Lincoln in the Telegraph Office: Recollections of the United States Military Telegraph Corps During the Civil WarAs the Civil War raged, President Abraham Lincoln spent many hours in the War Department's telegraph office, where he received all his telegrams. Morning, noon, and night Lincoln would visit the small office to receive the latest news from the armies at the front. The place was a refuge for the president, who waited for incoming dispatches and talked while they were being deciphered. David Homer Bates, one of the first military telegraphers, recollects those presidential visits during times of crisis. Lincoln in the Telegraph Office, originally published in 1907, shