faithful member of the Corps." July 3, 1864, Maj. Nicodemus was advanced to the grade of lieu- tenant-colonel. A few weeks later the following order was issued : — War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, Special Orders No. 244. Washington, July 21, 1864. [Extract.] 36. The appointment of Albert J. Myer as Chief Signal Officer, with the rank of colonel, not having been confirmed by the Senate, is, by direc- tion of the President, hereby revoked. By order of the Secretary of War, E. D. TowNSEND, Asst. Adj. -Gen. The following December, Col. Nicodemus inadvertently published the annual report of the Bureau of the Signal Corps before submitting the same to Secretary Stanton for approval. This led to the issuance of the following orders : — 164 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Bdreau of the Signal Corps, General Orders No. 48. Washington, Dec. 26, 1864. Pursuant to Special Orders No. 468, paragraph 3, War Department, Ad- jutant-General's Office, dated Washington, Dec. 26, 1864, I turn over the command of the Signal Corps, U. S. Army, to Col. B. F. Fisher, Chief Signal Officer of the Army. I tender my thanks to the officers and men, for their hearty co-operation during the time I have been in command of the Corps, and congratulate them upon the general recognition of their services, and the permanent organization of their Corps. W.M. J. L. NiCODEMUS, Lieut. -Col., Signal Corps, U. S. A. Official, H. R. Clum, Captain, Signal Corps, U. S. A. The order for Col. Nicodemus's dismission bore the same date as the foregoing and read as follows : — Lieut.-Col. W. J. L. Nicodemus, acting as Chief of the Signal Corps, having, contrary to the regulations, and disregarding his duty as an officer, published with- out authority, and without the knowledge or sanction of the Secretary of War, a document relating to the branch of the service under his charge, purporting to be the annual report of the Signal Corps, which contains information useful to the enemy and prejudicial to the service of the United States, the President — Orders, That the said Lieut.-Col. W. J. L. Nicodemus be forthwith, and he is hereby, dismissed the service of the United States for such irregular and improper conduct. By order of the Secretary of War, E. D. TowNSEND, A. A. G. Office of the Signal Officer, General Orders No. 49. , Washington, Dec. 26, 1864. In accordance with Special Orders No. 468, paragraph 3, War Department, Adjutant General's Office, dated Washington, Dec. 26, 1864, I hereby " assume charge of the Office of the Signal Corps in the city of Washington, D. C." All existing orders, not contravening this, remain in force. I would take advantage of this occasion to congratulate the Corps upon the unmistakeable evidence we have of the appreciation of our services, and the steady progress made in winning the confidence of the army generally. The necessity of an organization like ours, and its ability to make itself eminently useful, by the many services it can render, is ceded. However, its strength is not yet fully developed, nor its duties definitely assigned. The universal acknowledgment, in military circles, of the great power COL. BENJAMIN F. FISIIEIf. PERMANENT oi^GANIZATION. 16S arid good gkiilfed by c6ricentr'ation, will Opeti to tis additional fields of duty, as the genius of tlie natibn perfects our armies. With patience, zeal, and perseverance, atlfmated by an earnest patriotism, there can be no limit to the success to be achieved. B. F. Fisher, Chief Signal Officer, and Colonel, U. S. A. Col. Nicodemus was dismissed from the army on the above date, December 26th, but was reinstated as lieutenant-colonel of the Corps, March 31, 1865. Fisher had been appointed the Chief Signal Officer, with the rank of colonel, Dec. 3, 1864. Oct. 5, 1865, Col. Fisher requested that Capt. J. H. Spencer be promoted to one of the vacant majorities in the Corps. For some time he had been the. efficient Assistant Signal Officer in charge of the office at Washington. He was commissioned major October 7th, and mustered out Oct. 12, 1865. Col. Fisher was the Chief Signal Officer of the Army for about two years, when he withdrew from the service, for reasons indicated in the following communication addressed to the War Department : — Brevet Brig. -Gen. J. C. Kelton, Ass't Adj. -General, Washington City, Nov. 15, 1866. War Dept., Washington, D. C. Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication informing me " that the Senate having failed to confirm you as Colonel of the Signal Corps, your appointment expires by constitutional limitation on the adjournment of that body, July 28, 1866." In accordance with the only object which such communication could have had in view, to wit, relieving me from duty in the service of the United States as Chief Signal Officer, I have this day turned over to Brev't-Maj. L. B. Norton, my present assistant, the office of the Signal Officer, with all records, papers, etc., appertaining thereto, and of which I had charge under orders from the War Department. B. F. Fisher, Late Chief Signal Officer. Oct. 20, 1865, there remained in service two detachments, — one consisting of nine commissioned officers, two non-commissioned officers, and thirty-five enlisted men, serving in the Military Division of the Mississippi, and operating with the troops upon the Plains ; the other, consisting of fifteen commissioned officers, thirteen non-commissioned officers, and eighty-six enlisted men, serving in the Military Division of the Gulf, and operating with the troops in Louisiana, Central Texas, and along the southwestern boundary. 166 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Nov. 26, 1865, the six officers serving in the Department of Kansas and the Territories, Gen. G. M. Dodge commanding, were mustered out with the exception of the writer, who was ordered to receipt for all the signal supplies in the Department and deliver the same to the Bureau in Washington. Reporting to Col. Fisher, I turned over the suppHes, and thi'(3ugh the kindly intervention of the colonel I received my final payment from ^Nlaj. William B. Rochester before my vouchers had all been examined and approved. After the colonel had vouched for me he hurried away to ilieet an appointment. As the major handed me four hrnidred and fifty dollars, he exclaimed, " There, Lieutenant, that is the first time that I ever gave an officer his final payment before his accounts Avere all audited and vouched for. I certainly wouldn't do it now if I did not have such unbounded confidence in Col. Fisher." I was very anxious to reach Massachusetts, as my oldest son was then just a month old and I desired to make his acquaintance, though I will acknowledge that I caught a glimpse of him while in transit from Leavenworth to Washington. May 1, 1S()(), the only officers remaining in the Military Division of the Mississippi were Capt. Samuel Bachtell and Lieutenants H. W, Howgate and J. H. Connelly, and in the Military Division of the Gulf, Captains S. ;\L Eaton and O. H. Howard. These officers were all mustered out June 20, 1866. The last officer to be mustered out of the Corps was Capt. L. B. Norton, May 7, 1867. It cannot for a moment be supposed that a person of Col. ]\Iyer's temperament was an idle or uninterested spectator of the war or of the events which followed the surrender at ^Vppomattox. In a letter to Maj. O. H. Howard, dated June 22, 18(3.'), he said: "I am hard at work but making little progress. Never mind ; secretaries are not immortal. You and others have made the Signal Corps so." As early as Jan. 20, 1865, he addressed a memorial to the Senate of the LTnited States, in which, after showing his connection with the origin and development of the Corps, he states his grievances and asks for simple justice, or, at the least, that an inquiry may be made into the justice of his claims. He further adds : — " Your memorialist, while he wishes to be understood as never willing that his individual interests should stand for one moment in the way of the public service, prays that your honorable body will not immediately confirm any nomination to the grade of colonel in the Signal Corps of the Army. And your memorialist does not in this request at all reflect upon Maj. Benj. F. Fisher, the now nominee as Chief Signal Officer. With him he has none other than kindly PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 167 relations, and the claims of your memorialist are not in any way denied, rivalled, or contested by that officer. And your memorialist is informed that upon the application of that officer for the place, the lieutenant-general now commanding the armies of the United States has endorsed, while mentioning him favorably, to the eifect that your memorialist, ' having organized the Corps, has, in his view, the preference for the position of its head, unless there are reasons of which he has no knowledge.' " It is easy for your memorialist to procure any recommendations of generals or prominent military or naval men. But this request is for these reasons : — " 1st. That action is not immediately necessary. As your memorialist served for more than a year under an appointment, and most of the Signal Corps served many months under appointments, any successors can serve for some period efficiently under appointments, even if there are questions as to their legality. " 2d. That delay will give time for dispassionate inquiry, and for explanation, and existing difficulties may be removed. All efforts will be made to this end. Your memorialist is still constrained to hope that all difficulties have originated and exist, and this unusual course has been pursued, under some misapprehension ; and this misapprehension may be yet removed ; or, if the difficulties are of a personal nature only, the changes of office may terminate them by changes ot persons." He subsequently addressed the President as follows : — Washington, June 28, 1865. To His Excellency Andrew Johnson, President of the United States. Sir : I respectfully request that I may be restored to my position as Signal Officer of the Army. This can be now done undet the act organizing the Signa' Corps. I have been the first Signal Officer of the Army ; I have originated the Signal Corps of the Army, and have introduced the use of army signals into the navy in time of a great war, and under the greatest difficulties. From the beginning to the end of the Rebellion no signals or equipments, and no plan for that service, other than those originated by me, have been used in our armies, or for the co-operation of our army and navy. The record of the services of the Signal Corps is my record . I have served the United States with my best ability and with success. I believe I am justly entitled to the position. I am, sir. Very respectfully. Your obedient servant, Albert J. Myer. 168 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. This received the following endorsement from Gen. Grant : — The services rendered by Col. Myer in organizing the Signal Corps of the Army have been of great value to the service. I have never heard it doubted that he was the originator of the whole system adopted with so much advantage in the army. Why he was displaced as Chief Signal Officer, I never knew. The very fact that the government has been allowed to use these signals without compensation to the inventor entitles Col. Myer to additional consideration. If reasons do not exist entirely unknown to me for keeping him out of the place of Chief Signal Officer, I think that his restoration to that place would be but an act of simple justice. U. S. Grant, Headquarters Army, June 28, 1865. Lieutenant-General. A week later he addressed the following letter to Gen. Sheridan. It is to be presumed that he sent a similar communication to Gen. Sherman and Gen. Thomas : — "Washington, D. C, July 5, 1865. General . I am trying to have the enclosed paper strongly endorsed. I submit it to you. I wish to have on it the names of Gen. Grant, Gen. Sherman, yourself, and Gen. Thomas, and as much as you, General, can willingly say in behalf of myself or the good I have done by my work. I know I have done some good in this war. I think I can do more. My name was not sent in to the Senate ; why, I never knew. I can be restored now by a simple order of the President. Will you endorse your views next to Gen. Grant on the page marked " 3," and i-eturn the papers to the address " Box 18, Post Office, Washington. D. C." I send the letter to you by copy to save time. I am. General, Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, Albert J. Myer. This did not receive Gen. Sheridan's favorable endorsement until June 8, 1866. The dela}- is explained in the following note from Maj. O. H. Howard : — My Dear Brown : When Gen. Sheridan placed all his accumulated war correspondence in my hands in New Orleans I came upon the original of this, marked by the general, " No action," as you see. I took it at once to the general, in his private office, and asked him, as a favor to me, to say something for the colonel. He said, >' All right, Howard, I'll do it. I would have done ore if Myer had not been such a old wire-puller. He wire-pulled self from an assistant surgeon to a colonel in the regular armv." He then SIGNAL CAMP, GEORGETOWN, D. general, who mentioned the inci- dent to Capt. Gushing. The Ghief Signal Officer was compelled to pay some attention to the matter, and Preston was put on the unassigned list. This, for the time being, de- prived liim of his horse. Efforts , _ 1 . ,. j_- ^ "ANY REPLY, SIR?" had been making tor some time to persuade him to take a commission in his regiment, but he was well content in the Signal Corps. He now wrote to the colonel of the 49th N. y., saying that if that commission was still available he was ready to take it. He was soon mustered as a lieutenant in the 49th N. Y. Volunteers, and, as its adjutant, fell while leading all that remained of its rank and file in the battle of the Wilderness. 188 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. As I have indicated elsewhere, I believe an error was committed in not advancing more of the enlisted men, even if their scholasfic attain- ments did not quite reach those of civilians who sought commissions in the Corps. Of course a reasonable standard should have been estab- lished. Then the first opportunity should have been extended to those who had served faithfully in the Corps. Commissioner Granger, of the Land Office, recommended, in Sep- tember, 18(33, an enlisted man for a commission. The Board of Exam- ination had made him a second-class private. Col. Mj^er in his reply said : — "The colonel oommanding exercises no control over appointments, recom- mendations being made according to merit and educational attainments, by tlie Examining Board authorized by the Secretary of War. Every facility is, however, extended to all applicants to compete for commissions in the Corps, but persons whose attainments are known to be below the standard required, are not encouraged to appear for examination." Five weeks after the opening of the spring campaign of 1862, Capt. Cushing wrote Lieut. W. W. Rowley : — "You will be particular in mentioning the names of meritorious flagmen, with regiment and company of each, and in giving an account of their services." In a report made by Lieut. W. S. Andrews, dated April 3, 1863, he says : — "I desire to call especial attention to the coolness and efficiency of Private George H. Walker, signal flagman. For some months I have known of Walker's capacity to read. He obtained the code over a year ago through the negligence and carelessness of an officer instructed at Annapolis. For a long time I promised the severest punishment to my men if caught attempting to read or to obtain any portion of the code, but finding that officers senior to myself not only tolerated but encouraged their men to do so, I spoke to them of it, and was informed that the matter was well known to Maj. Myer. Since being at Yorktown, therefore, I have allowed Walker to read, and have been astonished at his intelligence, superior to that of some officers I have worked with. Lieut. Benson and myself abbreviated all ordinary messages to at least one-fourth their length if sent in full ; but Walker seldom has trouble to read them. In dix-ecting the fire of the Morris on the 1st instant, I at first partially spelled out the message, using only the more suggestive abbreviations, such as eny, enemy, apch, approach, etc. But, desiring to work more quickly, I used the abbreviations fil, ef, of, fo, ect, ahd was som'ewhat astonished at Walker's receiving them all, instantly and correctly, without once calling for a repeat. He has never heretofore received PERSONNEL AND MISCELLANEA. 189 the official abbreviations from me, but I have now given them to him, as 1 deem myself justified in doing, as I am liable at any time to have occasion to use them with him. " I desire to recommend Private Walker for promotion. I intended to have recommended him for appointment as sergeant under the new organization of the Signal Corps, and now I consider that he has doubly earned his chevrons. Walker has been with me since June 25, 1862, and I have had ample opportunity of knowing his capacity." As a matter of fact it would be impossible for any officer, however careful, to keep the code from any party of flagmen of fair ability, if they had determined to get possession of it. Many of us had obtained the code before we left the Camp of Instruction on the 10th of March. Returning from our advance upon Manassas we were quartered for a month in the deserted houses of Alexandria. Our officers used the flat roofs of the houses for practice stations. On one occasion, >after my own officer, Lieut. C. L. Davis, had used me as a flagman for some time, communicating with Lieut. Peter A. Taylor, who was posted with his flagman, R. M. Preston, on another house-top,- he stopped his practice for a short interval. Stepping to the comer I signalled with my handkerchief a short message to Preston and he replied in the same manner. Lieut. Davis turned and said, "Brown, have you the code?" "Yes, all except Q and X. You don't give us those letters very often." " Well," he replied, " Q is 2342 and X is 1431." Some months later, while I was on duty at Fort Monroe, it was quite a common thing for Lieut. Davis, then a captain and chief signal officer on the staff of Gen. Dix, to give me the message by sentences. Once<, wliile commun- icating with Lieut. Young at Newport News, he gave me the sentence, " What is the news current at Newport News ? " In a listless, careless way I spelled out c-u-r-r-e-n-t^234,223,142,142,ll— I had no sooner made 11 than the captain yelled out, "Brown, what in creation are you about?" (or words to that effect) " 143434 ! 234 ! 223 ! 142 ! 142 ! 23 ! ! 22 ! 1 ! " and so on to the finish. I never blamed him for being disgusted at the orthographical reputation I came near giving him at the other end of the line. Occupying detached stations and leading rather seclusive lives, the exact rank and condition of the flagmen were not, in the 'early part of the war, very fully understood by the rank and file of the army. We 190 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. were generally supposed to hold more intimate relations with the authorities and to have a fuller knowledge of affairs than the facts in the case would always warrant. It was quite common for the men to draw little or none of their allowance of clothing and purchase better goods. At Fort Monroe it was expected that no enlisted man would pass the sentry at the sally-port without a pass. But it became our custom not only to pass the sentinel without this requisite, but to return his salute ENTKANCE TO FOKT MONROE. with a mien and bearing as official as we could muster. It was also charged that we did not pay proper deference to the officers of the garrison, the 3rd N. Y. Infantry. These matters were brought to the notice of Adjt.-Gen. Van Buren, and he mentioned the matter to Capt. Davis. The captain thereupon directed me to have the men form in line at our quarters, and he then and there gave us instructions in mihtary etiquette and a practical drill in the matter of military salutes. When our troops first landed on Morris . Island, a certain general, whom I will call Gen. X, was in command at the upper end of Folly PERSONNEL AND MISCELLANEA. 191 Island. Lieut. John M. Head had charge of the signal station close to his headquarters. One day the lieutenant was " calling " the steamer Mary Benton, on which Lieut. Town, the Chief Signal Officer of the department, was temporarily located. Gen. X happened to come along just then, and the following conversation ensued : — " Hello, Signal Officer, what are you signalling now ? ',' " I was calling the Mary Benton to say a few words to Lieut. Town." " What are you going to say to him ? " " I wish to tell him that some signal stores have arrived at Pawnee Landing." "• Well, that's all right, but you mustn't send any messages without submitting them to me for approval, and you must give me a copy of all messages you receive." " But, General, we are not allowed to disclose the purport of official messages, except to the parties to whom they are addressed, the general commanding the department, and the Chief Signal Officer ; and I must respectfully decline to comply with your request." " What !" cried the general in a rage, " do you think that you, only a lieutenant, are going to dictate to me, a general ? Go to your quarters in arrest ! " The general then turned to the flagman, James D. Proudman, and said : " Can you send a messa'ge to Lieut. Town, asking him to send an officer to relieve Lieut. Head ? " He replied that he could take no orders for signal duty except from the signal officers. The general then went to the lieutenant's tent and cried, " Here, Signal Officer, ooltne out here, and send a message to Lieut. To^vn to send another signal officer here." " Then I suppose I am released from arrest." " No, you are not ; you remain in arrest." " But, General, I have yet to learn that the army regulations require an officer to do duty while in arrest." " Don't talk to me about army regulations," cried the general ; " obey my orders or I will have you tied up by the thumbs ! " Lieut. Head, commenting on this order and threat, says : — "That was rather nice talk for a brigadier-general to use to an officer. I knew I was not obliged to perform any duty while in arrest, but as the alternative Tvas rather an uiipleasant one, I called the Mary Be,nton, and sent the following iinessage to Lieut. Town : ' I am in arrest by order of Gen. X, and he wants another signal officer sent here.' I got an immediate answer : ' There is no spare officer to relieve Lieut. Head.' I sent this to Gen. X, and at once wrote 192 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. a statement of the facts and sent the statement off by a boat to Lieut. Town. 1 got a note in reply stating that Col. Turner, Gen. Gillmore's Chief of Staif, had sent an order to Gen. X to release me from arrest, and directing him not to meddle with signal officers, except so far as their services might be required in an official manner. It seems almost incredible, but Gen. X never intimated to me that he had received any such order, and he never released me from arrest. I suppose I might have made things a little warm for him at headquarters by reporting this fact, and at first thought I would do so, but on reflection I concluded it was about as well to let the matter drop." jg-ii'ls*^ al A. K. WAUD, Artist. L. B. NORTON. G. H. MCNARY. E. C. PIERCE. W. S. STRYKEB. Warrenton, Nov. 12, 1862. Lieut. Head, of course, could not do otherwise than to refuse to accede to tlie general's first requests or orders, but his interpretation of the army regulations touching the duties of officers under arrest was perhaps a little overstrained. Some months later the officer in charge of the Corps expressed his views in the following communication : — Washington, Jan. 13, 1864. Capt. E. H. Russell, Commanding Signal Camp, Georgetown, D. C. Captain : In reply to your communication of the 12th inst., I am directed to inform you, that when an officer is placed in arrest, he is usually relieved from PERSONNEL AND MISCELLANEA. 193 all duty, but his commanding officer may order him to do any particular duty, which the interests of the service demand, and such order relieves the officer from arrest, so far as it is necessary to execute the order. An officer in arrest can receive and answer official communications through his commanding officer. Very respectfully, your obedient servant. By order Maj. Wm. J. L. Nicodemus, In charge Bureau Signal Corps, During the battle of Chancellorsville Sergt. Gustavus Lehlbach and Sergt. William R. Williams swam across the Rappahannock with the wire to establish a telegraph station before the Coixfederates had fully evacuated their rifle-pits. They captured a few prisoners (willing cap- tives), and turned them over to an officer who shortly came across the river in one of the pontoon boats. The officer was very much surprised at their marching the prisoners down to the river under such conditions, for the two sergeants were clothed only in their native modesty. Upon their return across the river, Gen. Benliam, of the Engineers, told them to go to his tent and he would give them a whiskey bath. I think they were glad to consider this invitation equivalent to a com- mand, as the water of the Rappahannock m early May is very cold. During the same battle, on the evening when Sedgwick recrossed the river, Lieut. Jerome was occupying a station upon the roof of a house near the bank of the river. The Confederates brought down to the oppo- site bank a section of artillery and opened fire. The first shot struck the chimney of the house, and the bricks flew in all directions. That station, it is needless to say, was evacuated forthmth. The men scrambled down to the ground and hastily saddled their horses. The lieutenant, who was of an excitable temperament, put the saddle on " hind-side before " ; whereupon the cook, Joe Newell, said, "Lieutenant, why-why- wh-clon't you know you've g-g-got your s-s-saddle on ' hind- side before ' ? " The lieutenant excitedly replied, " Go to ! How do you know which way I 'm going to ride ? " A western comrade writes: "A certain Captain , something of a ' crank,' complained that our signal station was not high enough for him to see plainly. Our lieutenant told one of the men to get a sheet of paper and stand on it, and then signal that the station had been raised. The captain signalled back promptly, ' O. I. C " Lieut. Martin Denicke, at Mobile Bay, was in communication with nine land and naval stations. He occasionally played chess by signal 194 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. with some of the naval officers whom he had instructed in the army , code of signals. The author of " Lights and Shadows of Army Life " relates the following : — " A column of troops was pushing forward over the long and winding road in Thoroughfare Gap to head off Lee after his retreat across the Potomac at the close of the Gettysburg campaign. Suddenly the Signal Oflfioer who accompanied the general in command discovered that some of his men, posted on a high hill in the rear, were reporting the presence of a considerable body of Confederate troops on top of the bluffs to the right. A halt was at once sounded, and the leading brigade ordered forward to uncover the enemy's position. The regiments were soon scrambling up the steep incline, officers and men gallantly racing to see who could reach the crest first. A young lieutenant and some half dozen men gained the advance, but, at the end of what they deemed a perilous climb, they were thrown into convulsions of laughter at discovering that what the signal men took for Confederate troops was only a tolerably large flock of sheep. As the leaders in this forlorn hope rolled on the grass in a, paroxysm of merriment, they laughed all the louder at seeing the pale but determined faces of their comrades, who, of course, came up fully expecting a desperate hand-to-hand struggle." At a winter reunion of the Veteran Signal Corps Association, held in Boston in 1893, a few weeks before his death. Gen. Corse said : — " It is with no little satisfaction that I find myself among a body of men like the Signal Corps Association. There is a bond of sympathy between us, created by the privilege I enjoyed on one occasion of being associated with one of the greatest historical features of your career as a branch of the service during the war." Gen. Corse then described eloquently and in detail the magnificent service done l)y the Signal Corps, a service, he said, «hich, in his opinion, was the climax of the whole struggle. He referred to the time when Sherman Aias pushing on from Atlanta to Allatoona, Adhere he (General C'orse) \\'as holding Allatoona Pass and protecting Sherman's supplies against the main body of Hood's troops. Then occurred the dramatic incident (see Chapter XA'IIL), — the sending of the fateful words over the heads of the hostile host from Kennesa-\v to Allatoona. This act, Gen. Corse said, contributed more to the final termination of the struggle between the North and the South than any other thing. Even at this time, he said, the Confed- erates were endeav(n-ing to make treaties of recognition and aid with PERSONNEL AND MISCELLANEA. 195 f France and England. They had both agreed to sign if the South would waive the slavery clause and inaugurate emancipation. This was agreed to ; but when the final meeting between Lord Palmerston and Kenna, the Confederate Ambassador, was held, Palmerston's answer was : " It is too late. Sherman has reached Savannah." The signals of the Signal Corps had sent the message all over the world, and Sherman had broken the shell of the Confederacy by his magnificent march to the sea. Of the work of the Signal Corps, Lieut. Isaac S. Lyon says : — " I cannot recall any occasion within my own experience, when the army was saved, a crisis averted, or a victory won through the instrumentality of this branch of the service ; but I know that it performed an important work and was indispensable to the success of our armies. We sought at all times to display the merits of our organization, give it character, commend it to the judgment of military men, and make it an absolutely essential arm of the military service. To this end we were almost constantly employed, and, when opportunity favored, our service was of the utmost value." f Maj.-Gen. A. E. Burnside, in a letter of May 2, 1862, says : — " I cheerfully bear testimony to the invaluable aid they have been to me in this expedition, and do not hesitate to recommend the introduction of a general system of field signals throughout the army. " I will add that, at Eoanoke, New Berne, and during the siege of Fort Macon, by placing the signal oflBcers on the boats and at different points on shore, I was enabled to keep up a constant communication with the navy." Maj.-Gen. George B. McClellan, in a letter of Oct. 16, 1862, says :— "The Signal Corps under Maj. Myer rendered, during the operations at Antietam, as well as South Mountain, and during the whole movements of the , army, efficient and valuable service. Indeed, by the services here, as on other fields elsewhere, this Corps has gallantly earned its title to an independent and permanent organization." Maj.-Gen. E. D. Keyes, in a letter dated Jan. 16, 1863, says : — " I have been always a witness to the great advantage of your system of signals to the service. I therefore cordially agree that your Corps of signal officers is justly entitled to the benefits of a separate organization, with rank and promotion as in other corps of the army." 196 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Maj.-Gen. George B. McClellan says, in a communication to the adjutant-general, U. S. Army, dated New York, Aug. 4, 1863 : — ' ' The method of conveying intelligence and orders invented and introduced into the service by Maj. Albert J. Myer, Signal Officer, U. S. Army, was first practically tested in large operations during the organization of the Army of the Potomac. '• In front of Washington, and on the Lower Potomac, at any point within our lines not reached by the military telegraph, the great usefulness of this system of signals was made manifest. But it was not until after the arrival of the army upon the Peninsula, and during the siege and battles of that and the Maryland campaign, that the great benefits to be derived from it on the field and under fire were fully appreciated. " There was scarcely an action or skirmish in which the Signal Corps did not render important service. Often under heavy fire of artillery, and not infrequently while exposed to the musketry, the ofiBcers and men of this Corps gave informa- tion of the movements of the enemy, and transmitted directions for the evolutions of our troops." ' Brig .-Gen. W. Merritt says, in a letter to Lieut. A. B. Jerome, Signal Corps, dated in the field, Nov. 20, 1863 : — " I have noticed, with considerable interest, while on active service with the cavalry, the working of the officers of the Signal Corps with whom I have been thrown. The means they now have of communicating with friends, and of detecting and reporting as to the enemy, coupled with the energy and enterprise of all the officers of the Signal Corps with whom I have been thrown, have made the organization invaluable to the cavalry service. Especially is this so when, as is often the case, we are separated by miles from general headquarters, with no other safe or rapid means of communication." Brig. -Gen. John Buford says, in a letter to Lieut. A. B. Jerome, Signal Corjis, dated camp near C'nlpeper, Va., Nov. 20, 1863 . — " I have taken occasion to notice the practical working of the Signal Corps, U. S. Army, in the field, and regard it as a valuable auxiliary to an army. With the aid of their powerful glasses, acting as both scouts and observers, the officers who have acted with me have rendered invaluable service when no other means could have availed. I regard their permanent organization as a matter of the first importance." IMaj.-Gen. A. Pleasanton says, in a communication dated Headquar- ters Cavalry Corps, Nov. 22. 1863 . — PERSONNEL AND MISCELLANEA. 197 " In this corps there is a signal officer with each division, and the frequent opportunities in which their services have been brought into requisition, in the transmission of important intelligence, when operating far in advance or on the flanks of the army, away from a common centre, and in places where ordinary means of telegraphing could not possibly be applied, convince me of their very great utility, at least with this army. " In my opinion the system is well worth an establishment on a permanent basis." Brig.-Gen. H. G. Wriglit says, in a communication dated near Brandy Station, Va., Nov. 2'5, 1863 : — " Having been requested to state my opinion in relation to the value of the Signal Corps, a branch of the service connected with the army, I take pleasure in saying that it has been extremely useful, its officers being engaged at stations watching the movements of the enemy, which, from their constant experience in observing, they are enabled to discover with remarkable certainty ; in transmit- ting messages from point to point where no telegraphic wire exists ; and in communicating intelligence from one position to another on the battlefield. In all these particulars the Corps has done good service, and has, I believe, fully met the expectations of its originators." Maj.-Gen. George H. Thomas says, in a letter to Capt. P. Babcock, Jr., Acting Chief Signal Officer, Army of the Cumberland, dated Chattanooga, Temi., Dec. 11, 1863 : — "Captain: Learning from you that complaints have been made that the Signal Corps has not proved as serviceable as there was reason to hope it would, I cheerfully comply with your request to express my opinion of its usefulness. For some months after an assignment of officers of the Corps was made to my headquarters, not much was done, simply because there was no field for opera- tions. During the pursuit of Bragg in Kentucky, in the fall of 1862, several opportunities offered for testing the usefulness of the signal system, all of which not only established its practicability, but its great usefulness. The Corps was organized in the fall of 1862, at Nashville, and commenced operations with more system than at any previous time. During the battle of Stone River the officers of the Corps with me were very efficient in conveying messages by flag. After the battle, and whilst the army was encamped near Murfreesboro, an opportunity was offered for thoroughly testing the usefulness of the system, and resulted in the conclusion that a signal corps waa one of the essential organizations of a well- appointed army. Stations were established at Murfreesboro, Readyville, Triune, Lavergne, and Franklin. Triune and Lavergne were both about twelve miles from Murfreesboro ; Readyville about eight, and Franklin about fourteen, miles 198 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. from Triune. Messages could be transmitted from one station to the other with the greatest celerity, and frequently communication was had between head- quarters at Murfreesboro and the above-named stations by signals, when there was no other means of communication but by sending a force to protect a messenger. When Van Dorn attacked Franklin, reinforcements were directed how to move to give the greatest assistance to the garrison by message sent from Murfreesboro to Triune by signal. Repeated instances of its great usefulness occurred at Murfreesboro ; also on the advance towards Bridgeport, particularly at Hoover's Gap during the engagement at that place. Before crossing the Tennessee daily information was received at headquarters of the operations of the different detachments of the army on the north side of the river and in the direction of Chattanooga, through the signal lines. " The Corps was also equally useful after the army crossed the Tennessee, and until the concentration at this place after the battle of Chickamauga. Since our arrival here the value of the system has time and again been more closely demon- strated by the great amount of information of the movements of the enemy obtained and transmitted to headquarters by its aid, which could not have possibly been obtained by any other means, in time to have been of use. "During the recent battles here the officers of the Corps rendered most valuable services by observing and signalling information of every movement of the enemy within the range of their telescopes." Maj.-Gen. .John Newton say.s, in a letter to Capt. Norton, Chief Signal Officer, Army of the Potomac, dated Headquarters 1st Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, Dee. 5, 18H:-] : — "I have had frequent opportunities of witnessing the efficiency and advantage to the service of the signal officers attached to this army, during the progress of an engagement, on the march, and at all other periods of an active campaign, and it gives me great pleasure to testify to such facts." Brig.-CJen. G. A. Custer says, in a letter to Capt. Norton, Chief Signal Officer, Army of the Potomac, dated Headquarters 3rd Division, Cavalry Corps, Dec. 10, 1863: — " Since I have become acquainted with the Signal Corps of this army, the information of the enemy obtained through its officers, and the rapid manner they have of transmitting intelligence by flag signals, has convinced me of the great value of this branch of the service during military operations in the field. "An army can have no better outpost, from which to watch the movements of an enemy, than a signal station ; and with a practised signal officer at such a position, no force can move without being detected. I would, therefore, strongly recommend that a complete and permanent organization be given to the Corps." PERSONNEL AND MISCELLANEA. 199 Brig.-Gen. George W. Getty says, in a letter to the Signal Officer, Washington, D. C., elated Headquarters, Portsmouth, Va., Dec. 14, 1863: — ' ' It affords me great pleasure to testify to the benefits and services I received from the signal officers at the siege of Suffolk in April, 1863 (as I stated in my report at that time) , and would recommend for the good of the service that the Signal Corps be continued as a separate branch of the army." Maj.-Gen. George Sykes says, in a communication dated Headquarters 5th Army Corps, Camp Rappahannock Station, Va., Dec. 16, 1863 : — "The Signal Corps has been of great use to the army. During the battle of Gettysburg its services were highly important to me. At Malvern, Chancellors- ville, and other places, the intelligence given and gained by it greatly affected the operations of the army. I look upon it as a necessary part of our mili- tary establishment, and would be glad to see it placed upon a permanent founda- tion." Brig.-Gen. J. Kilpatrick says, in a letter to Capt. Joseph Gloskoski, Signal Officer 3rd Division, Cav- alry Corps, dated Headquarters Brd Division, Cavalry Corps, Dec. 27, 1863: — "The battle of Boonsboro was fought and won by the aid of signals ; every movement of the enemy was seen by the signal officers- occupy- ing an elevated position, and quickly transmitted. "At Upperville, Hanover, and Smithsburg we had no signal officer, and greatly felt the want. " It is to be desired that the signal system be given some fixed basis, and secured to the cavalry." Maj.-Gen. John Sedgwick says, in a communication dated Head- quarters 6th Corps, Nov. 25, 1863 : — LIEUT. F. W. OWEN, WITH FLAGMEN CARLE AND KEDNER. " I take pleasure in stating that I have been familiar with the working of the Signal Flag Corps, and that the services rendered thereby, at different times 200 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. within my knowledge, have been of a highly important character. The signal officers have been enterprising and vigilant, and oftentimes the information obtained or communicated through them could not have been readily acquired, or transmitted as promptly through any other available means." Brig.-Gen. George W. Morgan says, in a letter to Col. A. J. Myer, dated Mount Vernon, Ohio, Jan. 11, 1864 : — " I derived great advantages from the services of the signal detachment attached to my headquarters, during my campaign in the Cumberland Mountains. In turning Cumberland Gap, I crossed the mountains at Roger's and Big Creek Gap — two brigades at each point. I reached Roger's Gap, 1,800 feet above Powell's Valley, in advance of the brigades of Spears and Carter, who crossed at Big Creek Gap. My signal officers occupied the crest of the mountain, commanding a view of all the roads within ten miles. I had reason to suppose that Kirby Smith would advance to the aid of Stevenson at Cumberland Gap, by way of Clinton, passing Big Creek Gap. The brigades of Baird and DeCourcey were bivouacked in the forest at the base of the mountain, at Roger's Gap. By the use of signals I was able to communicate with Spears and Carter on the advance, and thus to recognize them as friends. " During the day-time they secured me always two or three hours to prepare for battle by announcing the approach of the foe. They rendered me similar services after taking Cumberland Gap. I have used signal officers as aides-de- camp during battle, when not otherwise engaged. "On the 29th of December, 1862, I saw the enemy gain a decided advantage by the use of signals. It enabled him to concentrate such a force at a given point as to prevent us from throwing a bridge over Chickasaw bayou. " When I had my division as a separate command I had five signal officers, one for my headquarters and one for each brigade headquarters." Maj.-Gen. D. N. Couch says, in a letter to Col. Albert J. Myer, dated Chambersburg, Pa., Oct. 17, 1864: — "I desire to state that since the organization of the Signal Corps 1 have taken a deep interest in the working of it, and am satisfied that it has been of incalculable advantage to our armies in their various operations. " Previous to the last raid into this State, and at the time Chambersburg was burnt, the signal party of this department was ordered to Harper's Ferry, not in this command. Could I have replaced it. Gen. Averill would have been kept so minutely informed of McCausland's movements that no doubt he would have so disposed his forces as to cover this ill-fated town and have saved it from the THOMAS rOSTEK. ¥RANK N. WICKEK. WM. K. HAKTSHOENE. PETER H. MILES. WM. J. OALBRAITH. WM. G. MCCREARY. PERSONNEL AND MISCELLANEA. 201 rebel incendiaries. This is simply referred to in. order to illustrate what the Corps would have done had it been represented in this valley." Maj.-Gen. Winfield S. Hancock says, in a letter to Lieut.-Col. W. J. L. Nicodemus, Chief Signal Officer, Wasliington, D. C, dated Head- quarters Second Army Corps, Oct. 21, 1864 : — " At the Po river on the 10th of May, part of my corps was engaged with the ■enemy on the south side, and communication with the main army, at a distance of some two miles, was kept up by signals. I remember ordering up some artillery at a critical period, by signal, to cover tlie recrossing of the division engaged on the south side. " Aside from the constant duty performed by these officers at posts of observa- tion, they were very serviceable at the Totopotomoy, June 3rd, in observing the «lfect and directing the fire of our artillery, and occupied a very exposed position. "At the crossing of the James river they were also used as a means of communication. On both occasions when this corps was operating from Deep Bottom, on the north side of the James, the signal officers were extremely useful in directing the fire of the gunboats and in observing the enemy's movements." Brevet Maj.-Gen. Alfred H. Terry says, in a letter to Lieut.-Col. W. J. L. Nicodemus, dated in the field, Oct. 24, 1864 : — " In the Department of the South, where I served for nearly two years and a half, the Signal Corps was of great value, especially in establishing communica- tion between land and naval forces operating together. I think it must always be of value in hilly or mountainous regions or in open country." Maj.-Gen. W. T. Sherman says, in a letter to the Secretary of War, dated in the field, Gaylesville, Ala., Oct. 27, 1864 : — "Captain Bachtell, Chief of the Signal Corps serving with this army, has asked my candid opinion of the services of that Corps during the period of my command in this army. I have watched their operations closely, and willingly admit their zeal, and any expression that may have escaped me to the prejudice of that Corps resulted from accidents of nature, such as fog, intervening forests, etc., that impeded them when I was over-anxious for news. " But, in several instances, this Corps has transmitted orders and brought me information of the greatest importance that could not have reached me in any <}ther way. "I will instance one most remarkable case: When the enemy had cut our wires and actually made a lodgment on our railroad about Big Shanty, the Signal Officers on Vining's Hill, Kenesaw, and Allatoona, sent my orders to Gen. 202 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Corse at Rome, whereby Gen. Corse was enabled to reach AUatoona just in time to defend it. " Had it not been for the services of this Corps on that occasion, I am satisfied we should have lost the garrison at AUatoona, and a, most valuable depository of provisions there, which was worth to us and the country more than the aggregate expense of the whole Signal Corps for one year. " I am therefore willing to bear my testimony to the great utility of this Corps^ as well as the marked zeal which has always characterized their personal behavior. "During this campaign several of their officers have lost their lives in the front rank." Maj.-(ien. G. Granger says, in a communication to ^laj. Marston, Chief Signal Officer, Department of the Gulf, dated Fort Gaines, Oct.. " The simplicity of the present signals as the means of conveying orders, and the wonderful facility with which they are transmitted, render it a valuable and almost indispensable adjunct to an army in the field." Maj.-Gen. P. H. Sheridan says, in closing a letter to Capt. O. H. Howard, Chief Signal OfBcer, ^liddle Military Division, dated Winches- ter, Oct. 26, 1864: — "Notwithstanding the obstacles that existed at the commencement of the campaign to prevent its perfect efficiency, the duties being new to many of its- f)fficers and men, I am obliged to admit that of late these obstacles have been surmounted and the duties have been performed in such a manner as to elicit from me this brief acknowledgment of approbation." Ileal- Admiral David D. Porter sa\'s, in a letter to the Secretary of th& Xavy, dated Off Fort Fisher, Jan. 17, 1805 : — "Through BIr. Clemens (Lieutenant U. S. Signal Corps) I was in constant communication with Gen, Terry, even during the assault on Fort Fisher, and was enabled to direct the fire of the New Ironsides, to the traverses occupied! by the enemy, without fear of hurting our own people, from my complete reliance on him." Maj.-Cien. O. O. Howard says, in a letter to Capt. P. A. Taylor, dated Raleigh, N. C, April 20, 1865 : — " In the campaign against Savannah, Capt. McClintock and Lieut. Sampson and their detachment were again of great service to me and to the general-in-chief. For three days and nights they watched and signalled from their station in the PERSONNEL AND MISCELLANEA. 203 Ogeechee river, sending up rockets without number, and making demonstrations of various kinds in order to attract the attention of the fleet, supposed to be lying off Ossabaw Sound. At 4 o'clock in the evening of the 13th of December, their efforts were crowned with success, and communication by signals was opened with one of the gunboats of Admiral Dahlgren's fleet." As the various armies dissolved, earnest efforts were made to keep up the organization of the Signal Corps and maintain its integrity as far as changed conditions" would permit. But all were soon relegated to civil life with the exception of the officers and men serving in the Northwest and those on duty near the Mexican border, the former detachment being mustered out in November, 1865, and the latter in the summer of 1866. The Signal Corps attached to the Army of the Potomac, soon after the surrender at Appomattox, went into camp near the Potomac, opposite Washington. It maintained communication with the station on the Winder Building, the last message flagged being — Sic transit ijlorin miiridU — (So passes away tlie glory of the world). THE LAST CAMP OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC SIGNAIj CORPS. Furl that Banner, for 'tis weary, Round its staff 'tis drooping dreary : Furl it, fold it, — it is best ; For there's not a man to wave it, And there's not a sword to save it, Furl it, hide it, — let it rest! — A. J. Ryan. (The Confederate Poet.) CHAPTER XI. THE CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. ARLY in 1861, Capt. William Norris, a member of Gen. Magruder's staff, a gentleman of scientific educa- tion and some nautical experience, called the attention of the General to the advantages to be derived from a system of signals connecting his outposts and headquarters with Norfolk. Gen. Magruder immediately authorized Capt. Norris to organize a corps for signal purposes, and appointed him Chief Signal Officer. The signals used by Capt. Norris were similar to the marine signals then used by all maritime nations. Flags and balls of different colors were displayed on poles erected for the purpose. Various combinations of these indicated different words and phrases, such as were likely to be demanded by the movements and necessities of a military command. Capt. Norris caused copper stencils to be made, with which representa- tions of the various combinations were printed, and on the same page of the book which contained the illiTstra- tions were written the meanings of the combinations. These plates or illustra- tioirs were colored by Miss Belle Har- rison of Brandon, and Miss Jennie Ritchie of Riclimond. Capt. Norris gradually improved and developed his system. Meanwhile Capt. E. P. Alex- ander had introduced the system which he had learned under Maj. Myer, and had organized a provisional corps for the army of Northern Virginia, as re counted in a previous chapter.* On the assignment of Capt. Alexander to engineer duty, Capt. Norris was desig- nated the acting Chief Signal Officer for the Confederate Army. * See page 43. 206 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. While the Cmife derates \\-ei-e occupying ^Nlunson's Hill preparations were made to iii)en a line with Washington, so as to gain prompt information from their friends in that city. Capt. Pliny Bryan went to Washington and endeavored to secure a room in an elevated part of the city from which jNIrmson's Hill could be seen. HeA\-as to take the bearing of the hill by a compass and " communicate to us by an agreed- upon advertisement in a daily piaper which we received regularly. This \vould give us a bearing upon which to turn our powerful telescope loaned for the purpose 1 13- a Charleston gentleman. Then we would identify Bryan's window by finding a coffee-pot in it, and Ijy motions of the coffee-pot, and opening and shutting the blinds, etc., he would send his messages, and «'e would reply, if necessary, l)y a large flag and firing guns."* Before the line was ready for use Gen. Johnston withdrew his troops from the exposed position. In response to a letter addressed to Col. J. H. Alexander, a brother of Gen. E. P. Alexander, I received the following reply: — Augusta, Ga., June 6, 1888. J. WiLLAKD TBrown, Cambridge, Mass. Dkar Sir : I regret that I can give you no information about survivors of the Confederate Signal Service. Except my brother. Gen. E. P. Alexander (his address is Prest. C. R. R., Savannah, Ga.), and Col. Norris, I do not know one. I was not aware until your letter came that such an association [as the Veteran Signal Corps Association] had been formed. The circumstance is gratifying. I would be glad, indeed, if time and conditions with me were such as to allow me to attend the reunion at Gettysburg. Many things conspire now to deny me that privilege. At the first inauguration of the Signal Service in the Confederacy, I, having received in the first place the primary instruction from my brother. Gen. E. P. A. , then a colonel on Beauregard's staff near the Stone Bridge at Manassas, was assigned the duty of preparing a confidential circular of instruction for the initiation of officers and men, in this branch. I did prepare it, in Richmond, in early spring, 1862, and surrendered the copy to Hon. James A. Seddon, the then Secretary of War at Richmond. It was issued in form of a small pamphlet. I had attached also a table for compiling cipher dispatches — which was printed with the rest of the matter — and the ALEXANDER' whole was issued confidentially to the officers newly appointed for signal duty. * Maj. Edmund H. Cummins, Confederate Signal Corps. CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. 207 I was promoted to service in Adjutant-General's Department in the following winter, and assigned to the Bureau of Engineering most of the time, and had acquaintance with field service in signals only in summer of 1862, and fall, I believe — or perhaps to spring of 1863, on the North Carolina and South Carolina coasts, chiefly helping in the blockade runners. I did not therefore know many of the officers in the Virginia and Western armies. If there is a copy of that pamphlet of instruction in existence, available for me to have and keep as a relic, I would be glad indeed to have it. Respectfully, your obedient servant, J. H. Alexander. While the -Confederate Signal Corps never became so distinct and independent a branch of the military service as our own Signal Corps, it received much earlier recognition from its own government. The Act organizing the Corps was approved April 19, 1862. The Secretary of War was authorized to establish it as a separate corps, or to attach it to the Adjutant and Inspector-General's Department, or to the Engineer Corps. He decided to attach it to the Adjutant and Inspector-General's Department, and issued the following order for its organization and government. Maj. William Norris, of Gen. Magruder's staff, was placed at the head of it. No uniform was prescribed for the Corps. The officers wore the uniform of the general staff of the same grade. The privates wore that of the arm of the service to which they belonged, and on the rolls of which they were borne as on detached service. " War Department, " Adjdtant and Inspector-General's Office, " Special Orders No. 40. " Richmond, May 29, 1862. "I. The following Act of Congress, and regulations in reference thereto, are published for the information of the army, viz. : — " An Act to Organize a Signal Corps. "Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact. That the President be and is hereby authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint ten officers in the Provisional Army, of a grade not exceeding that of a captain, and with the pay of corresponding grades of infantry, who Shall perform the duties of signal officers of the army. And the President is hereby authorized to appoint ten sergeants of infantry in the Provisional Army, and to assign them to duty as signal sergeants. The Signal Corps above authorized may be organized as a separate corps, or may be attached to the Department of the Adjutant and Inspector-General, or to the Engineer Corps, as the Secretary of War shall direct. (Approved April 19, 1862.) 208 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. " II. The Signal Corps authorized by this act will be attached to the Adjutant and Inspector-General's Department ; and officers of that department may be instructed in and assigned to signal duty. " III. A signal officer will be attached to the staff of each general or major- general in command of a corps, and of each major-general in command of a division. These signal officers will each be assisted by as many signal sergeants, and instructed non-commissioned officers and privates, selected from the ranks for their intelligence and reliability, as circumstances may require, and as many lance sergeants as are required may be appointed. Such non-commissioned officers and privates may be detailed for this duty by the generals in whose command they are serving. Before being instructed, they will each be required by the signal officer to take an oath not to divulge, directly or indirectly, the system of signals, the alphabet, or any official message sent or received thereby. Non-commissioned officers, while on signal duty, and privates on this duty, will receive forty cents per day extra pay. " IV. Commissioned officers of the Signal Corps, or officers serving on signal duty, will be entitled to the forage and allowance of officers of similar rank in the cavalry. Non-commissioned officers and privates on signal duty will be mounted by the quartermaster, on the order of the commanding general. " V. Requisitions for flags, torches, glasses, and all the material required, will be made on the quartermaster's department, or they may be purchased by the quartermaster of any division, on the order of the major-general commanding. " VI. On the order of the general commanding a corps, other officers or privates than those regularly on signal duty may be instructed in the system of signals, after having taken the oath prescribed above. 'Whenever it is practi- cable, it is specially recommended to all general officers to have their assistant adjutant-generals and aides-de-camp instructed. " VII. Whatever is prescribed herein for a division, or for a major-general, will be observed in the case of each brigade which constitutes a separate command. " VIII. All officers and non-commissioned officers accepting appointments to the Signal Corps will forward with their acceptance the oath prescribed above, sworn to before a magistrate, notary public, or commissioned officer of the Corps. "IX. (:Juarterly returns of signal property will be made by all officers having it in charge, to the quartermaster's department, and the senior signal officer of each separate army in the field will report quarterly to the adjutant and inspector- general the number and organization of the Signal Corps of the Army, and its general operations during the previous quarter. "X. It will be the duty of the signal officer of every division in the field to instruct the adjutant of each regiment in the division in the system of signals in use in the army. " By command of the Secretary of War, " S. Cooper, " Adjutant and Inspector-General.'' CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. 209 The Signal Corps, as thus organized, consisted of one major, ten captains, ten 1st lieutenants, ten 2d lieutenants, and twenty sergeants. There were no privates, as men were detailed from the line whenever wanted, and, when their services were no longer required, they returned to their respective commands. The detailed men in all the branches of the service numbered fifteen hundred, and it is affirmed by the officers of the Corps, that, though these men were often employed in independent service, and were in possession of important secrets, not one of them ever deserted or betrayed his trust. All the detailed men were instructed in the cipher system, and intrusted with the key-word. They were also instructed in the use of the electric telegraph. When occasion reqiiired they entered our lines and visited northern cities, or even went to lands beyond the sea, communicating with agents and secret friends of the Confederacy, ordering supplies and conveying them to their destination, running the blockade by land and sea, making nightly voyages in bays and rivers, threading the cordon of Union pickets and gunboats, following blind trails through swamp and forest, and as much experts with oar and sail, on deck and in the saddle, with rifle and revolver, as with flag, torch, telegraph, and secret cipher. In reply to certain interrogatories submitted to the Chief Signal Officer by the Adjutant-General's Department, Col. Norris replied as follows : — "Accredited agents are constantly in New York, Baltimore, and Washington. These agents are gentlemen of high social position, who, without compensation, have voluntarily devoted their time and energies to this work. Among them I mention in confidence the name of Hon. . There is no secret service fund. Beyond the mere pay, rations, and clothing of the officers and detailed men engaged in them, these lines have never cost the government one farthing since I assumied command. "We receive information regularly from the United States on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. For prudential reasons no record of such communi- cations is kept in this office, except in cipher. From the first of April to the last of September we placed files of Baltimore papers published one morning in the hands of President Davis next evening. New York papers were, of course, a day later." Col. Nprris gives the history of the secret service branch of the Signal Corps in the following words : — " In the fall of 1862 the necessity of having points on the Potomac at which government agents and army scouts might promptly cross to and from the United 210 SIGN'AL CORPS U. S. A. COL. WJl. NOKKIS. States was so seriously appreciated that the Secretary of War suggested the propriety of establishing one or more camps in King George and Westmoreland counties, with an especial eye to such trans- portation. The idea was immediately acted upon. In a short time the additional duties were assigned to these stations : " 1st. Of observing and reporting all movements of troops, etc., on the Potomac. " 2d. Securing complete files of northern papers for the executive department. " 3rd. Upon requisition from the heads of bureaus, to obtain from the United States small packages, books, etc. " Here our duties, strictly speaking, ended. But, as we were forced, in order to perform the other duties, to establish a line of agents from the Potomac to Washington, it was determined, as far as possible, to institute a regular system of espionage. The gov- ernment having failed, however, to place at our disposal the necessary means to carry into execution this design, we have been forced to rely almost entirely upon the energy and zeal of a few devoted gentlemen ot Maryland for such indications of the enemy's movements as they have been able to acquire from mingling in ofiicial circles about Washington, Baltimore, and New York." It was the duty of Col. Norris to wait on Mr. Davis every morning with the cipher dispatches from the generals of armies and from departs ment commanders. The burden of these dispatches was, towards the close, calamitous and importunate ; reinforcements and supplies were everywhere demanded. All looked to Mr. Davis for relief and support. Col. Norris bears testimony to the unruffled serenity of his chief. Through all these trying hours not an impatient or despondent word ever escaped him. If Mr. Davis ever knew when he was whipped he never let anyone else know that he knew it. The secret cipher used by the Confederate War Department was that known as the Court cipher, and has been much used in diplomatic service. A key-word or phrase is agreed upon by the parties who intend to communicate in cipher. Tlie message is written under the key. Suppose, for example, the key to be " In God we trust," and the message to be sent, — " Longstreet is marching on Fisher's Hill." It will be written thus : — Ingodwetrustingodwetrustingodwetr Longstreetismarchingonfishershill. CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. 211 The alphabet is written out in a square, thus : — ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZA CDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZAB DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZAB C EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZAB CD FGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDE GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEF HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDE FG IJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGH JKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD EFGHI KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHI J LMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJ K MNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJK L NOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLM OPQESTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMN PQRSTUVWXYZARCDEFGHIJKLMNO QRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP RSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ STUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR TUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR S UVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS T VWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST U WXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU V XYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW YZABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRSTUVWX ZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTDVWXY The 'first letter in the key is " I " and the letter under it is " L ". Take " I " in the top horizontal line and run down the " I " vertical column until it intersects the " L " horizontal line. The letter at the intersection is "T". This is substituted in the message for "L" in Longstreet. The other letters are converted in the same way, and the message will read, " Tbtuvxvxvnalunxqkerzfhxbaukfvdmec." To decipher the message the key ^ys^as written over it, and the process by which it was put into cipher was reversed. To facilitate reading the cipher messages, Capt. William N. Barker, of the Confederate Signal Corps, invented a simple but convenient apparatus. The alphabetical 212 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. square was pasted on a cylinder and revolved under a bar on which was a sliding pointer. Under the pointer and along the bar was pasted the alphabet in a horizontal line. The pointer was brought to the letter in the key on the bar, and the letter in the word to be converted was rolled up under the bar and the pointer rested on the required substitute letter. A model of this apparatus is preserved among the Confederate records in the War Department at Washington. One is also in the possession of the writer, presented to him by Capt. J. M. McClintock. The Confederate officers were sometimes so careless or unskilful in forming their cipher dispatches that some important ones which fell into- the hands of our officers were readily deciphered. One from Gen. Beauregard just after the battle of Shiloh, giving the number and condi- CONFEDERATE CIPHER MACHINE. tion of his forces at Corinth, was formed by merely putting the last half of the alphabet first, that is, substituting M for A, N for B, O for C, etc. This dispatch fell into our hands and first reached Richmond in a northern newspaper. A message from Mr. Davis at Montgomery to Gen. E. Kirby Smith commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department, was partly iii plain language and partly in cipher. The following is a part of the message : "By which you may effect o - tpggexyk - above that part hjopgkwmet patrolled by the, etc." An expert of the U. S. Military Telegraph Corps guessed out the following translation: 'By which you may effect a crossing above that part of the river patrolled by the, etc." ■ The guess was right, and by applying it the key-phrase was found to be " complete victory," and there was of course no trouble in reading what remained of the message in cipher. W. R. Plum, Esq., the author of the " History of the Military Telegraph in the Civil War," says this CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. 213 meaning occurred to him at first sight, and would have occurred to any- one familiar with military affairs in that section. The alphabet or code first used by the Confederate Signal Corps was a modification of that introduced by Maj. Myer into the service of the United States. It became necessary to change it several times during the war, as from observation of messages sent, the Signal Corps of the Union Army learned the code employed, while the Confederates took the same liberty with the messages of our Corps. We early secured an advantage, however, by the introduction of cipher disks which enabled us to change the code daily, or hourly, if circumstances demanded. On this account it never became necessary to change the basal code, which remained the same throughout the war. Early played a ruse on Sheridan in the Valley campaign. Finding that Maj. Howard, Sheridan's Signal Officer, was reading his signals, he ■caused the following dispatch to be sent to himself by his signal flags : — " Lieut. -Gren. Early, " Fisher's Hill. " Be ready to advance on Sheridan as soon as my forces get up, and we can crush him before he finds out I have joined you. "J. LONGSTREET." When this was communicated to Sheridan, as Early intended it to be, Sheridan telegraphed to Washington, and Halleck telegraphed to Grant. In time, the information came to Sheridan that Longstreet was nowhere near Early. The reports of Lieut. Frank Markoe, Signal Officer at Charleston, iShow that during the siege thousands of messages were sent from one post to another, and from outposts to headquarters, most of which could have been sent in no other way, and many were of great importance to the Confederate authorities. Lieut. Markoe says that he read nearly every message we sent. He was forewarned of our attack on the 18th of July, 1863. He adds regretfully, however, that through the carelessness of the staff officers at headquarters it leaked out that he was reading our messages. Our officers then began to use the cipher disk. Ift August he intercepted the following message : " Send me a copy of rebel code immediately, if you have one in your possession." He therefore changed his code. He also caused his men to work out of sight as much as possible. From the commencement of the attack on Morris Island, July 10th, to September 7th, when it was evacuated, Lieut. Markoe's officers 214 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. transmitted nearly one thousand messages. On the night of September 5th, our forces made an attack on Battery Gregg, which was repulsed through the timely notice from the Signal Officer on Sullivan's Island, who intercepted the following dispatch : " To Admiral Dahlgren. I shall try Cumming's Point to-night, and want the sailors again early. Will you please send two or three monitors by dark to open fire on Fort JNIoiiltrie as a diversion. The last time they were in, they stopped rein- forcements and may do so to-night. Don't want any fire in the rear General Gillmore." The attack on Fort Sumter, on the night of the 8 th, was foiled by a similar notice. The dispatch was : — " Gen. Gillmore. The senior officer will take charge of the assaulting party ; the whole to be under the command of an experienced naval officer." A little later our officers used a cipher wMch Lieut. ]Markoe says he was utterly unable to unravel. In June, 1864, Col. Nicodemus was displeased with a signal officer who. had come to Washington by orders from Gen. Dix and Gen. Thomas, of the War Department, as a special messenger with a rebel signal code. Col. Nicodemus had previously received this code from another source ; but he supplemented the slight reprimand he gave the officer with this statement: "The rebels have different signal codes for different departments, and hence the discovery of a code is only of service in the department in which it is discovered." The first deciphering of a rebel signal code of which I find any record was that made by Capt. J. S. Hall and Capt. P. A. Taylor, reported Nov. 25, 1862. Four days later, Maj. Myer wrote to Capt. Cushing, Chief Signal Officer, Army of the Potomac, not to permit it to become public " that we translate the signal messages of the rebel army." April 9, 1863, Capt. Fisher, near Falmouth, reported that one of his officers had read a rebel message which proved that the rebels were in possession of our code. The next day he was informed that the rebel code taken with Capt. Youngblood, a rebel signal officer, was identical with the one taken previously at Yorktown. He received from JNIaj. Myer the following orders : — " Send over your lines, from time to time, messages which, if it is in the power of the enemy to decipher them, will lead them to believe that we cannot get any clew to their signals. "Send also occasionally messages untrue, in reference to imaginary military CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. 215 movements, as for instance, — ' The Sixth Corps is ordered to reinforce Keyes at Yorktown.'" In October, 1863, Capt. Merrill's party deciphered a code, and in November of the same year Capt. Thickstnn and Capt. Marston deciphered another in Virginia. Lieut. Howgate and Lieut. Flook, in March, 1864, deciphered a code in the Western Army, and at the same time Lieut. Benner found one at Alexandria, La. Capt. Paul Babcock, Jr., then Chief Signal Officer, Department of the Cumberland, in a letter dated Chattanooga, Tenn., April 26, 1864, transmitting a copy of the rebel signal code, says : — " Capt. Cole and Lieut. Howgate, acting Signal Officers, occupy a station of communication and observation on White Oak Ridge at Ringgold, Ga. On the 22d inst. the rebels changed their code to the one enclosed, and on the same day the above-mentioned officers by untiring zeal and energy succeeded in translating the new code, and these officers have been ever since reading every message sent over the rebel lines. Many of these messages have furnished valuable information to the general commanding the department." An indispensable condition to the prolongation of the war was the running of the blockade of the southern ports by the swift cruisers built and fitted expressly for the purpose. Such were the profits of this business that the owner could well afford to lose vessel and cargo on his third trip if the two first were successful. No life could be more adventurous and exciting than that of a blockade runner. Every blockade runner had its signal officer, furnished with signalUng apparatus, and the key to the secret cipher. The coast was lined with stations for thirty or forty miles up and down on either side of the blockaded port. The blockade runners came in close to shore at night-fall, and flashed a light which was soon answered from the shore station. Advice was then given as to the . condition of things off the port, the station and move- ments of the blockading fleet, etc. If the word was " go in," the beacon lights were set and the blockade runner boldly steamed over the bar and into the port. A naval officer was in charge of the office of orders and details at the several ports, whence proceeded all orders and assignments in relation to pilots and signal officers. Capt. Wilkinson, of the Confederate Navy, in his " Narrative of a Blockade Runner," relates the following incident: — " The range lights were showing and we crossed the bar without interference, and without a suspicion of anything wrong, as it would occasionally happen, under 216 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. particularly favorable circumstances, that we would cross without even seeing a blockade. We were under the guns of Fort Fisher, in fact, and close to the ileet of United States vessels, which had crossed the bar after the fall of the fort, when I directed my signal officer to communicate with the shore station. His signal was promptly answered, but turning to me, he said, " No Confederate signal officer there, sir ; he cannot reply to me." The order to wear around was instantly obeyed ; not a moment too soon, for the bow of the Chameleon was scarcely pointed for the bar before two or three of the light cruisers were plainly visible in pursuit, steaming with all speed to intercept us. Nothing saved us from capture but the twin screws, which enabled our steamer to turn as upon a pivot in the narrow channel between the bar and the ribs. We reached the bar before our pursuers, and were soon lost in the darkness outside." In February, 186!2, Gen. Beauregard took^command of the Army of tlie Mississippi, and assigned to duty as Chief Signal Officer, Capt. E. H. Cummins, of the Engineer Corps, C. S. A. This ofTicer at once reported to Maj.-Gen. J. P. McCown, who was then at Madrid Bend, making preparations to defend and hold Island No. 10 and its approaches. CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. 217 This point was termed by the Confederates the Thermopylse of the Mississippi river. Capt. Cummins had with him a small squad of men, who had been selected and instructed by Capt. E. P. Alexander, and a very poor outfit. Gen. Trudeau had constructed five batteries on the bend of the river, Tennessee side, and four on Island No. 10. On the 15th of March the Federal fleet, gunboats, mortar-boats, and transports, appeared and ■opened fire. At 9 P. M. Capt. Cummins went to Battery No. 1, or the Redan, so called, and established a signal station which Gen. Trudeau says proved of great service through the various engagements. This Redan was the point nearest to the Union fleet. Gen. Trudeau narrates the foUovsring singular incident : — " Towards 9 o'clock on the morning of the 16th I received a report from the officer of the day that Capt. Eucker (commanding the battery at the Redan), was making signals of distress, or else that he had shown the white flag from his l)attery. Amazed and mortified I ordered a skiff, and proceeded to the battery, up the river. Upon nearing it I discovered a white flag moving in various directions , and a steam-tug from the enemy, bearing also a white flag, steering upon the bat- tery. Capt. Rucker was not aware that his signal-flag could be construed into a "flag of distress either by us or the enemy. It was too late to stop the tug ; she reached the battery as soon as I did. An officer, Mortar-Boat. a lieutenant in the navy, informed Capt. Rucker that he had seen his signal and had come to inquire if he wished to communicate with the fleet, to which a negative answer was given. I explained the mistake, and told him that the flag would be changed, and he left without landing. This occurrence is much to be regretted, as it gave the enemy -a chance of seeing the condition of our battery, all under water, with its ammunition on the parapet, and also perhaps a good view of our other batteries ; but it was unavoidable as well as unexpected." The Federal fleet poured in its heaviest fire upon the batteries on the 17th, finally concentrating its fire upon Battery No.. 1. Capt. Rucker says : " Lieutenants Elcan Jones and Samuel Rose, of the Signal Corps, were engaged with me the whole day in the defence of the Redan. Signal Officer Jones, having the staff of his signal-flag shot away thrice during the engagement, seized the flag in his hand without looking 218 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. around to listen to exclamations, and continued his important message to headquarters." Capt. Cummins, who was reading the message through a glass at headquarters, in commenting on this incident, says : " The flag was probably knocked out of Mr. Jones's hand by the mud, tons of which flew in tlxe air every time the heavy projectiles from the fleet struck the parapet." Gen. Trudeau says : " The effect of the enemy's fire upon the batteries on the bend and upon the island has been without any result. No damage of any land done, except to the redan fort, upon which he seemed to have concentrated all his efforts. It presented the the most appalling picture of ruin and desolation. The parapet was plowed up in every direction and torn to pieces. The water from the river washed into the battery, filling it with mud. Trees were hacked down and torn to shreds by the heavy shells and the rifled cannon, and yet only one man was killed ,in this terrific contest." Upon the capture of New Madrid and Island No. 10 by Admiral Foote and Gen. Pope, the signal party escaped across Reelfoot Lake, taldng French leave of the commanding generals, paddling across on a raft of their own construction. They repaired at once, of their own motion and without orders, to Corinth, Miss., then headquarters of the Confederate army, and reported for duty. During the battle of SMloh they are reported merely as doing staff duty. After the battle seventeen men were detailed to be instructed for duty in the Signal Corps. As glasses were scarce, and all the country between Corinth and the Tennessee river was heavily wooded, the men were mounted, and served chiefly as scouts and couriers, while their instruction was going on, and until sent elsewhere. Among those detailed at this time was Carlo Patti, a private of the 154th Tennessee. He quickly learned his duties and was zealous in their performance. When not employed with his flags and spyglass, he was incessantly playing his violin. He was captured in a blockade runner off Havana, and never returned to the Confederate States. On falling back from Corinth, the signalmen, having been sufficiently instructed to go on duty, were dispersed to several points in the command, Thos. II. Claggett with one party going to Mobile, M. T. Davidson with another to Vicksburg, and Elcan Jones with another to Kirby Smith across the river. These all became captains in the organized Signal Corps. Elcan Jones, at the close of the war, was Chief Signal Officer to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. 219 The Signal Corps for the Department of Norfolk, Gen Huger commanding, was organized under orders issued Feb. 22, 1862. The company was mustered into service for the war, in Norfolk, Va., on the 25th day of April, 1862, by Maj. Bradford, Inspector- General of the Department of Norfolk, with seventy-three men, rank and file, by special authority of the Secretary of "War. It ultimately consisted of one captain, three lieutenants, and one hundred and fourteen non-commissioned officers and privates, station on parish chukch, The Chief Signal OfBcer was Capt. J. F. yorktown. Milligan. His posts in the Department of Norfolk extended from Harden's Bluff, by the south side of James river, to headquarters in Norfolk. After the evacuation of Norfolk, headquarters were removed to Petersburg, and Gen. Huger's district was called the Department of the Appomattox. By orders from the Confederate Secretary of "War, Capt. Milligan established lines of communication on the James, and on the Appomattox. On the James he located one post at Drewry's Bluff, communicating with Chaffin's Bluff, thence dovra the river to Gregory's farm, where there was a good view of the river for fifteen miles. He could not get communication lower on account of the winding character of the river. The posts on the Appomattox were from Ray's farm, on the western side of the Appomattox, to Blandfield, on the eastern side of the river ; thence to Cobb's farm, between Point of Rocks and Point Walthall, on the western side of the river; thence to Clifton, on the same side of the river, at the obstructions ; thence to old Blanford church, near Petersburg ; from thence to Mcllwain's building, on Sycamore street, near the custom house, the headquarters in Petersburg ; making in all six stations between the mouth of the Appomattox and headquarters. He was able to get communication through these six posts, a distance of fifteen miles, in twenty minutes.* Stonewall Jackson appreciated the advantages of aerial telegraphy. On the 5th of April, 1862, in a letter to Gen. Longstreet, he says : " If you can let me have a man who understands Alexander's system of signals, I hope you will do so, in order that he may instruct others for me." And on the 29th of the same month, in a communication addressed to Gen. Lee, he writes : " Please send me part of Alexander's Signal Corps, if you can spare it ; if not, please send me the system of *See Map of Petersburg, Chap. XV. 220 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. signals, so that I may have persons instructed. The enemy's signals give him a great advantage over me." In response to this request Gen. Lee sent him two signalmen, and said they could readily instruct as many men as he would require. His Chief Signal Officer was Capt. R. E. Wilbourne, who greatly assisted him in the transmission of orders in the second Bull Run campaign up to the battle of Groveton, when he was wounded and succeeded by Capt. Joseph L. Bartlett, who gives the following record of his work at Manassas the next day, August 30th : — Manassas Battle Groond, Va., Saturday, Aug. 30, 1862, P. M. I signalled from Gen. Lee's headquarters on the Warrenton pike to Gen. Jackson's position across the pike near some wheat stacks, bearing nearly north, distance about two miles, as follows : Gen. Jackson. What is result of movements on your left? Lee. Gen. Lee. So far, enemy appear to be trying to get possession of a piece ot woods to withdraw out of our sight. Jackson. Terrific fighting now commenced on the left and Gen. Jackson sends for a division of Longstreet's command : Gen Jackson. Do you still want reinforcements? Lee. Some half hour elapses and Gen. Jackson replies : No ; the enemy are giving way. Jackson. Gen. Lee now prepares to move and sends the following : Gen. Jackson. Gen. Longstreet is advancing ; look out for and protect his left flank. Lee. Gen. Lee having moved his headquarters, I also removed the signal station. J. L. Bartlett. The following report of operations preceding the capture of HarjDer's Ferry may not be altogether devoid of interest : — Sunday, Sept. 14, 1862. My signal flag was up at daylight, and my glass bearing on Loudoun Heights after sunrise. Maj. Paxton sent the following: " Artillery coming up the road to be repaired." Before delivering this message I asked, " What artillery and what road?" Maj. Paxton answered, " Walker's and up mountains." About 10 A. M. comes another dispatch from Loudoun Heights : " Walker has his six rifle pieces in position. Shall he wait for McLaws?" Gen. Jackson answers, " Wait." Gen. Jackson and Col. Smead then come to signal station, and the general dictates the following : Sdndat, Sept. 14, 1862. Generals McLaws and Walker. If you can, establish batteries to drive the «nemy from the hill west of Bolivar, and on which Barbour's house is, and any other position where he may be damaged by your artillery, and let me know when CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. 221 you are ready to open your batteries, and give me any suggestions by which you can operate against the enemy. Cut the telegraph line down the Potomac if it is not yet already done. Keep a good look out against a Federal advance from below. Similar instructions will be sent to Gen. Walker. I do not desire any of the batteries to open until all are ready on both sides of the river, except you should find it necessary, of which you must judge for yourself. T will let you know when to open all the batteries. T. J. Jackson, Maj.-Gen. Com'g. P. S. If you have not rations, take steps at once to supply yourself; have beef driven to your command, so that you may have enough. SIGNAL STATION, LOUDOUN HEIGHTS. Gen. Jackson and the staff then go to the left. I received, soon after, the following : Gen. McLaws informs me that the enemy are in his rear, and that he can do but little more than he has done. I am now ready to open. Gen. Walker. There being no courier at the post, I carry this message to the general and find him in front on the left. He gives me an answer, and sends Lieut. Douglass back to signal station with me. Gen. Walker. Do not open until Gen. McLaws notifies me what he can probably effect. Let me know what you can effect with your command upon the enemy. Gen. Jackson. Also : Gen. McLaws. Let me know what you can probably effect with your artillery, and also with your entire command. Notify Gen. D. H. Hill at Middleburg, of the enemy's position and request him to protect your rear. Send the same message to Gen. Lee, near Hagerstown. Gen. Jackson. 222 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. The message next in order came from Loudoun Heights : Gen. Jackson. I am informed that the enemy are advancing by Purcellville, and have possession of the passes from the valley. Gen. Walker. Generals Walker and McLaws. Fire at such positions of the enemy as will be most effective. Gen. Jackson. Our artillery opens from this side in front of Bolivar ; Walker opens from Loudoun Heights, and Yankees are seen coming down on west side of Bolivar, to escape Walker's fire, but meet an equal one from our artillery on the left of our line. Headquarters Valley District, Special Orders No. — . Sept. 14, 1862. I. To-day, Maj. -Gen. McLaws will attack so as to sweep with his artillery the ground occupied by the enemy ; take his batteries in reverse, and otherwise operate against him, as circumstances may justify. II. Brig. -Gen. Walker will take in reverse the battery on the turnpike, and also sweep with his artillery the ground occupied by the enemy, and silence the battery on the island in the Shenandoah, should he find a battery there. III. Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill will move along the left bank of the Shenan- doah, and thus turn the enemy's left flank and enter Harper's Ferry. IV. Brig.-Gen. Lawton will move along the turnpike for the purpose of supporting Gen. Hill, and otherwise operating against the enemy on the left of Gen. Hill. V. Brig.-Gen. Jones will, with one of his brigades and a battery ot artillery, make a demonstration against the enemy's right ; the remaining part of his division will constitute the reserve and move along the turnpike. By order of Maj. -Gen. Jackson. Wm. L. Jackson, Acting Assistant Adjt.-Gen. After the surrender of llarper's Ferry, I was ordered by Maj. Paxton to remove my station to Barbour's house. I did so after notifying Capt. R. H. T. Adams's post on Loudoun Heights of the move, telling them to look out for my flag at that point. After locating my station at that place, however, and waving my flag for several hours, I could not get attention from Loudoun Heights to send a message sent to me by Maj. Paxton, for Gen. Walker to prepare rations and to be ready to march. I afterward learned that the post had been evacuated at that time. Thus ended the signal service at Harper's Ferry. J. L. Bartlett. Signal Office, Brig.-Gen. Thomas Jordan, Charleston, Nov. 6, 1862. Asst. Adjutant-General, and Chief of Staff. General : I have the honor respectfully to submit for the consideration of the general commanding the following suggestions : CONFEDERATE SIGNAL CORPS. 223 The material of the Signal Corps, formed as it is of educated and reliable men, affords the opportunity of employing them to advantage as magnetic telegraph operators, the duties of which posi- tion are strictly germane to their present occupation as signalmen, and could be ac- quired with comparative ease and celerity. With a corps of men thus thoroughly instructed in all the scientific methods for the early transmission of information, the general commanding would have at hand the means of taking possession of any tele- graphic line already constructed, of attaching any portable apparatus to any points of such line, near which his troops may be operating, and of constructing new lines or ramifications of lines, to points either of strategic value or value as lookouts. An operator under these circumstances would be always within reach, and being under military supervision, could be more relied upon as being at his post when required. In point of economy it will also recommend itself to the general, as the operator will receive but his pay as signal-master, -which is less than half that of the civil operator. The use of the galvanic battery would also tend to fit some of the corps for the responsible duty of igniting such torpedoes or other marine explosives to be fired by the electric spark as may be in contemplation ; also the manage- ment of the electric light. If this suggestion should meet with the approval of the general, two portable apparatus, and a teacher for the manual operation, would be required. Joseph Manigault, Assistant Adjt.-Gen. and Chief Signal OiRcer, Dept. of S. C, Ga., and Fla. 224 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. SONG OF THK REBKL SIGNAL CORF'S. There is a flag as yet unsung, A banner bright and fair, It moves in waves of right and left, That banner in the air. The wise may look, the scholar con, The wondering urchin stare, But naught can make of the bonnie white flag That bears the crimson square. Chorus :— Hurrah! Hurrah! For the Signal Corps, hurrah, Huri'ah for the bonnie white flag That bears the crimson square. To comrades true, far, far away. Who watch with anxious eye, These secret signs an import bear When waved against the sky. As quick as thought, as swift as light, Those airy symbols there. Are caught and read from the bonnie white flag, That bears the crimson square. When armfed hosts In serried ranks Sweep foiTvard to the fray, The signal flag is waving there To point the victorious way, From hill to hill, from crag to crag. The wingfed words to bear That gave a name to the bonnie white flag That bears the crimson square. When night draws o'er the wearied earth Her cloak of sable hue. And bids us dream of home and friends, The soldiers staunch and true. 'Tis then the torch that's burning bright, Tells by its meteor glare That we're on watch with the bonnie white flag That bears the crimson square. Then let us hope when war is o'er And great, and good, and free. We stand and boast ourselves with truth A model confederacy, That midst war's recollections oft We too may claim a share, As we fondly think of the bonnie white flag That bears the crimson square. PART 11. HISTORY OF DETACHMENTS IN THE FIELD. My home is drear and still to-night, Where Shenandoah, murmuring, flows ; The Blue Ridge towers in the pale moonlight, And balmily the south-wind blows. What drew our hunters from the hills? They heard the hostile trumpets blow. And leapt adown like April rills When Shenandoah roars below. One, to the field where the old flag shines. And one, alas ! to the traitor lines ! My tears, — their fond arras round me thrown, — And the house was hushed on the hillside lone. I cannot part their lives and say, "This was the traitor, this the true;" God only knows why one should stray. And one go pure death's portals through. They have passed from their mother's clasp and care ; But my heart ascends in the yearning prayer That His larger love will the two enfold, — My Courtney fair and my Philip bold ! — Edna Dean Proctor. CHAPTER XII. DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH. THE chapter on the Preliminary Organization of the Corps, the story of the formation of three small camps of instruction on the Upper Potomac was briefly recounted. They were established directly after the battle of Bull Run. After the instructed officers were ordered to the Camp of Instruction at Georgetown, these camps were continued as stations of observation and communication, Lieut. L. F. Hepburn having charge of the station at Darnestown, Gen. Banks's headquarters, Lieut. Evan Thomas having the station on Sugar Loaf Mountain, and Lieut. T. S. Dumont the station with Gen. C. P. Stone at Poolesville. Lieut. Hepburn was soon made chief assistant at the Signal Office in Washington, Evan Thomas rejoined his battery, and Lieut. Dumont was sent with sealed orders to Annapolis to report to Gen. T. W. Sherman with six officers and fourteen enlisted men, as narrated in the chapter on the Department of the South. After these changes the station at Darnestown was in charge of Lieut. L. R. Fortescue and Lieut F. N. Wicker, communicating with a station at Seneca Mills in charge of Lieut. F. R. Shattuck and Lieut. W. W. Rowley. During October and November, Lieut. Fortescue, with Lieut. B. N. Miner and Lieut. S. D. Byram, had charge of the station on Sugar Loaf; and while the battle of Ball's Bluff was in progress and during December, Lieut. Fortescue and Lieut. I. J. Harvey were stationed at Point of Rocks with Col. J. W. Geary. Fortescue served with Gen. Banks's headquarters through the Shenandoah campaign and the campaign of Gen. Pope. Having been sent to Harper's Ferry by Gen. Banks, he slipped out with one flagman just before that post was surrendered to the enemy by Col. Dixon S. Miles. Crossing the Potomac at Edwards's Ferry, he made the POINT OF ROCKS, AND POTOMAC RIVER. 228 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. circuit of Lee's army via Hagerstown, Gettysburg, Hanover, Baltimore, and Washington, reaching the Army of the Potomac in time to take part in the battle of South Mountain. It was on this Upper Potomac line that the phrase, "■ All quiet on the Potomac," had its origin. It having been asserted that Col. Thad. Oliver, a Confederate soldier, was the author of this expression, Capt. Shattuck has written the following sprightly letter in reply to this assertion : — " 'AH quiet on the Potomac' could uot have had a southern origin, for the South did not have the long Hue of continuous observation on this river that the North had, in close and con- it hot being so vital a necessily the latter part of Septem- States Signal Corps established line from Maryland Heights mouth of the Seneca river, or bluff in Darnestown, by utiliz- tree, some eighteen feet in was denuded of the most part top, by the 34th New York Vol- Platforms and ladders were station put in communication ville, which again com- Loaf Mountain, that Rocks, which in turn Maryland Heights, oppo- The Darnestown station icatiou down the and that station the Capitol at Wash- ready for business, Darnestown was Lieutenants W. W. Shattuck, with a full complement of flagmen. "ALL QUIET ON THE POTOMAC tinned communication, to them as to us. In ber, 1861, the United a station, as one in a to Washington, at the near the mouth, on a ing a large chestnut circumference, which of its limbs and its unteers. Col. Ladue. rigged up, and the with one at Pooles- municated with Sugar again with Point of communicated with site Harper's Ferry, continued the commun- river to Great Falls, direct to the top of ington. When the station at placed in charge of Rowley and Fred R. A wide swath was cut through the woods to open a clear view of Great Falls, and the communication was com- pleted. An officer and two flagmen were continually on duty day and night, relieving each other at stated intervals, torches being used at night (or trans- mitting messages, as flags were by day. " Just before sundown we had to transmit a digest of the day's observations from all the stations above, as well as our own, to headquarters at Washington, in case nothing startling had occurred, in which instance, it would have been reported at the moment. So much immaterial matter was daily accumulated that DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH. 229 it became tiresome to the flagmen to flag messages, of no conseqiience when received, only showing that everything was tranquil, and nothing worthy of notice occurring. Talking of this one day, Rowley and the writer concluded to try the plan of condensing the message when of no importance, and hit upon ' All quiet on the Potomac,' and, trying it with some disquiet at first, and find- ing no reproof following, continued the report daily. Samuel Glenn, then the war correspondent of the New York Herald, was a frequent visitor at our station, as were all the correspondents of the papers, — C C. Coffin, E. C. Sted- man, and many others, — and 'caught on' to the phrase, making, I think, the first use of it in his paper, but soon they were all using it. "Porte Crayon [David Hunter Strother], who was a topographical en- gineer in the near neighborhood, sketched and published in Harper's a picture of the tree. Henry Bacon, then a corporal in the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers, — Col. Samuel H. Leonard, — also sketched it, and the writer sent home the drawing, which Mr. Getchell photographed gratuitously for the Sanitary Commission, and many thousand copies were sold for the benefit of that glorious charity. The picture, as sketched by Bacon, is in the frontispiece of the United States Manual of Signals, published by the Signal Office. The writer has the original sketch, also a fine oil painting of the same subject by Henry Bacon, which Bacon entitled ' All quiet on the Potomac' This was on exhibition at Williams and Everett's some fifteen years ago, and may, perhaps, be remembered by some. " ' All quiet on the Potomac ' is of Yankee origin, from the north side of that river." In the month of December, Lieut. Shattuck was ordered in to the camp at Georgetown, and on the 7th of January, 1.862, was placed in command of a party detailed to Gen. Buell, commanding the Department of the Ohio. March 7, 1862, Lieutenants E. A. Briggs, E. L. Halsted, and E. C. Pierce were sent to Lieut. Rowley, who had been placed in command of the detachment serving with the troops under Gen. Banks. With these officers were sent Privates O. S. Temple, F. M. Hodgson, J. E. Harvey, J. L. Kennedy, H. W. Gardiner, and R. J. Morgan. At the time of the evacuation of Manassas by the rebels, Stonewall Jackson was at Winchester. Our forces occupied Chaiiestown, Shields's Division reaching Bunker Hill on the 11th of March. On the morning of the 12th, Gen. Hamilton's Division of Gen. Banks's troops, entered Winchester, the enemy having left at 5 o'clock the evening before, his rear guard of cavalry leaving an hour before our advance entered the place. On the 13th, the mass of Banks's corps w^s concentrated in the immediate vicinity of Winchester, the enem}- being in the rear of 230 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Strasljurg. On the 19tli, Gen. Shields, who had succeeded Gen. Lander in command of Banks's 2d Division, occupied Strasburg, driving the enemy twenty miles south, to Mt. Jackson. On the 20th of March, the 1st division of Banks's Corps commenced its movement toward Manassas. Jackson probably received information of this movement, and supposed that no force of any consequence was left in the vicinity of Winchester, and upon the falling back of Shields to that place, for the pvirpose of enticing Jackson in pursuit, the latter promptly followed, THE SHENANDOAH. whereupon ensued the skirmish on the 22d, in which Gen. Shields was wounded The three brigades of Shields were commanded by Col. Nathan Kimball, Col. J. C. Sullivan, and Col. E. B. Tyler, respectively. The next day the rebels made their appearance in force. During the morning the battle was simply an artillery duel. About 2 P. M., finding that the enemy were approaching in large numbers, Lieut. Rowley went to the field accompanied by Lieutenants Wicker, Fralich, Larned, Spencer, Haffvey, Byram, Miner, Taylor, Briggs, and Halsted, together with their flagmen, and found Col. Kimball in command. DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH. 231 l\ ..tail—. W!lN©ME§Te».l. rL T 1 ^'^ / V-/ /A .i«Bri J, Col.l&aitt 1 ^'"' / \ / B.ii ■» Col.S«lU»aiiS^-^ / 1 / Cai " Col.TVjltr, \ \ / / / /J. Jac?Cson's forces. -J-~^ \J / jy.Riay.^^ ~v w^ J ■ Wfei, -$r 11 X^*-%'Vb// V -v_j: a ^-'///IS i^ ^N|£WKtRMSTOW?b^ ^Tlii / ^^"^ \^ ■^'^* / 1 "*./ R / / '^'^Z / 1 A station was immediately located near him, which was in charge of Lieut. Fralich. Another station was located about a mile and a half to the left of Col. Kimball, where Col. Sullivan was in command. This station was worked by Lieut. Larned, assisted by Liput. Briggs. Communication was also opened between Col. Kimball and Gen. Shields, who was confined to his room at Winchester, distant three miles. Lieut. Miner was sent to Gen. Shields's headquarters, and two intermediate stations were worked by Lieutenants Wicker, Spencer, and Harvey. Col. Tyler, 1st Connecticut Artillery, being ordered to advance, turn the enemy's left wing, and capture a battery which was playing upon the centre of the Federal forces, Lieut. Taylor was directed to accompany him. The engagement at this point seems to have been very warmly contested. Lieut. Taylor's flagman, Oliver S. Temple, was wounded in the arm, and his horse was shot through the neck, but not killed. Lieut. Taylor not succeeding in opening communication with Lieut. Fralich, Lieut. Byram was sent to the right to open commiuication with Col. Tyler, in which he succeeded well. Lieu.tenants Taylor, Byram, Larned, Briggs, Spencer, and Rowley remained upon the field all night, transmitting messages almost constantly. The following is an extract from Lieut. Rowley's report : — " All the stations worked well, no mistake occurring and no repeats being called for. Lieutenants Fralich, Taylor, Byram, and myself were in the most exposed part of the field, at times being very much exposed. Some of the time I acted as aide to Col. Kimball, carrying messages to diiferent parts of the field. During the night our stations were kept quite busy sending messages. The names of the flagmen who worked in the exposed part of the field are as follows : With Lieut. Lai*ned, Alonzo R. Heard ; Lieut. Fralich, Edward G-. Uedner ; Lieut. D. A. Taylor, Oliver S. Temple; Lieut. Byram, W. L. Shurfey; Lieut. Rowley, Peter Spargo. All the ofiicers and men did their duty well and faith- fully, and I think all are equally deserving. All could not be in the battle, as some were ordered on stations a little removed. They all did their work cheerfully and manfully." • 232 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Lieut. Rowley also forwarded a large number of official messages, sent during the engagement, which must have been of vital importance. He enclosed a copy of an extract from General Orders issued by Gen. Banks April 21, 1862, wliich clearly set forth the efficiency of the signal detachment during the engagement. He adds : " At my request Lieut. D. A. Taylor made a report of the part taken by him in the engagement, but as the particulars coincide with the above report, I need not review his report in full. He reports, however. Private Jacob A. Reed, Company I, 3rd New York Artillery, as having rendered good service, manifesting that coolness, courage, and jDromptness, which are so essential upon the field of battle. The f ollo-wdng is a brief extract from his report : ' On the morning of the 24th I took the advance with Private Jacob A. Reed for flagman, and was throughout the day in advance of our line of skirmishers. The enemy frequently fired upon the flag, sending both shot and shell, but neither flagman nor myself was hurt." " Lieut. Taylor's ill success in opening conununication with Lieut. Fralich, as referred to in Lieut. Rowley's report, was wholly attributed to his flagman's having been wounded and rendered incapable of doing duty. He, however, acted as an aide to Col. Tyler during the remaining part of the day, rendering valuable service. Col. Kimball, in his report of the engagement, said : " Lieut. Rowley and the officers and men under him deserve the greatest praise, and by their vigilance and efficiency have made the Signal Corps an indispen- sable arm of the service. I desire to make favorable mention of Lieut. Rowley, his officers and men, and especial mention of Private Temple, who was wounded in the arm and had his horse shot from under him while in the discharge of his duty on the field." Our troops overtook the rear guard of the enemy near Middletown. They crossed Cedar Creek under the fire of our batteries. While skirmishing here with the enemy. Col. Kimball made such disposition of his forces as he thought would result in their rout and the capture of their trains, by moving up the creek with a strong flanking detachment, while the rest of his troops moved up the turnpike over which Jackson's trains were moving. He hoped thus to head off the enemy before they could reach Fisher's Hill beyond Strasburg. At this point Gen. Banks arrived and assumed command. He deemed it prudent to await reinforcements, so our army encamped at jNIiddletown and the enemy escaped to Fisher's Hill. Having been reinforced by the return of the First Division, now I.-!\A(' J. ilA'iVKY L 1!. F!):;TKSCriO DAVIIl A. TAYI/Ui W. \V. i; IWLIOV K. t.. IlALSl'En !:il'\YU!I) ('. I'lUIiCK EPlIItAIMA. liRIIJllS llKL.iv. X. M\..V.K 11. \V. GARniXKR XATir^lI riAXIKLS SK.AS 11. I'.VUAM PUKU). IJ HILLS J. C. JASGARD .\ II. I'llOK .Tll'irx K. IIAUVF.Y OOVBit ,S. TEMI'IjE DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH. 233 commanded by Gen. A. S. Williams, the army moved forward on the morning of March 25th, and occupied Strasburg and Fisher's Hill. Here it remained until April 1st, waiting for supplies. On that day our forces advanced to "V^^oodstock, the enemy retreating to Mount Jackson. Having received additional supplies. Gen. Banks moved his troops forward, skirmishing with the enemy daily until the 15th, when, after a brisk engagement with the enemy at Mount Jackson, he compelled him to retreat across the Shenandoah. Two days later, our troops forced a passage across the river and drove the enemy beyond Newmarket toward Harrisonburg and Port Republic. The rebels had set fire to the only bridge across the river at this point. It was in the gallant cavalry charge across this bridge that the dashing little corporal, George R. Maxwell, distinguished himself, leading a companj^ of his regiment, the 1st Michigan Cavalry, across the burning bridge. He 'subsequently rose GfcW. Ba-'M'lc.^ KA/^y^- a>t K£-Wm,a,-rk£.t,1fa,. to the command of his regiment and brigade under Sheridan. On the 21st Gen. Banks congratulated " the troops under his command upon the success of their achievement, and the permanent expulsion of the rebel army from the valley of Virgmia." The authorities in Washington seriously interfered with the fulfilment of this prophecy by ordering the removal of Shields's division to Falmouth, to unite with McDowell's Army of the Rappahannock. On the 12th of May, Gen. Shields moved from Newmarket to Falmouth, and Gen. Banks moved down the valley to Strasburg. On the 23rd Jackson fell upon Banks's army, occupying position on that day at Strasburg and Front Royal, about ten miles apart. Lieut. Rowley made good use of the Signal Corps in the retreat of Gen. Banks to Williamsport, Md., before the advancing forces of Stonewall Jackson. He established signal stations on the 24th, along the route from Strasburg toward Winchester, so as to keep communication from front to rear. Lieut. Halsted, with two men, was placed upon the station nearest to Strasburg, with orders to abandon it when Gen. Hatch 234 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. came forward with his cavalry. Lieut. Spencer occupied the second station, near Middletown, witli the same instructions. Lieut. Wicker occupied tire third station, Lieut. Miner the fourth, and Lieut. Larned the fifth, at Newtown. All had the same orders, to remain upon their respective stations until Gen. Llatch came up with the rear guard. Lieut. Rowley left Strasburg about 10 A. M., and upon arriving in the vicinity of Middletown, he found a general stampede among the teamsters, many turning about, driving pell-mell, causing for a short time the utmost confusion. Many wagons were upset, while many were left standing, with the teams unhitched and taken away. About 2 P. M., Lieutenants Wicker and Harvey were forced from their station by the rebel cavalry. Up to this time the stations had worked finely, transmitting many messages from rear to front, and vice verm. Lieut. Spencer and his three men were driven into the woods by the rebel troops, arriving at Winchester about 9 P. M. Lieut. Halsted was entirely cut off by the enemy, and was obliged to take the mountain road crossing the river at Hancock, arriving in camp on the 27th. The Corps encamped at Winchester during the night of the 24th, and on the next day, as soon as the fog cleared away, stations were established between the right and left wings of our forces. Just after the stations were located the retreat commenced, Lieut. Wicker being one of the last to leave the field. General Banks, in his report, said : " The Signal Corps, Lieut. W. W. Rowley commanding, rendered most valuable assistance on the field and on the march. There should be some provision for the prompt promotion of officers and men so brave and useful as those composing' this Corps." The writer was on duty at Gen. Rufus King's headquarters when Shields's division, ragged and footsore, arrived at Falmouth on the 22d of May. On the 25th Shields was ordered to hasten with his division to Front Royal, to assist in the capture of Stonewall Jackson. Five days later Gen. King received similar orders, and McDowell himself proceeded to the same point. The infantry were directed to go by rail and the cavalry and artillery by the roads, moving through Thoroughfare Gap, " and as much farther on the Front Royal road as they can go with due regard to their efficiency." The Signal Corps serving with McDowell was directed to accompany them. We spent a delightful June on a grassy hill-slope overlooking Front Royal. Berries and cherries were in their prime and were abundant. One incident I recall. Near the comfortable house that we occupied DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH. 235 was a field of tall grass, into which the owner had turned a herd of cows. The temptation was too great, and we Signal Corps boys milked them frequently, and, I regret to say, without much regard to regularity of hoars or thoroughness of work. The owner came to our commanding ofScer and made complaint. "Well," replied Lieut. Wilson, "as long as my boys simply take the milk and don't take the cows, you ought to be pretty well satisfied." Without doubt the cows were eventually taken by one army or the other, as the demon of war laid waste the beautiful valley. TIIOROUGHFAKB UAl'. June 26, 1862, the troops of the [Mountain Department, Gen. Fremont, the Shenandoah Department, Gen. Banks, and the Department of the Rappahannock, Gen. ]\IcDowell, were united, constituting the Army of Virginia, and were placed under the command of Gen. Pope. The historian, John C. Ropes, says : — "When Gen. Pope left Washington, on July 29th, the destination of the Army of the Potomac had been decided. The task imposed on Pope was to prevent a concentration of Lee's army upon our forces on the Peninsula, while in the confusion incident to the removal, and while the corps composing them were separated. He proceeded at once to the execution of this task, threatening Gordonsville again, and this time, not as before, with a small body of cavalry, but with a powerful force of more than 30,000 men. Afler reviewing and inspecting his various corps, he, on August 7th, ordered the division of Ricketts to 236 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. join Crawford's brigade of Williams's division of Banks's corps at Culpeper Court House. The remainder of Banks's corps he pushed south from their position at Little Washington to where the Sperryville and Culpeper turnpike crosses Hazel river, a point about half-vjray between these two towns. The cavalry of Buford, supported by one brigade from Sigel's corps, observed the right, with headquarters at Madison Court House. Bayard, with four i-egiments, watched the left, his headquarters being at Eapidan Station. Both were excellent officers. Cavalry pickets were stationed at intervals along the Rapidan to its union with the Rappahannock, just above Fredericksburg. A signal station was established on Thoroughfare Mountain — a precaution which, as we shall afterward see, was of great service. These dispositions were intended chiefly to provide against an attack by the enemy on his right, Buford having reported the enemy as crossing the Rapidan westward of the railroad, and advancing in heavy force upon Madison Court House." On the Stli of August Gen. Banks's corj^s was encamf)ed at Hazel river, seven miles from Fairfax (Culpeper Court House). At tliis time we held communi- cation with Culpeper and Thoroughfare Mountain, Gen. Pope being at the former place. About 1 P. ^I. a message was sent through our lines to Gen. I^anks from Gen. Pope, for him to start immediately with his command for Cul- l)e})er. A great many orders were transmitted through the lines to and from Gen- erals Banks and Sigel, it being the onlj- mode used to traiasmit orders. Lieutenants E. C. Pierce and I. J. Harvey were upon station at Culpeper, Lieut. Halsted upon Butler Mountain, Lieut. Fralich upon a station at Hazel river, and Lieut. Spencer upon Thoroughfare Mountain. The next day Lieut. Rowley was ordered by Gen. Banks to accom- pany him, with all the signal oflicers not on duty, to the front, which was about five or six miles from Culpeper. Accordingly, in company with Lieutenants Harvey, Fortescue, and Miner, he went to the front, Lieut. Pierce remaining at Culpeper, Lieut. Spencer being still upon Thorough- fare Mountain, Lieut. Halsted upon Butler Mountain, Lieut. Fralich at Hazel river, and Lieut. Briggs with Gen. Buford, wlio had occu- CULPEPER, VA. DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH. 237 pied Madison Court House, keeping up communication with Lieut. Spencer. As they were leaving Culpeper for the front, Lieut. Rowley received a message from Lieut. Spencer that the mountain was surrounded by a regiment of the enemy's cavalry, and that he would be obliged to abandon his position. Gen. Banks, by order of Gen. Pope, immediately ordered the 28th Pennsylvania to proceed to the mountain, retake it, and protect the signal officer. Not feeling assured of the safety of Lieut. Spencer, the Chief Signal Officer dispatched Lieut. Harvey and men with the 28th regiment to occu.py the mountain and open communi- tion with headquarters at Culpeper, and also at the fr'ont, near Cedar Mountain. Lieut. Spencer succeeded in regaining his position upon the mountain-top in advance of Lieut. Harvey, but was soon joined by that officer, vnth the regiment of infantry. Gen. Banks arrived upon the ground, accompanied by our advance, about 11 A. M. There was no position which the Signal Corps could get so as to command the field of battle, and as our troops were massed, there was nothing to be done in the way of signalling until Lieutenants Spencer and Harvey arrived upon the top of the mountain. Lieutenants Fortescue and Miner volunteered their services to Gen. Banks as aides upon the battlefield. The enemy opened with artillery about 2 P. ^L, and continued until about 4 P. M., when the infantry was brought into action. The signal officers were kept busy carrying orders for the general from 2 till 9 P. M., when the battle for the day was terminated. They were so much exhausted that no attempt was made to get Lieut. Spencer that night, but early the next morning Lieut. ^liner succeeded in openuig communi- cation with him. Lieut. Pierce remained at Culpeper, by order of Gen. Banks, to receive communications by way of the mountain. Lieut. Rowley, in his report, said : — "Too much cannot be said of the conduct of officers and men of the Signal Corps. Tliose who were not in the battle were upon duty elsewhere by order of Gen. Banks. Lieutenants Spencer and Harvey were of very great benefit to Gen. Pope. Their reports were correct, simple, and lucid, giving exactly the position and strength of the enemy, by which. Gen. Pope acknowledged to me, he was greatly aided. Lieutenants Fortescue and Miner acted with great coolness upon the battlefield, carrying messages from the general comrnanding, in the thickest of the fight. My horse was killed by a shot while riding him. None of our flagmen were in the battle." 238 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Gen. McDowell's signal party, commanded Ij}' Lieut. Fountain Wilson, also materially assisted Gen. Pope in the battle of (!edar Mountain, August 9th. In Gen- eral Orders No. 24 he refers to the valu- able service rendered by Lieut. Wilson, Lieut. Jas. B. Brooks, and Lieut. Samuel G. Adams, compliment- ing them for their energy and universal attention to duty. Lieutenants Brooks and Adams worked the station at the front under a continuous, and heavy fire during the entire day. Lieutenants P. A. Ta3'lor and Kichard Dinsmore occupied the station at headquarters. These points were kept in close connection, and many official messages were transmitted between them, until the smoke and dust occasioned by the fire of a battery stationed near the advanced position prevented further communication. Toward five o'clock in the afternoon the battle became general, and in the absence of signal communication these officers volunteered for staff duty, and while under a galling artillery fire performed service inciden- tal to this position -with gallantry and coolness. A little later in the evening the enemy had driven the battery from the hill ujjon which it was posted, thereby destroymg the chance of again establishing signal stations at the points occupied early in the day. On the 10th an incident occurred which exemplified the necessity for signal communication, and had it not been for its instant and intelligent use, a spectacle mortifying as it would have been calamitous might have been presented. During the day, communication with the left seemed in danger by the appearance of a large force supiposed to be the enemy. Col. Duffie, commanding the extreme left, ordered his troops out under arms ; the wagons were sent to the rear and the camp was broken up. Every arrangement had been made to give the approaching force a sharp reception. Amidst the panic created, Lieut. Charles F. Stone and Lieut. Nahum Daniels remained at their posts, and by their vigilant watch were soon enabled to announce that the supposed enemy was a part of our own army. This information, promptly delivered, prevented DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH. 239 the commission of a blunder which would have involved the destruction of many lives, and might have had a disastrous effect on the morale of the army. On this day, communication was opened from headquarters, then at the front and near to the advance of the picket line, with Gen. McDowell's position, and also with the command of Col. Dulfie on the extreme left. From these stations the movements of the enemy were closely watched, and under instructions from Gen. Pope, the results of the careful examination were hourly transmitted to headquarters. Headquarters, Army or Virginia, Rappahannock Crossing, Va., Aug. 21, '62. General Orders No. 24. The Major-General Commanding takes occasion to acknowledge the very valuable services rendered by the signal officers of this army and the parties BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN. under their charge during the recent operations of this command against the €nemy, and the engagement with him at Cedar Mountain. 2d Lieut. Joseph H. Spencer, 2d Minnesota Volunteers, who, during this period, was stationed on Thoroughfare Mountain, overlooking the camp of the enemy, was at one time driven with his party from that post by a regiment of rebel calvary, but returned thereto at great personal risk, and re-established his station within two hours thereafter. The information furnished by him from this station was of an important nature and assisted materially in the prosecution of operations. 1st Lieut. Brooks, 4th Vermont Volunteers, and 1st Lieut. Adams, 66th New York Volunteers, during the entire action on Cedar Mountain, were posted on the field of battle. 1st Lieut. E. C. Pierce, 3rd Maine Volunteers, stationed at Culpeper, and 1st Lieut. Wilson, 5th Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, by their energy and universal attention to duty during this time in furnishing and receivino- 240 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. signal messages, rendered valuable service to the major-general commanding the army. By command of Maj.-Gen. Pope, George D. Ruggles, Colonel, A. A. G. and Chief of Staff. The army was now slowly falling back on Washington. Confronted by a force immensely superior in numbers, the ground was yielded slowly, and the enemy's advance was sharply contested. With the usual movements of an army struggling against adverse circumstances, the time passed without serious action until August 29th, when the battle of Groveton was fought. In the confusion incidental to tliis backward movement, the oflicial papers and records of the signal party were lost, and in consequence only sparse accounts of the services then rendered are accessible. In the retreat the signal party had served with the rear, keeping a constant watch on the enemy's movements, their reports serving as a guide to the movements of our own army. When the battle of Groveton opened, the signal party was in a disorganized condition, separated into small detachments by the duties of the previous week. They were not, therefore, available for effective service. Indeed, the labor had been so incessant, and the hoiu-s of rest so few, that they were physically incapable of the great exertion required for the performance of duty on the field of battle. It was on this account that verbal instructions were sent by Gen. Halleck on the next day for the immediate concentration of a party of twelve signal officers and their transportation to the front. These officers were gathered from the signal party attached to the Army of the Potomac, which had arrived in Alexandria from the Peninsula the day previous. This party reached Centreville September 1st and reported for duty. While the Army of Virginia was meetiag with sad reverses, the Army of the Potomac was on its way from the peninsula to its relief. In the closing days of August it arrived at Alexandria, and a large portion of the troops were immediately advanced to the aid of Gen. Pope. The signal party ordered on duty with the advance line reported just in time to participate in the last engagements of the disastrous Bull Run campaign. They were assigned to different stations, on which they served until the army commenced to yield and the fin'al defeat compelled its retirement. In the retreat toward Washington, they were with the rear lines, occupying prominent positions for observing the approach of the enemy. DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH. 241 While the army was thus actively engaged, the fear arose that Gen. Lee would quietly move the larger part of his troops across the river into -Maryland, and appear before Washington in force, before their absence was well established. With the intention of obtaining precise information of the movements of the enemy's left wing, Gen. Banks dispatched the signal party of his command upon a reconnoissance toward the Potomac. September 1st, Lieutenants Rowley, Fortescue, Briggs, and Miner left headquarters near Centreville on the march in the direction of Leesburg. Their instructions were to observe the movements of the enemy, and report the results of their observations by telegraph to headquarters. As the most available point from which these observations could be made was the Cotoctin Mountains, the joarty made all haste in that direction, but they were foiled in this plan by the proximity of the enemy. The party was compelled to cross the river and ascend the Maryland side. After a march of three days, they arrived at the Point of Rocks. As the enemy were approaching the banks of the Potomac it was determined to make such a distribution of the party as would prove most beneficial. Accordingly, the next day, Lieut. Fortescue was stationed upon Maryland Heights,* Lieut. Briggs at Poolesville, and Lieut. Miner on Sugar Loaf Mountain. From these points an extensive range of country was visible, and after careful observation the officers were instructed to report by signals, twice each day, the results of their watch. While Lieut. Miner remained on Sugar Loaf Mountain, constant communication was sustained and a strict surveillance kept up. On the afternoon of September 5th, the enemy had not appeared in force, and it was deemed advisable to hold the station until the next day, although it was known that small bodies of the enemy's cavalry were committing depredations in the vicinity. During the night the enemy moved his infantry and cavalry toward Frederick from White Ford, advancing by both river and mountain roads. Lieut. Miner retired from his station and sent his flagman, A. H. Cook, to Poolesville to telegraph the fact to Washington. This was the first official information the government had that the rebel army was in Maryland. The next day, Lieut. Miner and his flagman attempted to return to their station. They suddenly met in the road two rebel cavalrymen, completely armed, while they had simply revolvers. However, they looked back and yelled, " Come on, men, here are the rebels." At that the rebels turned and ran, with Lieut. Miner and his entire force in pursuit. An immediate demand * See Map of BtaTper's Ferry, Chap. XXII. 242 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. for surrender \\'as ac(|uiescecl in l)y one; the other, spurring his horse to a rapid gait, escaped. The captured caA'abynian proved to be a liearer of dispatclies from Jefferson Davis to (ien. Lee. Three minutes later a brigaile of cavalry came up, led by (ien. \\'ade Hampton. A mcjment after. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart rode up and cried out, "Are the dispatches all right? Are the dispatches all riglit?" On being assured of their safety, turning to Lieut. .Miner and Cook, he said, " Good morning, gentlemen, I am very happy to see you." They replied, " Ciood inorning. General, we are sorry we cannot return the compliment." He laughed and said, "• (3h, well, it is the fortune of \\'ar, you kno«-," and giving orders to his men to treat them well, he rode off. Lieut. IMiner and Cook were with Gen. Stuart during the .Maryland campaign, witnessing the battles of South ^Mountain and Antietam from the rebel side. The rel)els were badly beaten at Antietam, and their prayer was that ]\lcClellan would not renew the battle the next day. The day after the battle, Miner and Cook, with some six hundred other pjrisoners, were started for Richmond, Va., where they arrived after a terrible march, more dead than alive. They were confined in Libby prison until Octol)ei' 5th, when they were released on parole and sent to Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md. The other officers of the party reti'eated as the enemy advanced, and although Lieutenants Rowley and Koe barely escaped capture, they succeeded in reaching our army in safety. After the engagement at Bull Run the army fell back towards ^^'ashington, and A\'ith the excejjtion of the fight at Chantill}-, no battle was fought until the campaign on the iMaryland side had been inaugurated. During the few days the troops remained in and around the fortifications about ^^'ashington, the signal pai'ties were kept busy Avatcliing the enemy. No time was afforded for rest or the re-equip- ment of the eiimmand. The parties attaclied to the armies of the Shenandoah and A'irginia were liere joined liy the detachment serving with the Amiy of the Potomac. 'Hie recent campaign had scattered the officers and men, and some of them had lost all property, both public and private. In the disasters then recent no time had been found to combine and supply the individual officers separated by their duties, and the chaos prevalent in the last stages of the retreat still remained. In the urgency of the times efforts were at once made to place these parties in effective condition, and by a combination with the larger parties then in Alexandria and vicinity this was accomplished. Signal parties were posted on the prominent heights DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH. 243 .about Washington, and the country withui telescopic range was all tlie time under their observation. Sunday, September 7th, the Army of the Potomac took the field for the campaign in Maryland. The movements of the Armies of the Shenandoah and Virginia were so closely commingled with those of the Army of the Potomac, after Gen. Pope was relieved of command, that the record of the signal parties connected with the former armies will be given in the chapter devoted to the Army of the Potomac. Gen. Pope in his final report said : " The detachments of the Signal Corps with the various army corps rendered most important service, and I cannot speak too highly of the value of that Corps, and of the important information which from time to time they communicated to me. They were many times in positions of extreme peril, but were always prompt and ready to encounter any danger in the discharge of their duties." SUMMIT OF MAKYLASD HEIGHTS. I hear the inarticulate murmurs flow Of the faint wind-tides breathing like a sea ; When, in clear vision, softly dawns on me (As if in contrast with yon slow decay) The loveliest land that smiles beneath the skj', The coast-land of our Western Italy. — Paul Hamilton Haynk. CHAPTER XIII. DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. SOON as the officers and men detailed under the orders of August 14th were mstructed, the selections for field duty began. The first regular detail from the Camp of Instruction was under the following order : — Headquarters Signal Camp of Instroction, Georgetown, D. C, Oct. 9, 1861. Special Orders No. 9. First. 1st Lieutenants Theodore S. Dumont, Edward J. Keenan, Henry S. TafFt, and William S. Cogswell; and 2d Lieutenants Franklin E. Town, H. Clay Snyder, and Ocran H. Howard, acting signal oiRcers, will proceed without delay to Annapolis, Md., and report for duty to Brig. -Gen. Thomas W. Sherman. Second. Sergeants William R. Elston, Charles E. Hubbs, and Samuel M. Heed, Corp. Christian F. Oestericher, and Privates Thomas Armstrong, Andrew S. Cobb, B. F. Eberly, John D. Emerson, W. D. Ellsworth, J. B. Freeman, J. Hudgen, A. S. Peterson, Christian Smith, and John Tilley, are detailed as signalmen and will accompany the party. They will carry three days' cooked rations. Third. Lieut. Dumont will be signal officer in charge. Fourth. If practicable, the arrangement of officers for duty will be as follows : With Gen. Sherman, Lieutenants Dumont, Tafft, and Cogswell; with Gen. Wright, Lieutenants Keenan and Howard ; with commander of 3rd Brigade, Lieutenants Snyder and Town. This arrangement will, of course, be varied if deemed advisable by the commanding officer. By order of Maj. Myer, Samdel T. Cdshing, ] St Lieut. , 2d Infantry, Asst. Signal Officer. 246 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Of this exiieditioii, the destination of which was at first kept a close- secret, Maj. H<)^vard writes : — " We reported to Gen. Sherman dismounted, supposing that we could be supplied with horses by the quartermaster of the expedition. Disappointed in this, horses were shipped to us for the officers by Lieut. Evan Thomas, quarter- master of the Signal Camp at Georgetown. Our knowledge of horses was well exemplified in our choice, by lot, from these seven animals when they arrived. As in all games of chance, with me, the last chance was mine. Six ofRcera having made selection, I had Hobson's choice. The horse which fell to me proved, ultimately, to be the best in the lot, a good feeder, of remarkable intelli- gence, and a perfect saddle horse. My memories of ' Moses ' will always be pleasant. " Before the expedition sailed from Annapolis, the officers were assigned as follows : " Lieutenants Taffl and Cogswell, to Brig. -Gen. Isaac I. Stevens ; Lieutenants- Town and Snyder, to Brig. -Gen. H. G. Wright; Lieut. Keenan and myself, to Brig.-Gen. E. L. Viele. Lieut. Dumont remained, of course, with Gen, Sherman. "We embarked at Annapolis the 19th of October. Gen. Viele's headquarters were on the steamship Oriental, commanded by Capt. Tuzo, a Nantucket seaman, whose skill and ability as a, sailor and navigator were amply demon- strated during the stormy voyage which was to follow. The Oriental had been chartered from the New York and Havana Line, and as she had been victualled for her regular trip to the West Indies, we lived ' en prince ' ; at least it seemed so to us after six months in camp with the crude army cookery of that period. The horses of the general staff were shipped on a separate vessel, the steamer Belvidere. " We sailed from Annapolis October 21st, and reached Hampton Roads, our rendezvous with the naval squadron and army, on the following day. Here we were detained for a week by some tardy transports and by foul weather. Hampton Roads during this time was fairly filled with the vessels of the expedi- tion, — ships of war, gunboats, North River ferry boats which had been hastily converted into gunboats, steam transports having on board the twelve thousand troops of the expedition, freighters, river steamers, and sailing vessels of all rigs, with provisions for the army and coal for the navy, forming a novel and hetero- geneous flotilla such as had never been seen before. " October 29th, we sailed from Fort Monroe under sealed orders, for our then unknown destination. Our voyage was a stormy one. November 1st, the fleet was dispersed by a gale. Some vessels were lost — the Peerless and the Governor — the latter having on board six hundred marines, all but seven of whom were, however, saved by the crew of the sailing frigate Sabine. One steamship, the Union, was driven upon the coast of North Carolina, where the survivors were DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 247 made prisoners. Some put back to Hampton Roads, in distress, among these the Belvidere, with our horses, which did not reach us until some six weeks later. Others were saved by throwing their cargoes overboard, and reached their destination so racked and shaken that they were never again fit for the sea. Considering the violence of th^ gale and the unfitness of many of the vessels, it is remarkable that so few were lost. The Oriental, a staunch new iron steam- ship, ably handled by Capt. Tuzo, ' made fair weather of it.' " On the night of November 4th, they reached, among the foremost and with the leading naval vessels, the bar off the harbor of Port Royal, S. C, this having been found, upon opening their sealed or- ders, to be their destin- ation. Other vessels came straggling in for several days after. "On the 17th, after due preparations, the war vessels Wabash, Susquehanna, Mohican, Seminole, Pawnee, Una- dilla, Ottawa, Pembina, and Vandalia, the latter an old sailing sloop-of-war, towed by the gunboat Isaac Smith, at- tacked and reduced the rebel forts. Walker and Beauregard, while the gun- boats Bienville, Seneca, Penguin, and Augusta attended to the rebel Commodore Tatnall's nondescript cotton-clad gunboats in Broad river above. It was suspected that this south- Lf '.^W\ ^ ^'"'^ flotilla was intending to take advantage of ouy ^^^^__£oo_/^ navy's occupation with the forts to steal out of the river and attack our unarmored transports. It could hardly expect to cope with our war vessels. " Of this gallant engagement of the navy with the forts, the army upon the transports, which had moved in over the bar at the entrance of the harbor, was but an interested spectator. "During the engagement, the war vessel Pocahontas, commanded by Commander Percival Drayton, United States Navy, arrived and participated in the bombardment of Fort Walker, which was commanded by his brother. Gen. Thomas F. Dray'ton, Confederate States Army. The navy took possession of the forts and raised the United States flag over them. Toward evening the troops were landed, relieving the naval forces, who returned to their ships." 248 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Capt. Tafft furnishes the following memoranda bearing upon the early movements of the " Expeditionary Corps " : — " On the morning of November 4th, the steamship Atlantic, the headquarters of the Commanding General of the Army, arrived off Port Royal, the only ship then in sight being the steam frigate Susquehanna which had anchored a. short time previously. The flagship Wabash and many other vessels of the naval squadron arrived during the day, together with most of the transports with troops and stores. Signal communication was immediately opened between army headquarters and the flagship, and with the brigade commanders, and was maintained without interruption until the troops were landed upon the surrender of the rebel forts on the 7th. " Every signal officer connected with the expedition was required to be constantly on the alert to observe signals from the flagship Wabash, as it was expected that troops would be ordered to land at any moment. The prompt surrender of both the rebel forts, Beauregard and Walker, and retreat inland of the enemy, was the signal for this movement and the troops at once landed and took possession of the works and stores of the enemy. " The duty performed by the Signal Corps up to this point was of a most important character and practically demonstrated the great superiority of this system of aerial signals over any other method known to the world. " Immediately after the troops had landed, Lieut. Dumont was relieved from duty and ordered to report to the Chief Signal Officer at Washington, D. C. Lieut. E. J. Keenan, being the senior officer of the detachment, was placed in charge. The officers and men were constantly employed in opening stations and daily practice, the former acting also as aides-de-camp to the generals upon whose staffs they were serving. " The first permanent station established was upon the roof of a large plantation house at the extreme northerly point of Hilton Head Island, Port Royal Bay ; another at the fort at Bay Point on Phillips Island opposite Hilton Head, three miles distant ; another at Drayton's plantation near Skull Creek, also three miles from head- quarters, forming a triangle. Within the next few weeks a line was established to Braddock's Point, at the southern end of Hilton Head Island. A station was erected upon the plantation house formerly owned and occupied by the noted South Carolina nullifier, John C. Calhoun, and in full view of Fort Pulaski at the mouth of the Savannah. The service Tendered by this means of communication between the outposts and the headquarters of the little army under Gen. Thomas W. Sherman, and the navy under Commodore (later POPE HOUSE, HILTON HEAD. HENRY S. TAPPT B '\V. .1. KHICNAN \V, S. COOSWKLIi W^4^mf!i-; £;:£t££iS:iiUIV^BflRK(JM^H^BVnEQ9SUBBIGB I'AUL UROniK TiII()^^. I'. UfSr-Il'.Y MTI/rON M. FF.XXF.K crWTAVUS s. dana . « II. I'. HAWKINS T. I.. n'ATi''ir".r,T) (HAS. F. i':;nss Til ICO. f. VI HA I. .^=^Pv ^?^p VVM. H. HAMNBR -inHN M. HRAH DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 249 Hear Admiral) S. F. DuPont, was of the highest character and of inestimable value to each. They discovered its eminent practicability for the transmittal of messages of any kind or upon any subject day or night, and that the informa- tion obtained by-signal officers and men could always be relied upon." Tlie Chief Signal Officer of the Army gave speedy recognition to the efforts and success of this detachment by the following circular : — " Hkauquauters Signal Corps, "Washington, D. C, Nov. 27, 1861. " Sir : From the reports made to me by yourself and the signal officers under your command and by other means, I have been led to form a high opinion of the efficiency of the signal detachment during the late expedition which terminated so gloriously at Port Royal. I therefore with great pleasure express to you, and through you to the entire detachment, my thanks for the energy, activity, and ability with which they have executed their instructions. I may add that I have taken official steps to bring the name of every officer in your command before the •commander-in-chief. " You will please read the above to the officers and men of your command, and furnish a copy to each officer. " I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, " Albert J. Myer, " Signal Officer, Major U. S. A., " Commanding Corps. *' E. J. Keenan, " Commanding Signal Officer of the Expeditionary Corps." When, thirty days later. Gen. Stevetis's brigade took possession of Beaufort, communication by signals was opened thence to Gen. Slierman's headquarters at Hilton Head, a line which necessitated two intermediate stations, — one at Fort Beauregard on Bay Point, and the other on Cane Island. Of the latter Lieut. Howard was placed in charge ; Lieutenants Tafft and Cogswell were at Beaufort ; Lieut. Town at Bay Point, and Lieut. Snyder at Hilton Head with -Lieut. Keenan. Gen. Stevens at Beaufort, being on the frontier as it were, made use of this line day and night, a glass watch being constantly kept during the winter of 1861-2, though much interrupted by the fogs which prevail upon the rivers and bayous of the coast. Jan. 1, 1862, occurred the first instance of the employment, in actual ■warfare and under fire,, of the army code of signals by our own army. It was used by Lieutenants Tafft and Cogswell, in the combined land and naval attack upon the rebel batteries upon the Coosaw river, 250 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. materially aiding in their capture by our forces. This was called the battle of Port Royal Ferry. The troops were commanded by Gen. Isaac T. Stevens, the naval forces by Com. C. R. P. Rodgers. The following communications indicate the character of the service rendered by Lieutenants Tafft and Cogswell on this occasion : — Headquarters Second Brigade, E. C, Beaufort, S: C, Jan. 4, 1862. Major : I have the honor to report that I was present and took part in the battle of Port Royal Ferry on the 1st inst., Lieut. "Wm. S. Cogswell on board the gunboat Ottawa, acting in concert with me. Gen. Stevens (commanding our troops) directed all the firing from the gunboats during the battle through the signal officers, naming different points where their shells should be thrown, when to cease firing, when to open fire, etc., thus enabling the gunboats to use their artillery with as much precision as though they were upon the field, and consequently creating terrible slaughter among the enemy. I had before the battle caused to be made some two dozen flags, blue and white, to be carried by our troops, to prevent any mistake by firing upon each other, and also to assist the firing from the gunboats, which I believe was a great assistance, and effectually prevented any such unfortunate errors. Lieut. Cogswell and myself had also ai-ranged a simple code for certain messages, which enabled us to work with surprising quickness, and by so doing added still more to the success of your system of signalling. I believe that an impromptu code can always be arranged by signal officers for use upon an important occasion of this kind, and when they know their ground, which will prove of immense service. I fonnd in this manner that I could send a message from the battlefield to Lieut. Cogswell between the discharges of artillery, when the smoke lifted, which could not otherwise have been done. My flag was repeatedly fired upon, the enemy seeming to understand its use and importance. Their battery, which was concealed in the woods, threw canister and shell directly across the field in which I was stationed, and, although they struck all around and near me, -neither myself nor the man with me (Sergeant Reed) was hurt. My feet were first upon the shore of the mainland of South Carolina, the signal flag the first to wave, and it was kept constantly flying during the whole engagement. At 10 P. M., I returned to Beaufort with a despatch for Gen. Sherman, at Hilton Head, announcing our success, and Lieut. Town immediately went back to the ferry to act in my place in case of necessity. I believe that the very great assistance rendered by the use of your system of signals aided very materially in gaining a victory for us, and that fact I also DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 251 think is fully impressed upon the mind of the general commanding, as well as upon the oiRcer commanding the gunboats. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Henry S. Tafft, 1st. Lieut., 15th Mass. Vols., Actg. Sig. Officer. Maj. ALBEK.T J. Myee, Commanding Signal Corps. U. S. Flagship Wabash, Port Royal Harbor, S. C, Jan. 3, 1862. Sir: .... Lieut. Cogswell, a signal officer of the army, was directed to report to me for duty, and furnished me with the means of constantly t_ communicating with Gen. Stevens, with a __ facility and rapidity unknown to the naval service. I take this opportunity of re- commending that the code of signals in- vented by Maj. Myer be at once intro- troduccd into the navy. I have the honor to be, very respect- fully, your obedient servant, L ■^^)i\WX^^^^^^^^^ C. E. P. RODGERS, I '"•^t^\»»i>'''^'fv'''°'^^K^'^r Commander. 1. ^ ■^>"'""' -.----ii=:v. Flag Officer S. F. DdPont, Commanding South Atlantic Blockad- ing Squadron. POUT OlOrAL FEItRT BEFOEF, THE ATTACK HUADQUARTERS OF SeCOND BRIGADE, Beaufort, S. C, Jan. 3, 1862. Dear Sir : I desire to express my great confidence in your code of signals from my actual experience on the field of battle, and to call your attention to the great skill and merit of the signal officers of my command, — Lieut. Tafft and Lieut. Cogswell. In my official report of the affair at Port Royal Ferry on New Year's Day, I have stated that the signalling was a perfect success. It was, indeed, an extraordinary success. So far as I am advised, this is the first time it has been tested in actual battle.* It gives me the greatest satisfaction to be able to give this testimonial, from the circumstance that I had faith in your code from the beginning, as you will remember, and lent my humble name in favor of your appointment to your present position. Truly your friend, Isaac I. Stevens, Maj. Albert J. Myer, Brig-Gen. Commanding. Signal Officer of the Army, Washington City. * This, of course, ia an error, as the same code, essentially, was used by the Confederates five months before, at Bull Eun, with marked success. (See page 43, Chap. II.) 252 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. In recognition of the eminent service rendered by the signal officers on this occasion, the following order was issued by the Chief of the Corps : — H-EADQUARTERS SiGNAL CORPS, General Orders No. 24. Alexandria, Va., March 19, 1862. First Lieut. Wm. S. Cogswell, Co. I, 5th Regt. Conn. Vols., and 1st Lieut. Henry S. Tafft, Co. H, 15th Regt. Mass. Vols., acting signal officers, having carried their flags in action at Port Royal Ferry, S. C, and in a manner to receive the official approbation and mention of the military and naval officers under whom they were serving, will hereafter, bear upon their battle flags a star, bearing inscribed " Port Royal Ferry," in place of the block now borne. By order of Maj. A. J. Myer. Wm. S. Stkyker, Adjutant. In February, 1862, a combined movement of the army and navy was made from Port Royal to capture Fernandina and other important points in Florida. Gen. Wright was placed in command of the forces of the army, while Commodore DuPont commanded the navy. Signal officers were assigned to the general officers and naval commanders accom- panying- this expedition, and they bore a conspicuous part in its operations, and contributed, in no small degree, to its success. Constant communication was maintained between the vessels of the army and navy, and, upon the capture of Fort Clynch and Fernandina, March 1st, and while the enemy were fleeing from the town, a signal officer, Lieut. Tafft, and his two flagmen, by special permission of Capt. Godon of the frigate Mohican, were set on shore, this officer being the first representative of the army to land. He immediately sought out the most prominent house in the town, and occupied it in the name of the United States. Upon the cupola of this house, which was found to be the residence of the Governor of Florida, a signal station was at once established, and communication opened with the transports still off the bar. Among these was the steamship Empire City, loaded with troops and army stores. She signalled that she was hard and fast aground, a storm was coming on, and assistance must be rendered at once, or it was probable she would be wrecked. Lieut. Tafft immedi- ately informed the senior officer of the navy of the perilous position of the Empire City, and requested that a powerful gunboat be sent to her assistance without delay. This was done, and the ship was hauled off and brought into the harbor safely. It was a narrow escape, as the storm came on with terrific force within a few hours. DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 253 On March 2cl, Lieut. Tafft was ordered by Gen. Wright to proceed to Hilton Head as bearer of dispatches to Gen. Sherman, commanding department. Other officers of the Corps remained in Florida and continued to perform most valuable service with the forces occupying the important points named. Soon after the battle of Port Royal Ferry, Lieut. Howard was transferred to the station at Beaufort, S. C. He continues his record as follows : — "During the winter of 1861-2, in preparation for anticipated operations in the spring, a detail of officers and men was made from the different regiments of the command for instruction in signal duty. Among those whom I now remember were Lieutenants Paul Brodie, G-. S. Dana, Wilson Bruyn, C. F. Cross, T. L. Hatfield, T. P. Rushby, T. C. Vidal, M. M. Fenner, T. H. Carrique, W. H. Hamner, E. H. Hickok, George H. Hill, and William Reynolds. Capt. Charles L. Davis subsequently joined us from McDowell's army with his flagmen, Thomas C. McKean and J. W. Brown. " Early in Api-il, 1862, I was ordered from Beaufort to Big Tybee Island, at the mouth of the Savannah river, to assist in the reduction of Fort Pulaski. On the morning of April 10th, I was stationed in Battery Scott to observe the effect of the thirteen-inch shells, and in communication with other signal oflicers stationed in the mortar batteries, — Grant, Sherman, and Stanton, — in order to determine the range of these batteries. " After sending a flag of truce to Fort Pulaski, with a formal demand for its surrender, which was refused, eleven batteries opened upon the fort, at 8.15 A. M. These batteries mounted thirty-siK pieces of heavy ordnance, — ten and thirteen-inch sea-coast mortars ; eight and ten-inch columbiads ; thirty, forty- eight, sixty-four, and eighty- four-pounder rifles. The mortars seemed to be of little effect, although the errors in elevation and direction were repeatedly reported from Battery Scott, where I remained until I was ordered to Battery Sherman by Lieut. Keenan, who was stationed there. The rifles and colum- biads, however, during the ten hours they were served that day, did good execution, and made a considerable breach in the walls of the fort. To prevent the mending of this breach, the fire of our rifled guns and three mortars was kept up during the night. Promptly at daylight on the 11th, the fire of all the batteries was reopened, and pounded away until 2 P. M., when the fort displayed a very dirty substitute for a white flag in token of surrender. Fort Pulaski was then a wreck ;• a breach thirty feet in width was opened in her walls, and eleven of her guns had been dismounted. This was my first experience with a signal flag under fire. The total Union loss in the engage- ment was one man killed. "General Orders No. 2, Office of the Signal Officer, 1862, recites that Lieutenants Keenan, Howard, and Hill, acting signal officers, ' gallantly carried 254 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. and used their flags at the reduction of Fort Pulaski, Ga.,' and directs tliat they ' hereafter bear, as a mark of lionor, battle flags inscribed Fort Pulaski.' Flag- men S. M. Reed, C. Vj. Ilubbs, Andrew Peterson, Clark Abraham, J. B. Freeman, and A. S. Cobb were specially commended for their coolness under flre. " Tiie Confederate general, Lawton, at Savannali, reports that notwithstanding tlie fire kept up by us upon Fort Pulaski during the night of April 10th, he succeeded in throwing into the fort, under cover of the darkness, by moans of a small boat, a man detailed on signal service, who had recently reported to hira from Richmond. To this man, who returned to Savannah as . soon as our batteries opened up in tlie morning, Gen. Lawton was indebted for his earliest intelligence of the situation in the fort; but he expresses in a letter to Gen. Pemberton some doubt as to the value of this intelligence, 'owing', he says, ' to the very exciting circumstances under which he,' the signalman, ' entered and left the fort.' " From Tybee I returned to my station at Beaufort and remained there until June. June 1st, I embarked with Gen. Stevens on the steamer Flora, on the expedition to James Island. This expedition contemplated nothing less than the capture of Charleston ; but it was as unsuccessful as many subsequent ones were. " We landed on James Island June 2d. On the 3rd, a reconnoissance in force was made, and I was sent on board the gunboat Unadilla, the fire of which was directed by signals from Lieut. Keenan on shore, and did good execution. During our occupation of the Island, I was most of the time upon the gunboats Vhose flre was directed by signals sent me by Lieutenants Keenan, Taff't, and Hickok on shore, the enemy's position being concealed from the navy by the intervening woods. I served successively upon the Unadilla, Pembina, Henry Andrews, Hale, and Ellen. " When not on the gunboats I did duty as aide-de-camp to Gen. Stevens. During one ' aifair ' while ashore I was sent to withdraw the 28th Mass., which had been thrown into some disorder. I conveyed the general's order to withdraw, DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 255 to Lieut. -Col. Moore, who responded with alacrity, saying: 'Captain, I'm glad of that, the b'ys isn't used to it.' As he spoke, one of his men standing near my stirrup was struck in the mouth by a spent musket-ball. Spitting a mouthful of blood and loose teeth he remarked, 'Well! that man!' meaning, I suppose, the rebel who had fired the bullet. "For services rendered during this campaign Lieut. TafTt and myself were honorably mentioned by Gen. Stevens in his official report. "Returning to my old station at Beaufort, I received in August notice of my promotion to a captaincy in my regiment, to date from the 10th of that month, and made application to be released from signal duty. August 29th, I was directed by Gen. Hunter, who now commanded the Department of the South, to report in person to Maj. IMyer, the Signal Officer of the Army at Washington. 1 left Hilton Head on the steamer McClellan, Capt. Gray, with Gen. Hunter and staflF, the general going north on a leave of absence for sixty days. " Upon reporting to Maj. Myer, I was prevailed upon to forego my intention (if rejoining my regiment, and was'placed on duty in Washington." In his report of the unfortunate engagement at Secessionville, Gen. Stevens says : — " My signal officers, Lieutenants TafTt and Howard, are worthy of honorable mention. Lieut. Tafft took his station in an advanced and exposed part of the field, kept constantly in communication with Lieut. Howard at the gunboats and Lieut. E. H. Hickok at the battery, and was perfectly efficient and self-possessed under the heavy discharges of grape and canister from the enemy. In the latter part of the action he carried my orders and aided in the formations and movements." Lieut. Tafft was ordered to the command of a section of a Connecticut Light Battery, and directed to take it to the most exposed position on the field, in point-felank range of the enemy. This was done under a terrific fire of grape and canister; the guns were placed in position and opened fire and for thirty minutes were served rapidly and with great execution. Most of the horses were killed or wounded, the men were ordered to lie flat except when loading ; but two or three were killed, and a half dozen wounded. By this action the fire of the enemy on our right was silenced. When our forces retired the guns were drawn from the field by men instead of horses. With the exception of a slight skirmish, August 21st, quiet prevailed in the department until October 8 th, when another expedition was planned. Lieut. Keenan was directed to have a party organized to accompany the forces. It was not until the 20th that the troops were in readiness to move. Then it became known that a movement on the 256 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. mainland of South Carolina was to be made. The chief signal officer consulted with Gen. O. M. Mitchel, commanding the dejjartment, and made the following assignments : — Lieut. G. H. Hill, to the steamer Ben DeFord. " J. R. Findley, to the gunboat Water "Witch. " F. E. Town, to the gunboat Paul Jones. " T. L. Hatfield, to the gunboat Marblehead. " W. H. Hamner, to the gunboat Conemaugh. " T. C. Vidal, to the steamer Planter. " C. F. Cross, to the steamer Boston. At midnight of the 21st, the expedition got under waj and proceeded up Broad and C'oosawhatcliie rivers. At daylight the next morning the vessels anchored in the Coosawhatchie river, off the mouth of Poco- taligo, and the troops were disembarked, and pushed forward toward the railroad runiaing between Charleston and Savannah, without encounter- ing any opposition until they had marched six miles. Here the enemy made a stand. Fire was opened by our artillery and briskly replied to by that of the -enemy, who ,were posted in a thick wood. After an engagement of nearly an hour, the enemy fell back to the north of the creek, destroying the bridge in their retreat. Here they made another stand. Night coming on, our troops were ordered to retire, reaching the landing at the mouth of the Pocotaligo at 4 o'clock on the morning of the 23rd. The nature of the ground, thickly wooded, prevented anj- use of signals in the battles, but they were used extensively and with much advantage in the debarkation and embarkation of the troops, and while on the ^vay, between ■ the gunboats. In the action, Lieut. Hill acted as aide to Gen. Brannan, and Lieut. Cross as aide to Gen. Terry. The Signal Corps was employed in other minor movements this year. It participated in every engagement. It proved a valuable auxiliary, especially in sustaining communication with the naval forces, in which service there was not a single failure. The land service was not equally successful, the number of stations required proving an obstacle. The limited number of men and the insufficiency of apparatus also stood in the way of success. Capt. H. S. Tafft was announced Dec. 11, 1862, by Special Orders 382, Headquarters Department of the South, as Chief Signal Of&cer of the Department. By the 1st of April, the army was ready to move. Preparations had long been maldng for an assault upon the defences of Charleston. A part of the troops with their complement of signal officers had previously been transferred from the GEORGE II. HH^L GBOItGB S'niOOI' J. R. PIXDDBY OHAK.LES WEIHI, GEO, A. FISHER P. n. SCHI/AOHTER THOS. H. GAERIQUE THOS. E. WEBER .T()TT.\ D. COLVIN JAS. MfGIy.VrHKRY EDWARD P. AD.iMS W.M. W. CLBMEUS IMIAS. BOEERTS, JR. O.SI'AI; n. IRELAND DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 257 Department of North Carolina to the Department of the South. Officers were assigned to the different commands and naval vessels as follows : — Capt. H. S. TafFt, to the flagship Ben DeFord, with the general commanding. Lieut. H. Clay Snyder, with Gen. Hunter. " G. S. Dana, with Gen. Seymour. " C. F. Cross, with Gen. Terry. " T. L. Hatfield, with Col. Metcalf. " E. H. Hickok, with Col. Guss. " William Reynolds, with Col. Putnam. " T. C. Vidal, with Lieut.-Col. J. J. Elwell, Q. M. " F. E. Town, with Admiral DuPont on the Ironsides. " Geo. Stroop, on the sloop-of-war Canandaigua. Lieutenants C. C. T. Keith and E. S. Moffat, with Gen. Heckman. " James Schouler and E. B. Richardson, with Gen. Stevenson. Lieut. E. N. Peirce, with Col. Davis. Lieutenants J. W. Fletcher and Joseph Gibbs, with Gen. Ferry. Lieut. A. J. Holbrook, with Col. Howell. " J. W. Davis, with Col. J. J. DeForrest. " N. S. Cooley, to the gunboat Sebago. Admiral DuPont sailed from Hilton Head on the morning of April 2d for Charleston Bar. Gen. Hunter and staff sailed the following morning, reached Edisto, and anchored inside the bar, remaining until the 5th. They arrived off Stono Bar the evening of the 5th and communicated with the army and fleet inside. On the morning of the 6th, they joined the blockading fleet and the ironclads. Communication was immediately opened between the headquarters of Gen. Hunter, the flagship, and the sloop of war Canandaigua. During the preceding night, the colurmi of our forces under the command of Col. J. B. Howell, arrived at the head of Folly Island. Lieut. Holbrook at once opened conununication with the flagship, thus giving the first information to the commanding general that our troops were in posses- sion of the island. At 3 P. M., April 7th, the attack upon Fort Sumter by the ironclads was made, our fleet remaining in action about two and one-half hours under a most terrific fire. Immediately after the conclusion of the attack, the admiral reported by signals to Gen. Hunter the result of the engagement as follows : — To Gen. Hunter : Delayed in getting under way by accident, orders not reaching the leading ship. 258 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. We attempted to pass into the inner channel, but were obliged to anchor to prevent going ashore. Engaged the forts, but found it too late to continue. Casualties few. One ironclad disabled; two partially so; Ironsides very slightly; struck very often. Please inform senior naval officers. DuPont. The fol- lowing day Gen.Hunter was inform- ed by sig- nals that the attack would be renewed as soon as the disabled iron- clads were in order. Gen. Hunter awaited such movements until the afternoon, when Capt. Tafft received a confiden- tial dispatch from Lieut. Town to the effect that no further engagement would take place for the present. This information Capt. Tafft gave unofficially to Gen. Hunter, being, doubtless, the first notice he had received of such determination on the part of the admiral. In the afternoon Gen. Hunter left the Ben DeFord, and in a small steamboat went to Stono. On the morning of the 9th, the Ben DeFord sailed for Stono with dispatches for the general. Communication by, signals was constantly kept up with the troops on Folly Island and with the troops outside Stono. On the 11th, the general sailed in the Ben DeFord for Port Royal, followed by all the land forces with the exception of one brigade left in possession of FoUy Island, and one brigade at Edisto. Signal officers remained with these forces. A line was established from one end of Folly Island to the further end of Edisto, and between the gunboats and land forces. Admiral DuPont commended the zeal and efficiency of Lieut. Town and Lieut. Stroop. Capt. Tafft added : — DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 259 "Lieut. Snyder, upon tlie Ben DeFord ; Dana, with Gen. Seymour; and Cross, witli Gen. Terry, evinced, by prompt attention to duty, their appreciation of the responsibility of their positions. Other officers, perhaps, were equally diligent, but their positions were not such as to bring their energies into requisition. "No brilliant service was performed by either officers or men. Lieut. Town showed much bravery under fire, and his men, — Cornelius Cotter and John McLaughlin, — are deserving of credit for the faithful performance of duty." Before tlie sailing of the expedition just noticed, an event occurred which needs to be related : At midnight, on the night of March 12th, Lieut. Rushby and Lieut. Fenner, with their flagmen, were on duty at Spanish Wells, occupying the plantation house, upon which a signal tower had been erected. A party of the enemy crossed the river, landed between our picket posts, and surrounding the house made prisoners of Lieut. Rushby and Privates John Hudgen, John Newman, and A. S. C. Williams. The pickets, five in number, were also surprised and captured. Without waiting to search the premises, the party immedi- ately retreated at a rapid gait, and were soon without our hues. The reserve guard was aroused and a pursuit ordered, but it was unsuccess- ful. There was, at that time, some little discussion as to where the blame lay for the surprise effected by a force so small, audit was agi'eed that the captured pickets were dereUct in duty for not raising an alarm, they having surrendered without offering the slightest resistance. Before leaving, the enemy fired the building, but Lieut. Fenner, with the aid of the negroes of the neighborhood, extinguished the fire before it had occasioned serious damage. After the failure of the expedition against Charleston, the signal party were not called to other than routine duty until June. May 28, 1863, Lieut. Franklin E. Town was announced as Chief Signal Officer, Capt. Tafft having been called to Washington and assigned to duty as Chief Assistant to Maj. Myer at the signal office. During the month, six officers and eight flagmen had been transferred to the Department of North Carolina, and four officers and seven men had been ordered to the same department to be mustered out with their regiments. Lieut. Fenner had received an appointment as assistant surgeon in the navy, and had resigned his commission in the 8th Michigan Volunteers. The estimation in which the Corps was held by the army and the navy is indicated by the following communications addressed to the 260 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. officer who had done so much to make the Corps a useful and indispensable arm of the service in this department': — Capt. II. S. Tafft, Hilton Head, S. C, Signal Officer, Washington, D. C. Dec. 22, 1863. Captain: In reply to your communication of the 10th inst., I have to state that my position as sometime chief of staff to Gen. Hunter, commanding this department, gave the best and fullest opportunity of studying the system, of communication practised by the Signal Corps, since it was entirely by this system that prompt connection was had by headquarters with the contiguous naval and military stations along the coast. The general efficiency of the Corps was always admirable, and there were very few circumstances (and those due to exceptional conditions of the atmos- phere) under which the intent of the system could not be fully carried out. In this department such a system is strictly indispensable, and the long distances that separate its posts are rapidly and successfully annihilated. The facility with which essential information is conveyed on the field of battle is one of the most valuable points to be considered, and few, if any, commanders can now affiard to dispense with such assistance. Briefly, I cannot conceive how large operations can be conducted without the Signal Corps. It has become inseparably a part of every superior command. Respectfully, your obedient servant, T. Setmodr, Brigadier-General of Volunteers. Capt. Henry S. Tafft, Signal Officer, U. S. A., Near Wilmington, Del., Washington City, D. C. Dec. 31, 1863. Ml' Dear Captain : It had been my inteijtion before leaving Port Eoyal to express to you, through the commanding general, my high appreciation of the labors of the Army Signal Corps in the Department of the South, so far as they related to the naval force under my command. The system itself elicited the highest commendation, and its adaptation ashore and afloat become every day more striking and valuable. I was first impressed with its superiority on our passage down with the " Expeditionary Corps,'' for it enabled me to keep up a ready communication with the army transports, and I am convinced that but for directions that I gave to several vessels — and which I could only have transmitted by these signals — on the eve of a dangerous gale we encountered, we should have experienced serious disaster from collision. You were also present when, soon after, the excellence of the code was further tested by the rapid intercommunication between the squadron of gunboats in the Coosaw river and the army on shore during the battle of Port Royal Ferry, under the lamented Stevens. Commander^ DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 261 C R. P. Rodgers, who commanded the naval force on the occasion, closes his official report to me in the following words : " Lieut. Cogswell, a signal officer of the army, was directed to report to me for duty and furnish me with the means of constant communication with Gen. Stevens, with a facility unknown to the naval service. I take this opportunity of recommending that the code of signals invented by Major Myer be at once introduced into the navy." While thus expressing my unqualified approbation of this beautiful system, which I had occasion to use so frequently, both by day and night, I deem it my duty to state how efficiently the signal officer of the army performed his duties while on board the ships of my squadron, evincing on all occasions conspicuous zeal. To yourself, captain, as the senior signal officer in the department, and to your untiring attention to promote everywhere the efficiency of the service, much of this was due, and I shall recur to our official and personal intercourse with great satisfaction. I am, my dear Captain, yours respectfully, S. F. DdPont, Rear Admiral, U. S. N. June 4th, Lieutenants Hatfield, Hainner, Weber, and J. W. Davis accompanied Col. Barton, 48tli N. Y. Vols., on an expedition for the destruction of Bluffton, v^hich was successfully accomplished. The enemy having opened fire upon Folly Island, and tvi^o of the stations being in range of their shells, Lieut. Town thought it best to place two more officers at Gen. Vogdes's headquarters. His numbers were so greatly reduced now that he could only supply the working stations by abandoning the line between Hilton Head and Fort Pulaski, the magnetic telegraph there taking the place of the signal line. On the 26th the line to Beaufort was discontinued. June 12th, Gen. Q. A. Gillmore assumed command of the Department, relieving Gen. Hunter. He immediately began to make preparations for active operations. The signal party in the field comprised thirteen officers and forty-two men, all of whom were constantly and profitably employed. By means of a high lookout tower on Folly Island, the general was kept in perfect communication by signals with his entire command, though operating on James, Folly, and Morris Islands. Gen. Terry sailed from Hilton Head on the 7th of July, as commander •of a division, and having requested that Lieut. Cross and another officer might accompany him. Lieutenants Cross and Brodie were assigned to that duty. Lieut. Hawkins was ordered to accompany Gen. Stevenson from Edisto, leaving Lieut. Bruyn at the latter point to communicate 262 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. with the fleet remaining there. Upon the arrival of Gen. Terry at Folly Island with 3,800 men, he sailed up Stono river on the evening of the 1:1th, to make a demonstration on James Island. Communication was kejit up Avith him from the wharf. On the same day. Col. Turner, chief of staff, had directed that communication should be opened with the wharf and also with the signal tower from the headquarters, which were at the White House on Folly Island. Lieut. Cooley was stationed at the wharf and Lieut. Fenner at the intermediate station on Cole's Island. The line of communication to the tower -was through the Palmetto station. A\'hile Gen. Terry was moving up the Stono, 2,000 men under Gen. Strong were silently moving up Folly Island river in small boats to Lighthouse Inlet, southwest of Morris Island. They reached the island about 7 o'clock on the morning of the 10th. For two hours Vogdes's batteries on the northern end of Folly Island threw shot and shell into the enemy's advanced worlcs, while Admiral Dahlgren's ironclads, Catsldll, ^fontauk, Nahant, and Weehauken, kept up a cross fire throughout the day, giving special attention to the silencing of the guns of Fort Wagner, on the northern part of the island. Lieu- tenants Hickok and Hatfield were with Gen. Strong ; Lieutenants C'ross and Brodie with Gen. Terry. Each expeditionary party had been furnished with two plain and two parachute rockets. The plain rocket was to be used if they were successful, the parachute if they were unsuccessful. The officers with Gen. Strong were directed to take a position as soon as they had landed on Morris Island, from wliich they could, if necessary, direct the fire of our batteries on Folly Island against the enemy, and prevent its injuring our own troops. At 3.30 A. M., Lieut. Town, with Lieut. G. S. Dana, started for the signal tower which was to be the headquarters of Gen. Gillmore during the engagement. Arriv- ing at daybreak, communication was opened with the Palmetto station, from whence, after the fire was opened, a line of couriers was established to the batteries. Gen. Terry's movement was entirely successful, drawing the enemy's attention from the real point of danger, and leading them to send a PALMETTO STATION. DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 263 portion of their forces to James Island, Avhere they were not needed, to that extent weakening their forces on Morris Island. Fire was opened from all our batteries at 4.40 A. M. Lieut. Weber was stationed on the tower ; Lieut. Dana at foot of tower. Commrinication was opened with Gen. Strong in Folly Creek, and with Generals Seymour and Vogdes, the former at the batteries, and the latter at the Palmetto station. At 8.40, the batteries on Morris Island having been silenced, our batteries ceased firing, and Gen. Strong pushed forward to land, having been four hours with his command in boats, under fire of shrapnel and shell, and Gen. Gillmore at once started for the head of Folly Island. Lieut. Town accompanied him. Arriving at the light- house, he saw that Gen. Strong had effected a landing, and he immedi- ately opened communication with Lieut. Hatfield, who was on the north side of Lighthouse Inlet. Proceeding to the beach, Lieut. Hatfield called the attention of the Signal Officer of the fleet, and was able to prevent the monitor from throwing shells among our own troops, who were supposed by those on board, when first seen crossing the sand hills, to be reinforcements for the enemy, the monitor's guns having, already been trained to bear upon them. By 9 o'clock, all the rebel batteries had been carried, and three-fourths of Morris Island was held by our troops, our skirmishers pushing up to a point within musket-shot of Fort Wagner. During the afternoon, communication was opened from Craig's Hill on Morris Island with Lighthouse Inlet, where troops were crossing, and with the tower on Folly Island, whence communica- tion was maintained with headquarters through the Palmetto station. Lieut. Vidal accompanied Gen. Seymour to Morris Island. The intense heat and the exhaustion of the troops prevented an immediate assault upon Fort Wagner, but the picket line was established well up toward the fort. Lieut. Hickok was sent to the picket line to keep open communication with Gen. Seymour, whose headquarters were at Craig's Hill. This station, as well as the station with the picket line, was under the fire of some long-range guns on Fort Sumter. Early the next morning Gen. Strong attempted to carry Fort Wagner by assault. Lieut. Hatfield and Lieut. Hickok accompanied the column. The troops reached the parapet, but were met with such a withering fire that they were compelled to retire. Gen. Gillmore, convinced that the fort could not be carried by assault without a great sacrifice of lives, determined to sit down before it and secure it by siege. He now made his headquarters on the Mary Benton, sometimes in Lighthouse Inlet, and sometimes in Folly River, but in 264 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. either place the signal tower on Folly Island was in view. The head- quarters of the officer in charge of the trenches was at the right battery, near the Beacon House, and a signal officer was stationed there. During the night of the 14th, the enemy twice attacked our lines on Morris Island, but were driven back. Cos ton lights and a preconcerted code of signals were used to communicate intelligence of the attack to Gen. Seymour's headquarters. Lieut. Cross, with Gen. Terry, on James Island, maintained uninter- rupted communication with Gen. Gillmore, and had also established communication with Lieut. Brodie on the Pawnee. At daybreak on the 16th, a strong force of artillery and infantry, — Georgians, fresh from Virginia, — fell upon Gen. Terry's line and also opened on the Pawnee. They expected to surprise the Union troops and advanced rapidly, driving in the 54th Massachusetts, who were holding the picket line. The Pawnee was under a very heavy fire of artillery, and received a large number of shots before she could get. into a position to reply. While Lieut. Brodie's flagman, William R. Elston, was sending a message, a round shot entered the side of the ship, about fifteen inches from him. Although making a number at the time, he did not stop nor make an error. Flagmen John Tilley and Thomas C. Parsons were also complimented for their faithfulness and their steadiness under fire. Lieut. Brodie received a slight wound in the neck and shoulder from a splinter. Lieut. Cross's station on James Island was at one time almost cut oif by the enemy. Again the Signal Corps prevented the navy firing into our own troops, the Pawnee having trained her guns upon a body of our own men, who were mistaken for the enemy ; but Lieut. Cross enabled Lieut. Brodie to prevent the terrible mistake. Lieut. M. P. Hawkins assisted Lieut. Cross in directing the fire of the gunboats. The enemy were compelled to retreat with a loss of some 200, while our own loss was 46, killed and wounded. The next day Gen. Gillmore ordered the evacuation of James Island, as he required more men on Morris Island; and he feared the position of Gen. Terry was no longer tenable. The estimated strength of the enemy on James Island was 5,000 or 6,000, while Gen. Terry's was 3,500. This engagement of July 16th is called the battle of Secessionville, or Grimball's Landing. Gen. Gillmore had determined to make a second assault on Fort Wagner on the 18th, moving promptly at daylight. A terrible storm delayed their preparations and dampened their powder so that they were not able to move until half-past twelve. Gen. Gillmore had moved DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 265 CRAIG'S HILL TOWER. over to Morris Island and made his headquarters at a signal tower huilt upon Craig's Hill. Lieut. Vidal was stationed at the right hattery, Lieut. Hatfield at the centre, and Lieut. Fenner at the left battery. During the afternoon, two, and some- times three, flags at a time were at work on the Craig's Hill station. Just before dark, Lieut. Carrique relieved Lieut. Fenner, who was directed to relieve Lieut. Vidal, he being exhausted through loss of sleep. Our ironclads moved up to within a few hundred yards and poured in their heaviest shot and shell, receiving in re- turn the fire of the fort and of Fort Sum- ter. From our fleet and batteries fully one hundred guns thundered through the greater part of the afternoon. Fort Wagner replied with only two guns, her men resting securely in their bomb-proofs, awaiting the assault which they knew must come.* The ■column moved at dark, Gen. Strong leading the advance, the first brigade. The last half mile was covered at a double-quick. Few fell until they had almost reached the fort, when a sheet of flame swept through their ranks, while the flanking bastions raked the crowded ■ditch and hand grenades bore down those who were climbing the face of the parapet. Among those who first fell were Col. Robert G. Shaw of the 54th Massachusetts, and Gen. Strong, mortally wounded. Our forces held the southeast salient for more than an hour, but finding it isolated, and commanded by the main body of the fort, they abandoned it. Our own loss was 1,515, killed and wounded, while that of the enemy was only 188. Lieut. Hickok, though ill at the time, and Lieut. Hatfield were with 'Gen. Strong during the assault. Both were slightly wounded. On the 20th, our batteries reopened on Wagner, and continued ■a fire more or less heavy, and sometimes aided by the fleet, until the 17th of August. Our troops were employed in building works and mounting guns to breach Fort Sumter. During this time we had :stations at the right battery and left battery, which were both under fire, and at which officers and men were relieved every twenty-four hours. During this time these stations were occupied in turn by nearly all of the officers and men, and all rendered good service. On the 27th * See page 213, Chap. XI. 266 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. of July, Lieut. Peter H. Niles arrived at Hilton Head with two signal telegraph trains, which reached Folly Island on the 30th. By direction of the general commanding, Lieut. Town left one train on Folly Island and brought one to jMorris Island. He immediately proceeded to have officers and men instructed in their use in order that he might get them into the field as speedily as possible. On the 2d of August, he considered them sufficiently instructed to warrant opening a line. Accordingly, in compliance with directions from the general commanding, he ran a line from his headquarters to the second parallel near Wagner. They started from headquarters at 6 P. M., and at 11 o'clock the line was opened and worked satisfactorily. They Avere compelled to leave their wagons at the Beacon House,, and proceeded the rest of the distance on foot. This line worked with perfect success during the whole of the operations, the only interruptions occurring when the line was cut by the enemy's fire. That portion of it above the Beacon House, being exposed to fu-e from Forts Wagner, Gregg, Sumter, Johnson, and the batteries on James Island, was cut a number of times, but was repaired with no interruption exceeding ten minutes in duration, excepting on the night of the 16 th of August, when a shell exploded in the splinter-proof where the instrument was, wounding Private J. D. Emerson severely, and so injuring the instrument that it had to be taken to headquarters to be repaired. On the 6 th, at 12 o'clock midnight, Lieut. Town commenced running a line of signal telegraph on Folly Island to connect the wharf at Stono with the south side of Lighthouse Inlet, whence they communicated by signal \vith headquarters. This line was completed at 6 P. jM. of the 7th, liaving taken eighteen hours to put it up. The delay was occasioned by the inexperience of the men in this duty. This line was laid a large portion of the way on the marsh in the rear of Folly Island, but after a few day's trial, ffiiding that at high tide when the wire was submerged it did not work well, indicating some defective place in the insulation, it was taken up and put on poles, after which it worked without interruption. On the :ird of August, Lieut. William S. Andrews reported to Lieut. BEACON llOCSE. DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 267 Town, in obedience to orders from the Signal Officer at Washington, approved by the War Department, with instructions to introduce a system of signalling adapted to use on the iron-clad navy under very- heavy fire. Having in furtherance of his order exhibited his instructions and plans to Rear Admiral Dahlgren, he obtained permission from him to have any necessary apparatus constructed at the naval machine shop at Port Royal, and on the 5th started for that purpose. He returned with some apparatus on the 14th, but so near the time of the intended attack on Sumter that the admiral had arranged his plans of signals ; and his fleet-captain, Capt. George W. Rodgers, declined to accord it even a trial. The attack, however, having been postponed, it was, in the- meantime, by permission, put upon the monitor Passaic, and worked, demonstrating its practicability. In the top of the pilotrhouse of the monitors there was a hole about six inches in diameter, through which the compass is observed at sea, where it is suspended above the ship on a frame or tripod. Lieut. Andrews says : — " My plan was to screw an iron (or wooden) rod upright into one of the screw-holes made for the tripod. The signal ball was attached to the rod in' such manner as to be alternately raised or lowered. The ball was of bunting, on a frame of steel springs like the ribs of an umbrella, except that they were- fastened to a ring at both ends, and could be closed or opened like an umbrella.- It was so made in order that the whole apparatus could be passed up and put in place through the opening in the top of the pilot-house, without exposing anything more than the hand and arm of the operator ; and also taken down in the same way. " I constructed several sets for the monitors off Charleston, S. C. The work was done under my direction at the naval machine shop (on board an old ship) at Hilton Head. There I found everything necessary except steel springs for th& ball frames. To get those I bought up all the hoop skirts the suttlers ashore had. They had brought them do wn to sell to the negro women , but I cornered the market. ' ' Adm iral Dahlgren extended every courtesy to me and gave me the freedom of the fleet. The fleet captain (Eogers) and the officers generally treated me politely, but I was made to understand that army officers were not wanted aboard ship. I had been for nine months signal officer aboard the flagship, with Com- mander (afterwards Commodore) Foxhall A. Parker, off Yorktown, in 1862-3, and was, therefore, at home on shipboard. But as my presence was not desired, and I did not wish to appeal to the admiral, I went ashore and reported to Mr. Town. " I then learned that he had had some difficulty with naval officers before that, and that there had existed some unpleasant feeling in consequence. 268 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. " My signals were tried on board one of the monitors and worked satisfactorily ; but I have no knowledge that they were ever used in action. The naval cadets of the class of 1863 were instructed in army signals, so that it was not necessary after that for army officers to be sent aboard the gunboats." For further particulars touching the relations of army and navy signalling, the reader is referred to an interesting article by Lieut. Andrews, entitled " An Episode of the War," which will be found in a book entitled " Lotos Leaves," published by the Lotos Club of New York, in 1872. At daylight on the 17th of Augtist, the breaching batteries having been completed, fire was opened upon Fort Sumter, the navy assisting by firing on Wagner. Col. Turner made his headquarters daily at the Beacon House, a position exjoosed to considerable fire, and a signal ofiicer was stationed there every day to communicate with headquarters via Craig's Hill and the left batteries. Lieut. Fenner had charge of this station most of the time, although it was worked at times by several other officers. The fire of the breaching batteries continued to be directed upon Fort Sumter until the 23rd, when, it being considered practically ruined, the fire was reduced to an occasional shot, to prevent repairs being made. The same arrangement of signal stations on Morris Island was continued until the 6th of September. On the 20th of August, the Chief Signal Officer had been directed to open communica- tion with Black Island, where some troops were stationed. Accordingly he had sent Lieut. Stroop there. Black Island was in direct communication with headquarters. Our troops, under the charge of the engineers, were sapping toward Fort Wagner, and on the evening of the 25th of August, having approached near to the ene- my's rifle-pits, a charge was made upon them, which was unsuccessful. On the 25th, at dark, the attempt was renewed and was successful, the* enemy's rifle-pits being: FOllT WAONF.E AT THE POINT or iSSlUlT. ^, ,,, „,, ,^ taken by the 24th Massa- chusetts Volunteers. On the latter occasion, a signal flag, under charge of Lieut. Carrique, was posted at headquarters grand guard, second parallel, and when the troops were formed and all was ready, the signal to charge was made, under orders of the general officer of the trenches, by this flag, and the regiment charged. That night, our advance being DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 269 SO near the fort, and no obstacle intervening, Gen. Terry anticipated a sortie, and to give timely notice of it, if made, Lieut. Town arranged the following code for the use of countersign signal-cartridges, and sent cartridges and equipments to the advance and , to the second parallel, viz. : — White : Preparatory and advancing. White-red : Enemy has attacked our advance. White-green : Enemy has been driven back. Red : Enemy has driven our advance in. Red- White : Enemy is advancing in force on our works. Green : Send reinforcements. Green-white : All is well again. He also sent the equipments and cartridges to the left battery and to Black Island. On the night of the 6th of September, preparations were complete for an assault upon Wagner the following day, but during the night, the general commanding having learned of the evacuation of the fort, our forces were pushed forward to Fort Gregg, and possession was taken of it and Fort Wagner, with some prisoners. Lieut. Hatfield accompanied this column, but no signals were made, the general in command not wishing to show lights unless compelled by urgent necessity. Our signal telegraph line was immediately extended to Fort Wagner, and communication opened at 5.30 A. M. of the 7th of September. Lieut. Dana had charge of establishing this line, and on the 10th it was extended to Fort Gregg. On the night of the 8th of September, an expedition in boats was sent to assault Fort Sumter. Lieut. Vidal accompanied the force, and he was directed to open signal communication from the fort, and remain there if the expedition was successful. It returned, however, without having been able to accomplish its object. In addition to the duties performed in the field, a board for the examination of officers of the acting Corps met on the 11th of August, and adjourned sine die on the 15th, having examined all the officers of the department who were 'disposed to compete for appointment in the Corps. A board of the officers for the examination of the enlisted men of this department, with a view to their transfer iiito the Corps, met on the 3rd of August and continued its sessions from time to time. It examined forty-eight men, and recommended the transfer of forty-two to the Corps. 270 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Beside the flagmen alreacl}- mentioned, the following were compli- mented by the Chief Signal Officer for brav- ery under fire : Sergt. J. C. Wolverton; Cor- porals O. N. Bender, George ]\Iaag, G. D. Eliinehart, C. F. Oester- icher, Robert jM. Bechtel, and W. H. George ; and Privates W. H. Ramsajr, W. S. Marstou, J. D. P r o u d m a n, Wilson Eddy, Clark Abraham, A. J. Fowler, John Yan- dervault, S. M. Riely, Thomas Tracy, Cor- nelius Cotter, C. H. Smedes, John D. Emer- son, James G. Ford, C. E. F. MiUer, H. W. Mason, Geo. A. Hawks- worth and C. P. Brig, ham. Sergt. Wolverton and Private Emerson were especially commended by the general officers in charge of the trenches for their fearlessness on many DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 271 occasions. Corp. Bender had the flag shot from his hands while .signalling at the advanced batteries. During the latter part of September, the Chief Signal Officer suggested to Gen .Gillmore the practicability of a line of signal communication between headquarters on Folly Island and Hilton Head. The plan .submitted contemplated the erection of three towers, respectively at Botany Bay, Otter Island, and St. Helena Island. On the 6th of October, an order was issued directing Col. Serrell, commanding the New York Engineer Regiment, to build three towers at points designated "by Lieut. Town. It was found necessary to establish a station between Hilton Head and St. Helena Island ; so a reading room and platform were constructed at Jenkins's plantation, eight and a half miles from Hilton Head. The tower upon St. Helena Island was formed upon three very large hard- pine trees, and over them a framework in sections up to a total height of one hundred and thirty-eight feet above the ground. Communi- cation between Jenkins's plantation and the tower, six and one-half miles, was made by the military electric telegraph. The next station was on Otter Island, eight and one-half miles further np the coast. The framework consisted -of two towers, one within the other, counterbraced. The total height was one hundred and forty-two feet. The tower was stockaded, and could, with a good garrison, hold out against an attack of the enemy for some time. The stockade was flanked by salients at two angles. The ne?:t station was on Edisto Island, at Bay Point, five miles distant. This was a temporary work, forty-three feet high, sixteen feet square, standing on a sand hill about eighteen feet above high-water mark. It was surrounded by abatis, but was not otherwise fortified. The. next station was at Botany Bay, nine and one-half miles further along the line. Here was erected a tower one hundred and thirty-eight feet high and thirty feet square at the base. Being STATION AT BOTANY BAY ISLAND. .at an exposed point, it was well fortified by a stockade, flanked on the 272 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. angles by salients and protected by an abatis. The entrance was by ladders over the abatis and stockade. The ladders were movable, so that they might be drawn inside. In the tower, eighteen feet above the ground, a platform of timber was constructed, surrounded by a loopholed-wall of timber, four feet high and seven inches thick. The next station was at the south end of Folly Island, fourteen miles- distant. It was found that this distance was too great for effective signalling in bad weather, so a few weeks later a small intermediate- station was erected on Kiawah Island. The distance from the south end. of Folly Island to headquarters was three and one-quarter miles, making- the total length of line fifty-five and one-quarter miles. November 7th, Lieutenants Bruyn and Morrill were stationed at Botany Bay ; Lieut. Weber at Otter Island ; and Lieutenants Hatfield and Stroop at St. Helena Island. About ten days later, Lieut. Hawkins was sent to Kiawah Island station. Of the station on Big Bay Island, Lieut. Town says : — " I selected a sand hill over twenty feet high at Bay Point, and estimated that a tower upon it thirty-five feet high would communicate with both stations ; so I directed the engineers (six engineers, and fifteen infantry for fatigue duty) to build such a one. There was a great quantity of lumber obtainable from a small fort (never finished) , built by the rebels before our capture of Port Royal. The fort was lined throughout with planks, — even the traverses were faced with planks, — and a quantity lay unused outside. The frame was made that afternoon, and at night the party was taken on board the steamer, as we had no force for pickets. We again disembarked at daylight on the 20th, and I sent the steamer to Botany Bay to bring down Lieut. Morrill to take charge of the new station. The steamer returned at 3 P. M., and at that time the station was finished, — a perfect little tower, made in two working hours, — and from it I could see all of Otter Island tower, and about forty feet of Botany Bay tower. " On the 3rd I left St. Helena Village on the Peconic and stopped at all the stations, and on the fourth landed at Kiawah, and found the station there not what was wanted, but so it would work part of the time. As headquarters could not be seen from Kiawah, for want of sufficient elevation, I put an officer at the lower end of Folly Island. From this date until the 8th, I tried constantly to work through, but found great difficulty, on account of the Kiawah station being too far from Botany Bay, for so low a station. I did get some messages through, but not satisfactorily, so I went over and selected a place two miles nearer Botany Bay. I had a new station built there thirty feet high. This station was finished on the 12th, and communication was opened through, and I reported to the major-general commanding that the line was ready for duty. MILES W. QUICK TIIDS C. PAKSOXS r^"^! m- WJI. S. MARSTOX J. D. PROUOMAX IIORATIl) XEIIJSOX Wll. ITAGADdN II. R. CONGnOX L. P. STirKXl'^v JIICILVEL FI/)RY JAAl'BS (i. FI^Ull ALBERT «. WBA\"KU (U.ARK AiBRAHAM JUHX POSTER DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 273 He sent a message to Gen. Seymour at Hilton Head, and, as Gen. Seymour did not reply for some hours, — the reply starting just at night, — a fog prevented its getting through until the next day. The line continued to work well, with the exception that, during cold weather, it is a general occurrence that after sundown, the condensation of atmosphere makes a fog so thick as to prevent communication over a mile. "The station on St. Helena Island is built badly, and proves to be in the wrong place. By Col. Serrell's advice I took that place, he considering it to be in the best location and right for distance ; and as it had three large trees, so growing ;; j as to make three corners of the tower, which, he thought, would save much time in build- ing. The result shows that it took longer to build, is insecure after completion, and is about three miles out of the way. I think a tower on Hilton Head would enable us to communicate with the present one on St. Helena most of the time ; but with a tower at Hilton Head and one on St. Helena, much smaller than the present one, located three miles nearly due south (say ten degrees west of south) of it, would make communication easy and certain. It now takes about thirty minutes, under ordinary circumstances, to transmit a message of ten words from headquarters to Hilton Head ; but with these improvements the time would be reduced to twenty, or, perhaps, fifteen minutes, and it would relieve for oth^r duty two officers and twelve men, and dispense with the use of eight miles of wire, with the operators and men t^ keep it in repair. ' ' There were many unforseen and unavoidable delays and difficulties to over- come, which were entirely new ; but I think the success of the communication is no longer doubtful. There appears to be a wide discrepancy between the distance marked on the chart, by which I arranged my plans, and the actual distances. " Lieut. F. L. Morrill, 3rd New Hampshire Volunteers, and acting signal officer, deserves mention for the efficiency displayed by him in working the station at Big Bay Island. He remained there, alone, six weeks, his men imperfectly armed and without a boat, depending solely on fighting if attacked, no matter by what numbers, and picketed by a force from the 55th Massachusetts, whom he frequently found asleep on post, and passed in the night repeatedly without being challenged by the pickets. Certainly he has not been molested, but it requires INDIAN HILL TOWEB, ST. HELENA ISLAND. 274 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. some nerve to take a station so undefended and practically in the enemy's country^ and make it conspicuous by signals so as to tempt the enemy to attack it." The absolute necessity of using a cipher when signalling in the presence of the enemy was demonstrated during these autumn months by the ease with which the rebels read our messages. This led to the issuing of an order that all important messages should be sent in cipher. Among the multitude of messages intercepted by the enemy, the following were some of the more important : — September 1, 1863. Col. T. Open with all your guns on Sumter and keep them going till dark. GiLLMORE. • • • • September 4, 8.30 P. M. The stoppage of our fire at the moment of assault to-morrow about 9 o'clock is liable to uncertainty. I would, therefore, . . . the moment the Ironsides begins her rapid fire, say about 8.30 o'clock, that she shall hoist a red flag, and when half an hour of rapid fire shall cease, the flag shall be pulled down, which will indicate the entire cessation of her fire. The fire of all monitors is to cease when the red flag is hauled down unless directed against reinforcements from Gregg. September 5. Admiral Dahlgren. I shall try Cumming's Point again to-night, and want the sailors again early. Will you please send in two or three monitors just at dusk, to open fire on Moultrie as a diversion? The last time they were in, they stopped reinforcements, and may do so to-night. Don't want any fire in the rear from reinforcements. Gillmore. The signal for assault will be the hauling down the red flag on the Ironsides. I shall deploy skirmishers between Wagner and Gregg f. don't fire into them. Let the monitors engage the by 9 o'clock. (No signature.) September 6. Gen. Gillmore. Ten-inch gun in Wagner dismounted; 8-inch disabled or removed. Look out. T , Colonel. Col. T . Don't stop firing for any flag of truce to-day. Gillmore, General. Col. T . I signalled Admiral Dahlgren an hour ago that the monitors need not fire at Sumter. You take a look in front. I will have the Ironsides to stop also if you desire it. Gillmore. Admiral Dahlgren. Will send ofi" all excepting most needed. Gillmore. DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 275 Admiral DahlgriIin. Will you please make the Ironsides keep up a slow but steady fire on the right and rear of Wagner ? I will write you fully in reference to the plans, or see you myself this afternoon. Gillmoee, General. September 19. D . What shall be done with the guns and carriages directed by you to be put on the schooner Nellie Brown ? The schooner now draws too much water to leave the inlet. Gillmore. September 29. Capt. M . The 24th Massachusetts Regiment and 97th Pennsylvania are ■ordered to St. Augustine and Fernandina. When will transportation be furnished? T , General. (Reply.) Transportation is ready at any moment. How many men ? (Answer.) Twenty-fourth Regiment, 750 men; Pennsylvania Regiment, 660. It will take a large steamer for each. T , General. October 6. Admiral D . Trouble among the navy vessels. Heavy musketry fire near the Ironsides. T , General. Gen. Gillmore. Enemy quiet now. I did not receive any explanation of the firing near the Ironsides. T , General. G . Have not learned the cause of the alarm. Firing seemed to te around the Ironsides ; it continued some fifteen minutes. The admiral is outside ; I will signal to him. T . Admiral D . G is anxious to learn the cause of the firing last night. Will you be kind enough to inform me so that I can communicate it to him ? T , General. Gen. G . The admiral sends me the following dispatch: An attempt was made last night to blow up the Ironsides by a small steamer and torpedo. It failed signally, although the torpedo exploded at the right moment. There were four men in the boat, two of whom are prisoners. T , General. October 9. Gen. T . All the heavy guns are mounted at Gregg. All the guns are in position at Oyster Point. Has the general returned ? M , Captain. 276 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. October 14. Gen. T . How is the mounting of guns in Wagner progressing? Hurry the completion of small scows Captain B is building. G , General. Gen. G . Will finish mounting guns at Wagner to-morrow night. Capt. B will have ready to-moiTow night the five scows. Can two a day. T -, General. November 5. Gen. S . Will you order the 200-pounders in Fort Putnam to cease firing until further orders ? V , General. November 15. Admiral D The enemy have opened a heavy fire on Cumming's Point. Let some of your vessels move up so as to prevent a boat attack on the sea-front of the point. T , General. It is noticeable tliat the rebels intercepted very few messages after November 15th, and those few were of an unimportant character. The value put upon this work of the rebel signal corps by Gen. Beauregard is indicated by the following communication : — (Confidential.) Jan. 4, 1864. Lieut. Frank Markoe, Jr., Signal Corps. Sir : I am instructed by the commanding general to say that hereafter any member of the Signal Corps who shall obtain an important message of the enemy shall be entitled to a furlough of from ten to twenty days, according t» the importance of the message, which will be determined by these headquarters. Respectfully, your obedient servant, E. Kearny. Feb. 5, 1864, Capt. H. R. Clum arrived at Hilton Head and assumed charge of the signal detachment in the Department of the South. He found Gen. Seymour's command about ready to start on an expedition up the St. John's river, Florida. A signal party of four officers and fifteen enlisted men, under the command of Capt. G. S. Dana, was detailed to accompany the expedition. On the 20th occurred the disastrous engagement at Olustee. The services of the signal party were not conspicuous on the field, as the woods and thickets materially interfered with aerial signalling ; but in the managements of the vessels, and the close alliance of them with the land forces, when the distance permitted communication, the service could not be surpassed. DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 277 The defeat sustained at Olustee was subsequently attributed to the impossibility of the bearer of dispatches, who was sent to countermand Gen. Seymour's advance, communicating with the land forces. The transport in which Gen. Turner, chief of staff to Gen. Gillmore, sailed, arrived off the bar at the mouth of the St. John's river while a violent gale was raging. It was a dangerous experiment, if not certain destruction, to attempt an entrance. There was no signal officer on board, and in consequence it proved an impossibility to deliver the dispatches until the morning of the 20th, just after the battle had been fought. It is true that the signal arm did not prevent the disaster ; but it is almost certain that the presence of a single instructed officer would have secured the transmission of the information desired, and the battle, therefore, would never have occurred. While this expedition was operating within the boundaries of Florida, another command, under Gen. Schimmelfennig, was directed against John's Island, S. C. Lieutenants Andrews, Bruyn, and Head accompanied the expedition, but scarcely an opportunity occurred to bring signals forward. A book was found near Haulover Cut containing copies of messages that had been transmitted over the line between Hilton Head and Folly Island. The messages had been read from Botany Bay station by a man belonging to the Rebel Signal Corps. Tliis led Capt. Clum to issue an order that all official messages should, in future, be transmitted in cipher. Immediately after learning that the enemy had been reading our signals, a number of false messages were, at the suggestion of Lieut. Andrews, transmitted by order of the commanding general, through to Botany Bay station, in order to mislead the enemy, should any one be in position to read them. The expedition returned soon after the messages were transmitted, so their effect was not ascertained. On the 15th of February, by order of the general commanding the department, the signal line between Hilton Head and Folly Island was discontinued, and the officers and men on St. Helena, Otter, Big Bay, and Botany Bay islands were ordered to report at Hilton Head. At the same time Lieut. Andrews was placed in charge of the signal detachment in the Northern District, Department of the South. His command consisted of four officers and twenty-four enlisted men. Capt. G. S. Dana was in command of the detachment of the Corps serving in the District of Florida. A rebel signal code was found by Capt. Dana at Baldwin. It was the same as the one deciphered by Captains Marston and Thickstun in the Army of the Potomac in 1863. 278 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. On the 20th, Lieut. George A. Fisher, with twenty enlisted men of the Signal Corps, arrived from the Signal Camp of Instruction, Georgetown, and reported for duty. During the month nineteen enlisted men who failed to pass the examination for enlisted men, or declined to take it, were returned to their regiments. On the 9th of March, an expedition under Col. Gurney, 127th New York Volunteers, from Folly Island to Bull's Island, a place some thirty-five or forty miles up the coast from Folly Island, was accompanied by Lieul. W. W. Clemens and Lieut. Fred J. Amsden. They maintained communication both day and night. As the expedition was only in the nature of a reconnoissance, and the enemy was not encountered, there was nothing but routine work performed. In the District of Florida, two stations were opened, one at Yellow Bluff, about seven miles from Jacksonville in an air line, the other at the pilot-house at the mouth of the St. John's river, distant about seven and one-half miles from Yellow Bluff in an air line. At the Bluif a tower was built ninety feet high, and another on a church at Jackson- ville, eighty-five feet high from the ground. Communication between Yellow Bluff and the pilot-house was perfect; but there was no communication between Yellow Bluff and Jacksonville until a taller tower had been erected at the latter place. Communication was maintained with the gunboats in the river by means of preconcerted signals. During this month the enlisted men were armed with pistols. As the Signal Corps in the Department of the South was not mounted, the sabres in the hands of the men were turned over to the acting ordnance officer of the detachmei^t. In May, the station at Pilot Town, at the mouth of the St. John's river, was closed by direction of Gen. Birney, as we had no troops at that point. At the Yellow Bluff station vessels could be seen as soon as they entered the mouth of the river, and their arrival could be signalled to Jacksonville immediately. On the 22d of May, a reconnoissance was made on James Island. Some of the enemy's rifle-pits were taken by our troops, but the enemy having been reinforced, our troops were obliged to withdraw from the island. Lieut. Charles Roberts, Jr., with the assistance of Sergeants Colvin and Parsons and their flagmen, rendered good service. Lieut. Roberts was on Folly Island with Gen. Schimmelfennig, commanding the Northern District ; Sergt. Parsons was on Cole's Island, and Sergt. Colvin on Long Island. As the general commanding remained on DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 279 Folly Island during the whole time, his communication with the front was wholly by signals. On the 25th, Gen. Birney left Hilton Head with a force of 2,000 men, for the purpose of destroying the Jacksonborough bridge and some of the railroad between Charleston and Savannah. Lieutenants Fisher and Carrique accompanied the expedition. Two of the transports by mistake went up the wrong river. One of them, the Boston, loaded with troops and horses, ran aground, was riddled by a rebel battery, and, to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy, was burned. The expedition then returned to Hilton Head, not having accomplished its object. The only signalliag that was done was in keeping up communi- cation between the vessels. No other occasion offered, owing to the failure of the expedition. About the i^rst of June, Sergt. Colvin was stationed at Fort Strong, on Morris Island, with the several codes heretofore used by the rebels, for the purpose of reading the enemy's signals if possible. For nearly two weeks nothing could be made out of their signals, but by persevering he finally succeeded in learning their codes. Messages were read by him from Beach Inlet, Battery Bee, and Fort Joluison. Gen. J. G. Foster, who had assumed command of the Department of the South, May 26th, was so much pleased with Sergt. Colvin's work, that in a letter addressed to Gen. Halleck, he recommended " that he be rewarded by promotion to lieutenant in the Signal Corps, or by a brevet or medal of honor." This recommendation was subsequently acted upon, but, through congressional and official wrangling over appointments in the Corps, he was not commissioned until May 13, 1865, his commission dating from- Feb. 14, 1865. During the last days of June, preparations were made for an expedition into the interior. In accordance with instructions , from Department Headquarters the following assignment of signal officers, with their flagmen, was made : Lieut. Brodie, to Gen. J. P. Hatch; Lieut. George A. Fisher, to Gen. William Birney; and Lieut. Carrique, to Gen. Rufus Saxton ; Capt. Clum going with Gen. Foster. Lieut. Charles Roberts, Jr., remained with Gen. Schimmelfennig. On the afternoon of July 1st, the fleet set sail. At midnight the command arrived off the mouth of North Edisto, and when it became sufficiently light, the route was continued up the river, the troops under Gen. Hatch embarking at Seabrook Island, lying southwest of Kiawah. The remainder of the forces, under Gen. Birney, stayed on shipboard. 280 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. and under cover of night proceeded up the stream to White Points Avhere a landing was effected. The next morning the column advanced inland, skirmishing with the eneni)', for a distance of five miles, when a deep creek confronted our forces. The bridge was torn up, and the ford was commanded by a six- gun battery. Meanwhile the general-in-chief had proceeded up the Dawho river in the revenue cutter Nemaha, accompanied by the gunboat Geranium and the armed transport Croton. On arriving abreast of the troops on land the enemy opened fire on the vessels. The fire was returned by the vessels and a fight of two hours' duration ensued. It was impossible, however, to dislodge the battery. Under these circum- stances it was deemed hazardous to assault by land the strong position occupied by the rebels, and the withdrawal of the troops was directed. During the succeeding night this was effected without opposition. The next morning the transports got under way and continued up the Stono river to James Island, where they effected a landing a short distance above Legareville. In the meantime Gen. Hatch had crossed from Seabrook Island to John's Island and had arrived within a short distance of Stono river. Gen. Schimmelfennig had also made an attack on James Island, and held the position A^'hich he had secured. From the inception of the expedition to the time of arrival at James Island, communication had been sustained. The various general officers freely held intercourse during the passage from Hilton Head to North Edisto river, and while the troops were landing at Seabrook Island signals were repeatedly called into requisition. During the fight m the Dawho river the services of the signal officers were of special value, and secured the sure and speedy transmission of directions and orders. When the command arrived on James Island, signal communication was established with Admiral Dahlgren on the fleet in Stono river. But it happened that the Signal Corps could render good service in another direction. As already mentioned, Sergt. Colvin's patience and industry had been rewarded with the secrets of rebel coramunication. Stationed at a prominent jioint, his duty called for the interpretation of the messages of the enemy constantlj' flying from post to post. Through this arrangement, the intentions of the enemy, the commands of their general, the movements of the troops, and various other valuable infor- mation was submitted to the general commanding. As an evidence of the value of the gleanings of this station, it is only necessary to give a specimen message intercepted : — DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 281 July 9th, 6.30 P. M. Gen. [Felix H.] Robertson: Your two telegrams of 1 o'clock to-day received. Do not attack, but take a strong position, and do your utmost to prevent the enemy from advancing. Their object is to establish batteries in position to enfilade our works on James Island. Your especial duty now is to prevent them from doing that. If you accomplish that, it is all that I can expect at present. Take care of your men ; that is, do not hurl them rashly against the enemy. Put them in a good position to keep the enemy back. If this is an intended general advance, your attack this morning will make them pause. Gen. [Samuel] Jones. At the same time many messages such as the following were read, and furnished to our gunboats for their guidance in the capture of blockade runners : — The Druid and Kate Gregg will attempt to run out to-night. Our batteries have been instructed to permit them to pass. Please notify your pickets. Gen. Robertson. After the command reached James Island, there was not frequent occasion for signals, excepting on the line to Admiral Dahlgren's flagship, and another line extending between the headquarters of Gen. Foster and the position occupied by Gen. Schimmelfennig. But various other stations were maintained, and were ready for instant use. The principal of the these were at the White House and Legareville on John's Island, and at the advanced position of our troops on James Island. Several of these points were subjected to the enemy's fire. Quiet now prevailed in the northern district ; but a movement was shortly commenced by the troops stationed in Florida. The command under Gen. Birney left Jacksonville on a reconnoissance. Lieutenants Hatfield and Vidal accompanied the column, but the nature of the country prevented the employment of signals. During the month, Sergt. Colvin added additional laurels to the fame he had earned as a successful interpreter of rebel signals. The enemy had adopted a new cipher for the transmission of important messages, and the labor of deciphering it devolved upon the sergeant. Continued watchfulness at last secured the desired result, and he was again able to translate the important dispatches of the enemy for the benefit of our ■commandants. The information thus gained was frequently of special value in our operations, and the peculiar ability exhibited by the sergeant led Gen. Foster once more to recommend his promotion. 282 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. An accident wMch occurred to the tower on Morris Island led to the serious injury of an enlisted man, — Peter C. Dick. During a strong wind it was blown down while he was on watch. Happily the injuries received were not fatal. August 9th, Capt. Clum was relieved from the command of the detachment, and Capt. Jesse Merrill substituted in his place. During the month, the regular stations were in operation, but no active movement by the troops was made. The scarcity of signal officers was at this time a continual source of annoyance. Lieut. Andrews had resigned, and Lieut. Brodie had been transferred to another department. Their absence did not occasion a reduction of the stations, but it did prevent the establishment of new stations, and would have materially interfered with success in signalling, had a movement in force been, made. During the succeeding months of September and October, no offensive operations were attempted. The management of the usual signal lines was continued, and as occasion required, new and eligible points were occupied and manned. The interpretation of rebel messages still continued, which greatly annoyed their operators. In consequence, the code was frequently changed. It was not until November had nearly expired that any signs of activity became again apparent. On the 28th, the anticipated arrival of Gen. Sherman's army at some point along the coast kept the signal observers on the alert. An expedition under Gen. Hatch was sent against the Charleston & Savannah railroad. Its passage was by the way of Boyd's Neck Landing. All the available signal officers accompanied the party. They maintained communication from vessel to vessel, and from the fleet tO' the shore ; but the expedition failed to accomplish the object for wHch it had been organized. November 30th, it fell back to the place of landing and formed a new line. From this point, within a few days, another expedition, under Gen. Potter, was arranged, having the same object in view. Capt. Merrill and Lieut. Carrique, with their flagmen, reported as the signal detach- ment, for duty. It started with an extra supply of torches and turpentine, with the intention of setting fire to the bridges, and destroying other portions of the road. This, too, proved unsuccessful, as the troops failed to reach the railroad . Nothing further occurred of an active nature until the 12th, when a scout, — Capt. Duncan, — arrived from Gen. Sherman's army as the DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 283 bearer of dispatches, as will be more fully described in the chapter on the Army of the Tennessee. Among the communications thus forwarded was one from Capt. McClintock, notifying the signal party here stationed to maintain a constant watch for signals near the Ogeechee river. Gen. Foster, accompanied by Capt. Merrill and Lieut. Fisher, at once proceeded to Warsaw and Ossabaw Sounds. At this latter point, Lieut. Fisher was ordered on board the gunboat Flag, lying near the mouth of the Ogeechee river, and instructed to use every means in his power to open the desired communication. He induced the captain of the Flag to fire a heavy gun six times in succession, after which several rockets were thrown into the air. After a short interval, a faint sheet of light was seen to rise in the direction of the river. Another effort from the gunboat produced the same result, but the distance was too great to make reliable signals. This was about 1 A. M., of December 13th. At 4 A. M., Lieut. Fisher went on board the tug Dandelion and proceeded up the river, all the while scanning closely the horizon in every direction for signals. The tug stopping just outside the range of Fort McAllister, the lieutenant obtained a small boat, and accom- panied by Sergt. George C. Hardy and Private C. H. Smedes, with four oarsmen, proceeded along the shore to a point nearly opposite the fort. Here he entered a small creek, where he was con cealed from the enemy by the high grass of the marsh. His attention being attracted by the firing of Gen. Hazen's command in its assault upon the fort, he discovered a fiag upon the old rice mill,* about three miles distant from the position he occupied. At once returning to the tug, he had it moved up past an opening in the woods, through which the guns of Fort McAllister ranged, and succeeded in running the gauntlet in safety. The rice mill now being distinctly visible, the general call was made, and immediately answered from the mill. The following correspondence by signals then took place : — Who are you ? Fisheu. McCliutock, Gen. Howard's signal officer. How can I get to you ? What troops are in Fort McAllister ? Fisher. *See Chapter XVIII. DANDELION. 284 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. We are investing Fort McAllister with Gen. Hazen's division. Gek. Howard. Gen. Howard. What can we do for you? We are ready to render you any assistance. Gen. Foster, Admiral Dahlgren. Gen. Foster. Can you assist us with your heavy guns? Gen. Sherman. Being only a tugboat, we have no heavy guns. Lieut. Fisher. This was about 5 P. M., and during the whole time the musketry- firing about the fort became more and more distinct and rapid. The bugle sounding the charge was heard, and in a few moments our troops were swarming over the parapet. Then the following message was received by signals : — Gen. Foster. Fort McAllister is ours. Look out for a boat. Gen. Sherman will come down to-night. Gen. Howard. It, being now too dark to work, and having no torches on the tug, Lieut. Fisher returned to the gunboat Flag, whence he sent his dispatches GEN. 1-03TEB WELCOMING GEN. SHERMAN ON THE NEMAHA. to Gen. Foster, and then returned to the obstructions immediately below the fort. In a short time a small boat was seen approaching and was hailed, "What boat is that?" The answer in response came back, " Sherman," and the boat came alongside the gunboat. Generals Sherman and Howard immediately came on board, the air being resonant with the cheers of the enthusiastic crew. After writing his dispatches Gen. Sherman returned to the fort and Lieut. Fisher went down the DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 285 river to report to Gen. Foster and to forward Gen. Sherman's dispatches to Gen. Grant, etc. Meeting Gen. Foster coming up on the revenue cutter Nemaha, he transferred his party to that vessel and returned with it to the obstructions. Here he notified Capt. McClintock, by signals, of their arrival. Gen. Sherman came on board, and the vessel steamed down the river and up to Warsaw Sound, at which point Admiral Dahlgren joined them. In the meantime, Capt. Merrill was making efforts to open communi- cation with the right wing, but in this he was unsuccessful. Returning to Hilton Head on the 18th, he' withdrew Lieut. Roberts from the northern district, who, upon arrival, was sent to Fort Pulaski. At the same time Sergt. Parsons was sent to Braddock's Point, which place was an intermediate station in the signal line from Savannah to Hilton Head. Maj. George Ward Nichols, in his "Story of the Great March," says : — " Maj. Anderson, who commanded the fort, tells me that he did not anticipate an assault to-night [December 13th], and was hardly prepared for it when it came. In the history of the war there will scarcely be found a more striking example of the wisdom of quick and determined action than this assault. Had we waited, built intrenchments and rifle-pits, and made the approaches which attend siege operations, we would have lost many men and much time, and time at this crisis of the campaign is invaluable." The end of the year was now reached. It is fitting that at the close of this campaign the names of the most conspicuous officers and men should be recorded. In the reports rendered at that time, the following are mentioned for zeal, gallantry, and good condtict : Lieutenants Vidal, Carrique, Weber, and Fisher ; and Sergeants Quick, Cotter, Wolverton, Parsons, and Hardy, and the latter were recommended for promotion in the event of vacancies occurring. The opening month of the new year found the line from Hilton Head to Savannah, via Braddock's Point, in good working order, and it was used continuously until relieved by the electric telegraph. But the latter did not work satisfactorily, being occasionally broken, and in consequence it was deemed necessary to continue the signal stations. On the 23rd, however, the telegraph superseded the stations, and Lieutenants Weber and Roberts were called to the main camp. Again the telegraph wire was broken, and on the 27th these officers were directed to resume their former stations. An unusual accident soon 286 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. befell the signal line. The tower on Braddock's Point Avas burned, but the delay thus occasioned was temporary, as another tower, thirty feet in height, was speedily constructed. This was made sufficiently large at the base to furnish quarters for the officers and men there stationed. The line reopened, it was continued in operation during the month. As an evidence of the work performed it may be cited that two hundred and seventy-six messages passed over this line during January, many of which exceeded more than one hundred words. In the northern district Sergt. Colvin commanded in the absence of Lieut. Roberts, who was on duty in Fort Pulaski. The principal labors here were the intercepting of the enemy's signal messages, many of which contained important information. During the early days of February, several movements of minor importance were commenced, in which the signal party always participated. In the coast division, under Gen. Hatch, a movement from Pocotaligo to Charleston was made. The signal party under Lieut. Vidal accompanied the column, and was efficiently employed during the march. About the same time an expedition under Gen. Potter was organized to act in conjunction Avith the navy in the vicinity of Bull's Bay. Lieut. Fisher was with this command, and by maintaining communica- tion between the land and naval forces facilitated greatly the conjoined action of the command. Meanwhile every means was employed to intercept the rebel messages. Sergt. Colvin, assigned to this particular duty, read all the messages within sight, and when the evacuation of Charleston was determined upon by the enemy, the first notification of the fact came in this way before the retreat had actually commenced. As a reward for conspicuous services rendered in this capacity, Capt. Merrill recommended that the sergeant be allowed a medal, his zeal, energy, and labors fully warranting the honor. After the occupation of Charleston, communication was established by signals with Fort Strong on Morris Island, Fort Johnson on James Island, Mount Pleasant, and Steynmeyer's Mills. A line was also opened with the position occupied by the troops on the south side of the Ashley river. During the month following, no change occurred in the stations operated. To properly qualify the sergeants for the command of independent stations, a systematic course of instruction was inaugurated. The condition of affairs in this department now gave promise of little additional activity. As the necessity for signal communication ceased DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 287 to exist, the stations were gradually discontinued, until the line that connected James Island and Mount Pleasant was the only one in operation. A breakage in the cable that connected Fort Pulaski and Savannah necessitated the renewal of signal communication between those points, which was accomplished through an intermediate station on St. Augustine Creek. To secure this line from interruption it became necessary to build a tower, which not only gave prominence to the station but also furnished quarters for the detachment there on duty. This duty was continued until June arrived, when the further employment of the signal party was unnecessary. Those men detailed for temporary duty in the Signal Corps were returned to their regiments, and those who had enlisted in the Corps proper were mustered out of the service. gfrejairiife The tents that whitened Arlington have vanished from the fields, And plenty, where the cannon stood, a golden harvest yields ; The campfires gleam no more at night, and pleasant mornings come Without the blare of bugles or the beating of the drum. But though the camps have vanished and the tents are laid away. An army waits upon the knolls in undisturbed array, — A legion without banners, that knows no music save The wailing of the dead-march and a volley o'er the grave. — S. M. Carpenter. CHAPTER XIV. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. LIFE and camp instruction was continued no longer than was considered absolutely necessary. Early in October, 1861, the combined land and naval movement, called the "Port Royal Expedition," was planned. Gen. Thomas W. Sherman, the commander, applied for a detail of signal officers to accompany it. A party of seven officers and fourteen men, commanded by Lieut. E. J. Keenan, joined the expedition a few days before it sailed. The brilliant and efficient work of this detachment before Hilton Head and elsewhere contributed materially to the success of the expedition, and increased considerably the prestige of the Corps. In December, 1861, Maj.-Gen. Buell, commanding the Department of the Ohio, asked for a detail of signal officers. After the order had been given and countermanded several times, a detachment of five officers and ten men was sent under the command of Lieut. Fred. R. Shattuck. This was afterward the efficient signal party serving with Gen. Rosecrans in the Department of the Cumberland, and commanded by Capt. Jesse Merrill. Gen. Burnside, a few days before his expedition set sail from Annapolis for North Carolina, requested that a signal party be detailed for his army. Accordingly three officers and six men, commanded by Lieut. Joseph Fricker, reported at the rendezvous. A class of twenty-two officers was then detailed, and its instruction commenced. The Chief Signal Officer had at that time in his hands to supply the entire Signal Corps of the army, $208.94. Such scanty equipment as could be gathered was hurried to the party just as it was embarking. With the opening of spring came a general movement of the armies. As it was desirable to have the signal arm fully perfected and ready for service, the Corps at the camp was, March 7th, divided into three sections, each section containing eleven officers, and commanded 290 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. I'espectively by Lieutenants Fountain Wilson, Nalium Daniels, and E. H. Russell. A fourth or reserve section was in charge of Lieut. Samuel T. Gushing, while those officers unassigned to sections were placed in the care of Lieut. David AVonderly. The time for action had now arrived. At midnight, on the 9th of March, an order was received from Gen. McClellan directing the Corps to take the field. A party was assigned to each of the following division- generals, then at the places named : Gen. Keyes at Prosiject Hill, near Dranesville; Gen. McCall, Hunter's Hill; Gen. W. F. Smith, Fhnt Hill ; Gen. F. J. Porter, Fairfax Court House ; Gen. McDowell, Centre- ville ; Gen. Franklin, Fairfax Seminary ; Gen. Blenker, on old Fairfax road, toward Brimstone Hill ; Gen. Heintzelman, in reserve ; and the division of regulars at or near Annandale. The camp was struck before daylight. The headquarters of the Signal Corps were established on the night of the 10th at Fairfax Court House. On that evening all of the sections into which the Corps had been divided, with a single exception, had arrived at the points indicated in Special Orders No. 41, or were so near that the chiefs had reported in person to the different generals. One section was prevented by impassable roads from reporting before daylight on the morning of the 11th of March. On the morning of the 11th, information was received that the enemy had evacuated Manassas and were rapidly falling back toward the Rappahannock. On the morning of the 12th signal stations were established on the heights at Centreville, and among the ruins, yet smoking, at Manassas. The advance station at Manassas, in charge of Lieut. J. B. Luchvick, was some miles beyond our pickets, and with no guard. These stations were maintained for a short time at some risk and with considerable labor, while the main body of the army was at I-i'airfax Court House. An effort was made to connect Manassas and Union Mills by a line of signals. The attempt failed because it was found that the line would require more officers than could be spared. The writer, at that time a flagman for Lieut. Charles L. Davis (now of the 10th Infantry, U. S. A.), was on duty a short time at the Manassas station. The event that most vividly recurs to his mind, however, is the part that he took, in the more prosaic work of saving two loads of grain from the smoking ruins for the "stock," and a'few quarts of partly roasted filberts for the "boys," together with a few camp supplies from the comfortable quarters of Capt. Hardaway of the rebel artillerj^ ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 291 QoARER Gun He also vividly recalls the formidable appearance of the cannon looking out from the embrasures of the earthworks as we moved in with the advance at Centreville, and our unutterable disgust as we discovered that the awe-inspiring guns were simply logs of wood blackened with charcoal. In the reconnoissances we made at that time we found a station ' occupied by the Signal Corps of the rebel army before and at the time of the first battle of Manassas. In comiection with that fact Maj. Myer wrote : — " There is perhaps no country better formed by nature for the successful use of signal communication than on and near this battlefield. It was a subject of regretful remembrance that the army of the United States had not secured for it in that battle such aid as signals might have given it." On the 14th of March, headquarters of the Army of the Potomac were established near Alexandria, Va., and the detachments of the .Signal Corps were quartered in the town, the flat roofs of the houses furnishing very good stations for practice.* On the 'same day, a detachment of three officers and six men, supplied with extra stores, commanded by Lieut. J. B. Ludwick, was ordered to report to Maj. -Gen. H. W. Halleck commanding the Depar1> ment of the Mississippi, at St. Louis. At the same time, Lieut. E. H. Russell was ordered to report, with a similar detachment, to Maj .-Gen. B. F. Butler, commanding the Department of the Gulf. Lieut. Ludwick formed a class of twenty officers and forty men, who, after proper instruction, took the field with Gen. Halleck's army. Early in February, 1862, a movement of the troops under Gen. Hooker on the Lower Potomac was contemplated. They were, it was said, to cross the river and advance upon the enemy. A detachment of eight officers and twenty-five men, commanded by Lieut. B. F. Fisher, reported to Gen. Hooker for service in the expected engagement. The enemy abandoned their batteries before an attack was made, and the river was crossed without opposition. The party rejoined the main body of the Army of the Potomac in Alexandria in April, and went wdth it to the Peninsula. * See Chap. X, page 189. 292 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. During the month of March the following assignments for the coming campaign were made : — Lieutenants . Fountain Wilson, Richard Dinsmore, Charles L. Davis, Seymour Pierce, Fred K. Fuller, Peter A. Taylor, John A. Hebrew, Robert P. Hughes, James B. Brooks, Charles F. Stone, Herbert B. Titus, William H. Brown. To THE FiKST Corps, Gen. McDowell. Privates. Evan Russell, Wallace E. Cranmer, Thomas C. McKean, David Westfall, Jacob C. Kintner, R. M. Preston, Francis J. Bratton, David R. Sturgis, Otis B. Smith, Edward E. Small, George M. Lockwood, Jeremiah S. Bunce, A. K. Carothers, Eminger S. Kinch, J. Willard Brown, Melvin A. Burdick, Alexander J. Sober, James O'Hara, Alexander W. Morrow,' Charles A. Griffin, Elias B. Claflin, William H. Kalor, Edmund I. Fish, Lieutenants . Nahum Daniels, George H. McNary, Frank E. Yates, J. C. Paine, J. A. Johnson, Davis E. Castle, Joseph Gloskoski, Ernst Kurlbaum, F. J. R. Collin, Fred Homer, J. C. Wiggins, N. Henry Camp. To Lieutenants. Henry L. Johnson, C. C. Matson, F. W. Butler, John F. Robbins, A. B. Jerome, B. A. Leonard, Fred. W. Owen, Charles H. Carey, To THE Second Corps, Gen. Privates. William J. Bushby, James B. DufF, George W. White, Henry Apple, Nicholas Bogart (Smith) Henry G. Pease, P. Vinkborner, Anthony Tegethoff, Alexander McCoUin, Stacy Hassinger, Robert Jaggard, Charles H. Davy, Andrew E. Russell. Sumner. Elias C. Marvin, Luther C. Furst, Charles Wardell, Bernard McCormick, , Van Buren Sleeper, John M. Heimpel, Henry Thaler, Robert L. Ingram, Mahlon F. Ivins, Harry I. Myers, Albert J. Dickinson. THE Third Corps, Gen. Heintzelman. Privates. George F. Stone, Lewis Groendyke, Joel W. Patrick, William Cusack, George N. Simmons, Benson F. Stedman, Patrick Carle, John Ledger, George W. Stubbs, Charles F. Lord, John W. F. Curry, Richard L. Hewitt, Seymour Hultz, S. T. Ostram, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 293 Alexander M. Wright, Henry C. Fiske, George J. Clarke, W. G. McCreary. To Lieutenants. B. F. Fisher, Franklin Ellis, C. J. Clarke, Charles S. Kendall, William H. R. Neel, Isaac Beckett, E. A. Denicke, F. W. Marston, Charles F. Dwighi, Thomas K. Hastings, Charles Herzog, Harvey W. Benson. John Macutchen, Adin Forncrook, Edmund Clarkson, James Hudspath, THE Fourth Corps, Gen. Privates. Samuel Cartledge, Robert Skillen, John Corrigaa, C. W. C. Rhoades, W. C. Johnson, Geo. W. William A. Gray, Paul Botticher, John H. Mansur, Grandison H. Tousey, Thomas H. Jolly, Jonas Strauss, Henry J. Braunsdorf, John H. Quick, Albert A. Palmer, Joseph M. Doyle, Andrew N. Kennedy. Keyes. Thomas D. Boone, James Dyer, John Farrell, Benjamin D. Alexander, Cross, or Edwin B. Green, Almeron W. Decker, Philip F. W. Jansen, Alfred Burkhardt, Henry S. Black, Daniel H. Kettering, Heinrich Fishback, Charles Eifler. There were subsequently sent to the armj' serving on the Peninsula the following officers and enlisted men : — Lieutenants. L. B. Norton, William S. Stryker, John W. Deford, H. R. Clum, Fitzhugh Birney, Paul Babcock, Jr., Thomas R. Clarke, William B. Roe, James S. Hall, Daniel S. Tompkins, Charles W. Keen, Israel Thickstun. Privates. James B, Duff, William Cashman, Daniel Deford, James M. Kimball, Abraham P. Gore, Charles F. Gage, W. Harry Royer, A. G. Blood, Charles Wentworth, William Nice, John J. Geary, Samuel J. Hooker, Charles W. Twesten, Richard Grigliette, Hector Hutchins, R. E. Vincent, William G. Knapp, Aaron Levy, Harrison W. Holman, Isaac N. Wolf, James R. Gage. The detachments were so divided that there should be four officers on duty with each division. There were furnished to the officers serving with each army corps twenty complete sets of equipments. . The last days of March were days of labor. An immense army was to embark, and military stores and ammunition were to be provided. In the embarkation and movements down the river the Signal Corps 294 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. played an important part, and exhibited a power scarcely anticipated Ly its most earnest supporters. All telegraphic duty, of course, devolved upon the officers of the Corps. The manoeuvres of the troops, the movements of the vessels, were all directed by aerial signals. The headquarters of the Army of the Potomac were fixed upon the steamer Commodore, and on the first day of April the commanding general moved down the river. The Chief Signal Officer, with a reserve party of seven officers, accompanied Gen. ^IcClellan. The enlisted men, stores, and wagons of the Corps were, on the same day, shipped on board a sailing vessel. On the evening of April 2d the steamer Commodore arrived at Fort ^Monroe. The detachment serving with Gen. Heintzelman was so well appreciated that a detail from it was sent back to aid in the movements of the divisions under Gen. Hooker, which were to sail at a later date. The detachments commanded by Lieutenants Daniels and Wilson, attached to the corps of Generals Sumner and McDowell, did not accompany the main army at this time. As soon as Maj. Myer had learned that the navy was to co-operate with the army in the coming movement, he sought an interview with Commodore Goldsborough, and proposed that the Signal Corps be employed to make the combined movements more prompt and effective. The jjlan submitted was heartily approved. Lieut. Deford, with Lieutenants Clum, Thomas E. Clarke, and Babcock, with eight flagmen, was ordered to report to Capt. J. S. Missroon, on board the U. S. Steamer Wachusett, the flag- ship of the flotilla. The detail was afterward enlarged, so that there were two officers and four men on the flagship, and one officer and two men on every other vessel. Lieutenants Clum and Ellis served on the Wachusett ; Clum, a little later, rendering eiiective service on the Galena; Babcock on the iMaratanza; Owen on the Sebago ; J. S. Hall on the Chocorua ; Jerome and E. A. Denickeonthe Aroostook; Beckett on the Mahaska, and Thomas li. Clarke on the Marblehead. During the siege of Yorktown, one hundred and thirty-five official messages were transmitted to and from the Wachusett, as recorded in Lieut. Deford's message-book. The following will indicate their general character : — To Gen. McClellan : April 19, 1862. The e;iemy is increasing troops in the rear of picket station abreast the ships to-day. J. S. MisSROON. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 295 To Capt. MissROON : Won't you shell them? G-. B. McClellan. Yes. J. S. MissROON. To Capt. MissROON : Have you any fire balls or carcasses that can be fired from a twelve-pounder gun, or a ten-pound Parrott? G. B. McClellan. To Gen. McClellan : No, sir. The navy never uses them. J. S. Missroon. To Capt. Missroon: April 21, 1862. Commanding officer at the outpost sends word that the shells burst over the woods, to the great danger of the pickets and working parties. Capt. Locke, Aid-de-camp to Gen. Porter. To Capt. Locke : I will at once change the direction. J. S. Missroon. To Maj. Myer: April 27. What men are those about half-way from you to Yorktown, to the right of the woods? J. S. Missroon. To Capt. Missroon : They are our own men. Our lines are now up in front of Moore's. [No. 5. j A. J. Myer. To Capt. Missroon : April 28. The enemy's eight-inch rifle gun is gone from the bastion on top of the river bank and bearing on the water. There is a rumor that it was dismounted or damaged. A smaller gun has been mounted in its place. A. J. Myer. Capt. William Smith, Commanding Flotilla, May 2, 1862. U. S. Steamer Wachusett : I would be glad to arrange for an interview with you as early as convenient. I will either meet you at Shields's house, or have a wagon to meet you there and bring you here, as may best suit you. G. B. McClellan. I will meet you at such time and place as you may fix upon. W. Smith. To Capt. W. Smith : May 3. The quiet of the enemy is suspicious. It may indicate a sortie or an evacua- tion. Will you send some gunboats and try to draw their fire? G. B. McClellan. 296 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. To Gen. McClellan : The Marblehead went up and fired eight shells near the water battery. The enemy fired at her four times. Capt. Smith. To Capt. Smith : Please accept my thanks for the eight inauguratory salutations bestowed by the Marblehead npon the secesh this morning. Can you send Capt. Shankland, with the Currituck, to Cheesman's Creek to assist in getting out a 200-pounder Parrott gun. If possible, please do so at once. It is important. G. B. McClellan. To Gen. McClellan : The Currituck has gone to Ship Point and will remain until 2 o'clock. Will you please send a message to her to direct what you wish done? W. Smith. To Capt. W. Smith : May 4. Yorktown is in our possession. Please run up and keep us in communication with Gloucester. Would be glad to have some of your boats run up the York river at once to reconnoitre and seize schooners. I will move troops up York river this A. M. G. B. McClellan. The general advance of the Army of the Potomac was made on April 4th. On that night headquarters bivouacked at Big Bethel. On the following night the}- occupied a few uncomfortable sheds of a rebel cantonment. In the general ad\'ance the Fourth Corps, Gen. Keyes, moved upon the James river side of the Peninsula, and after hea\'j' skirmishing reached the enemy's lines at Lee's Mill on the Warwick river. The country into which this corps moved was almost unknown to our generals. It was flat and covered with dense forests. The heavy rains had made it swampy. On the march the detachment of the Signal Corps serving with these forces, under Lieut. B. F. Fisher, \\'as on duty. There were no elevated points whence general observation could be had, and the character of the country made signalling impossible. The duties of scouting and reconnoissance devolved upon the signal officers. They were among the first to follow the devious roads, to recognize the presence of the enemy, to study with their telescopes his strength and movements, and to report the results of their observations to the generals «'ith whom thej' served. The advance of this column was checked near the line of the AVarwick river, and (ren. Keyes established his headquarters at Warwick Court House. (Station A.) The column under Gen. Heintzelman, moving on the York side of the Peninsula, passed through a country difficult indeed, but more open ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 297 and better drained than that penetrated by the forces undei' Gen. Keyes. The division of Gen. Fitz John Porter constituted the advance of this column, and after minor encounters with the enemy, in which our troops were uniformly victorious, it came under fire, and was checked by the guns and works before Yorktown. Tlie duties of the signal ■officers of this column were, as with the other wing of the army, those of ■exploration and reconnoissance. Gen. Heintzelman established his headquarters at the saw-mill near the head of Wormley's Creek, on the Hampton Road. (Station 1.) The fleet, after exchanging a few shots with the enemy, drew out of range and anchored in the Roads about three and one-half miles from Yorktown. On the same day, April 6th, a regularly organized signal camp was established near army headquarters, close by Dr. Power's house. This was about equidistant in an air-line between the two flanks of the army. 298 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. Under the original agreement McDowell's First Corps was to move up the Gloucester side of the York river and make a diversion by an attack upon West Point at the junction of the Mattapony and Pamunky rivers. The retention of this corps for the increased security of Washington led to a change of plan and necessitated the capture of Yorktown, with its cordon of strong fortifications, by the slow process of a siege. Long-continued rains changed the country into a swamp, bringing in their train the enervating and destructive malarial fevers of that region. On the 10th of April the headquarters camp was moved up nearer the front to Camp Winfield Scott. At about the same time the Second Corps, Sumner's, arrived from Washington. The army now stretched \ m^ ItK OAMP 9TII MASS. VOLS., BEFORE YOKKTOWN. from the York river across the Peninsula nearly to the James, buried in the thick woods and so hidden that more than a division could rarely be seen together, and often not more than a regiment was visible from any one point of view. To pass from the right to the left of our lines, following the narrow and winding roads and the stretches of corduroy ways, was a journey of several hours, revealing almost momently and unexpectedly some brigade, regiment, or battery quietly resting in camp. Along the picket-line a livelier condition of things existed. Frequently the monotony was varied by musketry and artillery fire. If a venture- some picket or curious signalman was discovered, he instantly became a target for the practice of a recently-constituted soldier. It was under these risks that the signal observer climbed a tree for observation, or stealthily approached the lines of the enemy. Wherever a group of ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 299 soldiers was discovered, the customary means of dispersing it was to drop a shell into the neighborhood. The appearance of an officer with a telescope rarely failed to elicit this attention. On the left, the rebel gunboat Teaser would now and then creep up the Warwick, from the James river, and try the ranges of her heavy guns upon the points where her commander supposed our camps might be. On the right, between the rebel works and the fleet below, desultory shots of enormous weight were thrown to and fro from the rifled ordnance and eleven-inch guns. Scattered along the advanced line were the stations of the signal officers, and their duties brought them every day upon or near it. It thus happened to them, serving in their turns in front, that quite a large number were at different times during the siege exposed to the enemy's sharpshooters or to the fire of his artillery. The exposure of the officer usually carried with it, of course, the exposure of his flagmen. The following officers were under fire, more or less, during the siege, as announced in the reports of Maj. Myer, some of them holding their posts with courage and persistence, though exposed to great danger, day and night, for a week at a time : Lieutenants Stryker, Roe, Daniels, Hall, Kendall, Owen, Tompkins, Keen, McCreary, George J. Clarke, Carey, Wright, Butler, Thickstun, Jerome, Denicke, and H. L. Johnson. With the army thus located the Chief Signal Officer early found cause for regret that official indifference had prevented the construction of the field-telegraph trains with which it was at first intended to equip the Signal Corps. With trains of the character of those afterward used with the Army of the Potomac, it would have been easy to connect, in one day after their arrival before Yorktown, the principal headquarters of the army. The insulated wire would be even safer running through the woodland than when extended by the side of roads. Communication by signals was opened with the fleet April 7th. The headquarters station (No. 1, or tower G) was at a barn in the vicinity of Camp Winfield Scott. From this day to the close of the siege, there was by day and night a transfer of messages to and from the flagship, and a constant watch was kept of the stations on the fleet and of those in view on shore. In dense fogs, in rains, and sometimes when the flagship, moving down the river, was out of sight, this commvinication failed. To provide for these contingencies another station (No. 7) was opened at a house upon the shore of the bay, at the boat>landing of the fleet. A station (No. 6) was, at different times in the progress of the siege. 300 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. established at the Fahrenholt house, at the mouth of Wormley's Creek. It was intended to communicate by signals to the fleet in any sudden danger that might arise at this point, and to transmit to the headquarters station the knowledge gained from observation. This station was, however, little used. FAHRENHOLT HOUSE, BEFORE TORKTOWN. Late in the siege, April 30th, a battery of 100 and 200-pounder Parrott guns at this point opened fire upon the works at Yorktown and Gloucester. This necessitated the occupation once more of this last- mentioned station (No. 6). The chief object in view was the observation of the effect of the shells thrown toward the position of the enemy. In the performance of this dut}- the officers and flagmen were exposed to shots with which the enemy replied to the battery. The station, however, was persistently mamtained. Station No. 5 was opened at Moore's house April 7th. It was chosen with the view of directing the fire of the naval guns in the attack then thought to be impending, and also for the purpose of keeping the fleet informed of the progress of the land forces, whose assault was to be simultaneous. Moore's house, located on the bank of the York river, was directly under the heaviest guns of Yorktown, a mile distant. The beach at the foot of the bank on which the house was placed was commanded by the water-battery on the shore at Yorktown. Trees clustering along the top and water-edge of the bank, and reaching from near the enemy's works nearly to this house, offered a. cover for rebel sharpshootere. As ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 301 a station of communication and. observation this point was unrivalled. From it one looked down upon the works at Gloucester and their approaches, about two miles distant. There could also be seen the wharves and water-batteries at Yorktown, and the whole channel of the river, with the bay spread out beyond. Indeed, there could be traced the outline of the works in Yorktown itself, and there was an excellent view of much of the open country between those works and our lines. This place was now permanently occupied as a signal station, communicating with the station at head- quarters. When the signal flag was first discovered by the enemy near this house, two light field-pieces were run up by them in easy range, and the officers were driven from the station, but only to return as soon as the fire ceased. Lieut. Thickstun was stricken senseless while serving on the station. The shells were very frequently exploding in the immediate neighborhood, the station receiving many of the shots aimed at our parallel in front of it. The working station was not reasonably tenable, and the officers were instructed to shelter themselves near the house, and make reports by signal only in case of emergency. It was thus held until the evacuation of Yorktown. The occupation of this station was of the greatest importance during the early part of the investment, when fears of a sortie by the enemy in that direction were entertained. A station of observation (No. 4) was established in the woods south of Yorktown at the junction of the Hampton and Warwick roads. This station was a mile from the works at Yorktown, and yet l y^^^m:-'r^Mm- 1,= fy^r nearer the enemy's work known as the Red Redoubt. Com- munications hence by signals were sent to a signal station (No. 2), placed on a saw-mill at Gen. Heintzelman's head- quarters, and were thence re- ported to headquarters station. Another station of observation (No. 3), in like manner repeat- ing its messages through station No. 2, was established on the Warwick road, in a piece of woods north of the cleared land in front of Lee's Mill, and near a small lunette, afterward taken by our forces. MOORE'S HOUSE BEFORE YORKTOWN. 302 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. The position of these stations was easil^y discovered l(_y the enemy. The}' were hekl through the siege with much risk to the officers and men ordered upon them. It was necessary to keep the officers there posted on duty for several days in succession, so that they might well know the localities occupied by the enemj^. The stations were hidden from the view of the reljel gunners. The clanger was of injury from fragments of the many shells thrown at the position during the four weeks they were occupied. A signal flag was displayed in a tree at station No. 3. The attempt to remove it was made hazardous by the enemy's musketry. These seven made up the line of stations on the right. The dense woods covering the left of the army rendered signalling there impossible, except from artificial stations. Soon after the siege began, Maj. Myer received instructions from the general commanding to erect signal towers to be used for observation, and for communication if found practicable. It Mas hoped also that from such points of vie^' the fire of guns and mortars, soon to open, might be accurately directed. The uistructions Mere communicated to Lieut. B. F. Fisher, commanding the signal detachment with the left of the army, and Lieut. N. Daniels, commanding that with the centre. The sites for the towers on these portions of the lines were at once selected by these officers ; large working parties reported to them, and the work of construction was commenced. On the right of the line, also, preparations were made to erect three towers. None of these last, however, were completed when the evacuation of Yorktown took place. A station had been built close to Camp Winfield Scott, in an immense tree. This was sometimes used for purposes of observation. Other stations, on perches, were made in trees, close to the trenches and batteries of our approaches. From one of them, near Moore's house, and at a distance of about eighty feet from the ground, could be had a distinct view of the enemy's works at Yorktown. At the centre, Lieut. Daniels raised a lofty structure of logs (tower E), near our picket line, in front of Lee's Mill, and overlooking the enemy's works at that point. This tower was constantly occupied by a detail of signal officers as a station of observation, and information thus obtained was reported to Gen. Sumner. It was frequently visited by other officers who were aided in the performance of their duties by the observations here made. Along the left of the line, the parties commanded by Lieut. Fisher erected four stations (towers A, B, C, and D). These stations commu- ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 303 nicated with each other by signals. They also commanded views of the enemy's lines. Frequent attempts were made by the rebel batteries to ■destroy these towers, but they were able neither to seriously disturb the occupants, nor to interfere with their labors. April 16th, occurred the affair of the Burnt Chimneys, or Lee's Mill. In the engagement, a party of signal officers participated, conveying messages by signals, which, if carried in person, would have placed in jeopardy the lives of valuable officers. The observations were made from the tops of trees. The officers commended for services thus rendered were Lieutenants Kendall, McNary, Beckett, Neel, Homer, Camp, and Dwight. STATION BEFOKE VOEKTOWN. In the last days of April, the division commanded by Gen. Franklin arrived at Ship Point. A detachment of five officers and twelve men was assigned to duty with these forces. The first day of May saw the approaches nearly completed. The , siege and mortar batteries were in position. The day was set on which they were to open fire. On the night of May 2d, the suspicious silence of the enemy occasioned general remark, and was taken as an indication either of a sortie or a total evacuation. The gunboat Marblehead, as previously stated, ascertained that the enemy were still at Yorktown, .although Lieutenants Neel and Herzog had the day before reported the -evacuation of the enemy's main work in front of Lee's Mill. On the 304 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. morning of May 3rd, Lieut. Jerome, on station 3, reported by signal that the enemy were destroying their barracks. , In the afternoon, the rebel batteries opened fire as usual, and, before night came on, the entire line was engaged, the firing increasing in rapidity u.ntil midnight, when the roar of artillery was almost incessant. Shot and shell were thrown in all directions, as though fired at random, and with ranges which had rarely been reached before. About midnight, a conflagation was observed in Yorktown. About 2 A. M., the firing ceased, and between that hour and daylight our troops- entered the city. Soon after daylight, a message was received from Moore's house, announcing, " Our flag flies over Yorktown." Lieut. H. L. Johnson immediately moved in and established a station at York- town, at the same time sending an officer to Gloucester. This ofiicer came very near landing before the enemy had abandoned that point, and was recalled. Meanwhile the fleet had moved from its anchorage, and occupied the channel between Yorktown and Gloucester. As the fleet moved up, the enemy beat a hasty retreat from Glouces- ter, and the signal officer landed and established his station. By 10 A. M. stations were established and were working at Fahrenheit house, Yorktown, Gloucester, and .on the fleet, communicating with headquarters through the station at Fahrenholt house. The signal stations on the right of the army, other than those above mentioned, were abandoned, and the parties were concentrated to accom- pany the advance of the army. Late in the afternoon the sound of cannon announced that the advance-guard had overtaken the enepiy, and commenced the battle of Williamsburg. The signal detachments with the centre and left accompanied the advance of' the columns to which they were attached. They acted as scouts and aides to Generals Sumner and Keyes on the march and during the battle of Williamsburg. The smoke, mist, rain, and dense woods made signalling impossible. Some of the officers were posted, however, where they could make good use of their telescopes. Toward evening. Gen. McClellan arrived and asked Lieut. Fisher to establish communication with the vessels of the ■ fleet as they came up. This was successfully accomplished at 2 o'clock, though the night was not favorable for signalling. On the arrival of Maj. Myer, on the morning of the 6th, communica- tion was opened from the gunboats to other stations well inland, and was kept open, at the request of Gen. W. F. Smith, until the troops moved forward and occupied Williamsburg. While the troops were marching into the village, the fleet of transports, with Gen. Franklin's SAM'L T. cnsmxa CHAELEIS li. DAVIS PBTER A. TAYLOR JA^MES S. I-IAI.L l-AUI. BABOOCK POrxrAIN WILSON OilAS. S. KiaXDAIX SEYMOUR PIERCE C'HAS. E. STO'XE .TA.ME.S B. BROOKS WK''^' i i WM. H. R. NEEL TI-IOS. K. HASTINGS H. B. TITUS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 305 command on board, passed up the river on their way to West Point. The headquarters of the army laalted at Williamsburg some days, while the wagon trains were brought up and the wounded were cared for. Fresh troops were pressed forward in pursuit of the enemy, while those which had suffered the most in the engagement followed more leisurely. The advance guard, under Gen. Stoneman, pursued closely the retreating enemy. A party of three signal officers, with their men. 1 ■^^mhifi^''-' KOAD BETWEEN JTORKTOWN AND WILLIAMSB0KG. accompanied this body, and was actively employed in watching the enemy and reporting their movements. The officers specially commended for services rendered before Williamsburg were Lieutenants Fisher, Herzog, Gloskoski, Marston, and Neel. Battle of West Point. While Gen. Franklin's command was disembarking at West Point, our pickets were driven in, and heavy volleys of musketry announced the approach of the enemy, under Gen. Lee. By the rapidity of the movement and the rapid firing, it became apparent that the rebel commander expected, through overwhelming numbers, to drive our 306 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. troops, yet landing and unprepared for battle, into the ri\-er. Presently a battery of hea^-y field-guns opened from a height upon the army and the transports. It was a moment of serious danger, and the most rapid action was necessary to avert the impending catastrophe. Part of the signal officers were already- on shore, with the troops to which they were assigned, and those on board wei'e everywhere on the alert. Gen. Franklin, then on the ^lystic, was summoned Ijy signal. Lieut. Deford instituted a strict watch for signals from the shore, which was rewarded shortly by the appearance of a white flag on a tree top. As soon as recognized, it signalled an order from Gen. Franklin to shell the woods. A\'ith a promptness impossible without this communication, the fleet was brought into position, and threw in the fire of its great guns to aid that of the army. The enemy's Jjatteries were soon silenced, and their troops, repulsed and broken, fell back through the woods, followed for a long distance by the shells of the navy. To the rapidity of- movement and concert of action secured through the Signal Corps was due the escape of our forces from iimninent destruction. The watchfulness and promptness of the officers of the Corps called forth the praise of the naval commanders and Gen. Franklin. Commander T. H. Stevens, commanding the Maratauza at West Point, wrote, to ^laj. Myer; "• Your services call for marked recognition and aclinowledgment, as it was through your assistance I was enabled to take up exactly the right position, and throw my fire into an unseen enemy with precision and effect, tending greatly to his discomfiture and repulse." The officers thus referred to were Lieutenants Babcock, Castle, Kurlbaum, Deford, and ( )wen. .May 10th, the headquarters were moved to Roper's Meeting-house. Here the C!orps was augmented l)v the arrival of a detachment in charge of Lieut. David Wonderly, bringing with them the first field telegraph train ever used in a campaign l)y an army of the United States. Tliis is fully described in the chapter on the Field Telegraph. Upon the arrival of this incomplete apparatus, the officers were instructed in its use until i\Iay 24th, when it was first practically tested. On that day a line was extended from general headquarters, near the Gaines house, to Gen. Stoneman's headquarters in ^lechanicsville. The successful working of the apparatus gave it a place ever after among the appurte- nances of the army. On the 16th of iMay, headquarters camp moved to AA^hite House, on the Pamunkey river. On the following day. Gen. Keyes occupied a position near Bottom Bridge. Lieut. H. L. Johnson, with a detach- ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 307 ment of signal officers and their men, was ordered to report to liim. From that time until after the passage of the Chickahominy, this detachment served under Gen. Keyes, and always with the advance of the Corps. A station of observation was established near Bottom Bridge, where the movements of the enemy, whose pickets were in sight across the river, could be observed. Information could be immediately signalled to Gen. Keyes's headquarters from this station. On the day of the passage of the Chickahominy, a part of this detachment crossed with the first troops and opened a station on the bluff near Burnt Chimneys, close to the picket line, maintaining communication with Gen. Keyes's headquarters at Old Tavern. CI-lICIiAHOMINY EIVEE. A detachment of signal officers accompanied Gen. Stoneman's advance to Old Cold Harbor. With the columns moving in the field, these officers were found everywhere in the advance, frequently perched upon the roofs of the prominent dwellings. They sometimes anticipated the march of the advance guard. The distances over which they could work were, from the formation of the country, generally short, and a single message could go by courier almost as rapidly as by signals. On May 22d headquarters were established near Cold Harbor. The brigade of Gen. Stoneman pushed on toward Richmond. A signal party accompanied it in the capacity of scouts. The detachment under Lieut. Deford still remained with the navy. May 1 9th, a party of six officers 308 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. and twelve men went ashore with a flag of truce. The surgeon had been sent for from the land. When the boat containing the party was near the bank of the river, a rebel force opened fire simultaneously upon those already landed and the detachment in the boat, and before assistance could be rendered the entire party was captured. Among the prisoners secured by this act of bad faith was Lieut. Deford. He remained a prisoner until October 14th, when he was exchanged. At the battle of Hanover Court House, the fire upon the stations of- Lieutenants Marston, Gloskoski, Homer, and McNary was very severe. The flag had no sooner been raised upon the advanced station than it was greeted by a volley of musketry. Though immediately screened behind trees, its position was much exposed. The battery with which Lieut. Homer served was pouring its fire upon a hill held by the rebels, and was doing good service when a column of our troops advanced from the opposite direction, drove the rebels from the position and occupied the abandoned field. The movement was conducted under the confusion and smoke incident to a heavy cannonade, and was so rapid that the commandant of the battery was unaware of the change effected. The appearance of the large force coming over the hill caused the guns to be accurately trained, and 'the command "Fire!" was given. Lieut. Homer cried* out, " Hold, Captaui."" The hand of the officer went up just in time to stop the gunners, in whose hands the lanyards were tightening. " I think they are our men," said Homer. Catching up a signal flag, he sent the following message to Lieut. Marston, " Are those our men on the hill ?" When the reply came, " Yes," the captain of the battery exclaimed, " Thank God for that I so much for the signal officer." The siege of Richmond may properl}' date from the time at which headquarters camp was established at New Bridge, .May 26th. By the end of May the left wing of the Army of the Potomac had advanced along the railroad toward Richmond to a point beyond Fair Oaks. The corps of Gen. Heintzelman and Gen. Keyes occupied the south side of the river. The northern side was held by the corps of Generals Sumner, Hooker, and Franklin. The signal party serving on the south side of the river, under Lieut. H. L. Johnson, had been working faithfully under most disadvantageous circumstances. They were shut in everywhere by swamps and thick woods ; there were no points from which they could communicate to advantage ; the generals did not know how to employ signal officers, and the officers had yet to learn by experience the best modes in which to employ themselves. There were,. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 309 however, stations along the raih'oad connecting Gen. Heintzehiian's headquarters at Savage's station with the front beyond Fair Oaks. On the northern side of tlie river, tlie field telegraph was extended along fences and in trees from headquarters to near Mechanicsville. The soldiers had ceased to cut the wires ; patrols had been estaljlished ; and the line was working successfully and with little interruption. During the battle of Seven Pines, May 31st, no use could be made of signals. Some of the officers joined the staffs of different generals and rendered individual service worthy of notice. The following day the battle was continued at Fair Oaks. Gen. Sumner had already crossed the Chickahominy ; Generals Franklin and .Porter were directed to cross in three columns on the three bridges near New Bridge at daylight, the marching columns to be covered by the numerous batteries •J -* Ik ~^U^^l-^tL BATTLEFIELD OF SEVEN PINES. posted on the rising ground north of its banks. Four officers with their men reported to the commander of each column. Two were intended to cross with the troops and two to remain with the batteries. Of the officers crossing at each bridge with the first troops, one was to carry the white, the other the red, signal flag. The white flag was to transmit messages relating to the general service. The red flag was intended to direct the fire of the artillery. The officers stationed with the batteries were similarly equipped and had similar instructions. An attempt was made to open communication with the gunboats in the James river. Lieut. Franklin Ellis was ordered to perform this duty. Application was made to Gen. Hooker for an escort, as the territory passed over was infested with the enemy, but it proved unsuccessful. Lieut. Ellis's party consisted of Lieutenants Kendall, Herzog, Wiggins, and Keen, Avith their assigned flagmen. The part 310 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. passed through our lines on the evening of June 3rcl and moved tlirougli more than thirty miles of the enemy's country, entering Gen. Grover's camp on the morning of the 7th. He found signal communication impractical lie except hy means of rockets or with the aid of a balloon. He was " convinced that many free negroes can be found who could be fully trusted with the transmission of messages in cipher." After the battle of Seven Pines the enemy seemed to increase their force at that jDoint. Earthworlis became visible and their artillery had better ranges. It was customary on either side to fire at any object that attracted attention. The signal station near Hogan's house was close to a battery of twenty-pounders, and received its share of projectiles. The day following the battle of Fair Oaks, a signal officer on duty at this station discovered with his telescope a number of men moving on a spot of cleared ground among the woods on the other side of the Chickahominy and beyond the enemy. They were distant about three miles and wore the Fed- eral uniform. This, however, was not conclusive of their character, as the dress had ceased to be distinctive, the enemy wearing it with impunity whenever they could obtain it. Two signal officers with their men were ordered to proceed to this point via Sumner's bridge. After a journey of about ten miles, it was found that the point was occupied by the advance pickets of Gen. Burns's brigade. Their signals were at once seen and answered from the station near Hogan's house. It was then first Toiown that our forces on the opposite sides of the Chickahominy were in full view of each other. Maj. Myer suggested that an experi- enced engineer officer accompany the signal officer attached to the balloon at Hogan's, and brief reports be sent from the car to the general commanding at Smith's headquarters, or in the field. He thought reports might be received in the same manner from the balloon at Mechanicsville. On the 13th of Jujie general headquarters were moved to Camp Lincoln, on the south side of the Chickahominy. The field-telegraph ABMY Balloon. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 311 wire, which had so long been the means of communication to Mechanius- ville was, on the same day, ordered to be reeled up, and the train moved to the other side of the river. There were stations at Golding's, at Hogan's house, at Austin's house (Ellerson's mill), and a station of observation at Mechanicsville. The messages received at Golding's were transmitted by the field telegraph to general headquarters. The different detachments were now concentrated in one camp, from which details were made for duty at various points as the exigencies of the campaign demanded. Lieut. Fisher was placed in charge of this central camp. On the 24th of June, orders were issued to arrange for the next day a signal party to direct the fire of the heavy guns intended to open on the enemy's battery and earthwork in the vicinity of Old Tavern. Lieutenants Camp and Wiggin, who had served for some time at the Hogan station, requested that they might remain during the cannonade. Three additional officers were directed to join them, and Lieut. Stryker was sent to arrange the communication on the north side of the river. On the 26th of June, during the action in front of Fair Oaks Orchard, Lieutenants McCreary and Denicke were posted in a tree-top in front of Casey's Tedoubt, from which they overlooked the positions of -the enemy. Hence messages were sent in reference to the direction and range of our artillery to Lieut. Kendall, stationed with the batteries. The movements of the enemy's troops were reported to Gen. Heintzel- man. The station was rendered unpleasant by occasional shots from the enemy's sharpshooters. During the action this station caused the fire of one of our batteries to be stopped, which persistently threw its shells among our own men. On the same day, Lieut. Stryker took charge of the station erected on White House, and opened communica- tion with the navy. The communication thus established greatly aided in the successful withdrawal from that depot in the face of an advanc- ing enemy. The White House was set on fire after the last officer, — Lieut. J. H. Hutchinson, — and his flagman had left it. About 4 P.M., on the 26th of June, a message from Lieut. Fisher, at Hogan's house, announced that the enemy was moving down the north side of the Chickahominy ; that there would be a battle -at Mechanics- ville ; and that all the troops on the north side had been ordered to cross to the south of the Chickahominy. After the transmission of this message, Lieut. Fisher collected the officers on duty in the neighbor- hood and started for the expected battlefield. Shortly after, a message was received from Gen. Reynolds stating that his troops had fallen 312 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. l)ack. The roar of the artillery made it evident that the battle had commenced. Lieut. Beckett was with a battery on the right, Lieut. Homer with the extreme right, Lieut. Wiggins with the reserve, while Lieutenants Fisher and Birney took a position on the roof of a prom- inent house near which a battery was stationed. From these stations, AN'hich were occupied as points of observation, the officei's were able, by the aid of their glasses, to obtain information "which could not otherwise have been readily secured. Their reports were made to the different commanders near «-hom they were serving. Signals were not used upon the field of battle. The fire upon the stations was quite severe. The artillery fire continued until about 9 o'clock at night, and when it closed our troops everywhere held their positions. During the action one officer remained at Hogan's in communication with the station on Golding's farm. It was presumed that this station Avas constantl}' watched by the enemj-. There is alwa3-s a possibility that the signal code may be in possession of the enemy. It is customary, therefore, to disguise true messages, and to send with an especial signal, messages intended to deceive. On this night, as soon as the firing had ceased, Maj. Myer instructed the Hogan station to send in plain view of the enemy the message, " The five divisions have arrived." Oui- forces intended to retire from the position, but this message, if it should be interpreted by the enemy, would lead them to believe that we proposed to hold it. In the battle of Gaines's IMill, June 27th, Lieut. Fisher disposed of the officers of his command as follows, viz. : Lieut. Gloskosld was stationed near the north end of Duane's Bridge, whence he observed and reported the movements of the enemy in the valley of the Chickahominy at points where they crossed the river from the south to the north side to take part in the action, and upon the heights on the north side, adjacent to the stream. These reports were signalled to Lieut. Camp, stationed near Gen. Porter's headquarters. Lieutenants Wiggins and Fisher were upon the right of the army, and reported the appearance and advance of the enemy coming in the direction of Gaines's Mill and Gold Harbor. These repoits were sent to Lieut. Homer, near Gen. Porter's headquarters. The persistence with which some* of the officers held their stations in the ensuing battle of that day attracted attention. Lieut. Gloskoski, reporting from the left, early drew upon himself the fire of the enemj^'s guns, to which he paid but little attention, and held his station until the destruction of the bridge behind him rendered it necessary for him to abandon it. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 313 The station on the right was held by the officers upoii it until they were notified that its further retention, while it involved very great risk, would be useless. From all the stations reports were sent to Gen. Porter, near the Adams house, as the enemy drew near, and until in the smoke and confusion of the general engagement messages could no longer be sent. About 2 P. M. the Chief Signal Officer received instructions from the general commanding to open communication from the position then occupied by the general near Dr. Trent's house to Gen. Porter's head- quarters on the field of battle on the north side of the river. It would have been easy to carry out this order had it been earlier given, and it would have been possible to do so had our troops on the north side been able to hold their position. As the action resulted, the stations, — one at Dr. Trent's house, the other in a tree near Gen. Porter's headquar- ters, — were no sooner occupied than it became necessary to abandon them. With the retreat of our forces at sunset, efforts to establish this communication ceased. During the progress of this engagement, Lieut. Denicke, stationed at Smith's redoubt, was able to render some service by reporting the effects, noticed with his telescope, of the shots directed from the battery of twenty-pounder guns there stationed, upon the enemy appearing near Gaines's house. During the movement from Savage's Station, a station was ordered to be established at Dudley's house, one mile west of Sumner's lower bridge and the same distance north of Savage's Station. Four officers, with their men, were to report as usual at daylight to Gen. Hooker. The remainder of the party was to be in reserve near Savage's Station, and there to wait for further orders. All trains were to move at once for the depot on James river. The signal officers serving with this portion of the army, stationing themselves on trees, and on house-tops as the troops moved back, reported to Gen. Franklin and his division commanders such movements of the enemy as they could see^until the enemy's pickets had crossed the river from the northern side, and until, in the afternoon, the last troops moved from Dudley's house to go upon the battlefield ' at Savage's Station, the officer at Dudley's leaving with the rear guard. In the battle of Savage's Station, Lieutenants Birneyand Yates were posted on the Williamsburg road as far toward the front as they could l3e visible, with instructions that one of the party should proceed yet farther toward the enemy, supposed to be approaching from that direc- tion, to reconnoitre ; and, rettirning, his reports should be sent by signals 314 SIGNAL CORPS U. S. A. to the L'eiitral station, placed near the point at whicli the Williamsburg road crosses the road going toward White Oak Swamp. Lieut. Wiggins was placed at a point where the railroad track first enteis the cleared ground from the direction of Richmond. Hence, the railroad is a long w&y visible. He was to report any advance of the enemy upon the railroad or from that direction. Lieut. Tompkins was jj laced where the right of our line rested on the deep cut of the railroad east of Savage's house. He was to report any force appearing on our right by the road from Dr. Trent's house or over the bridges of the Chickahominy. " At the central station were posted Lieutenants Xeel, Marston and Denicke. The arrangements were hardly comj)leted when a message from the station on the Williamsburg road, and a verbal report made by an officer from that station, announced the enemy as not far distant, moving on the railroad, slowly and with artillery. This report was sent to Gen. Sumner, who, in reply to the last, said he was coming upon the field in person. The officers were ordered in from the advanced stations. As our different lines moved up it was thought at one time it would be necessary to establish a signal station far to the front and at a point much exposed to the enemy. Lieutenants Camp, Wiggins and Denicke volunteered to work this station, and took their places with the line, ready tri move up when it should be ordered. Hy the time the line had advanced the enemy ha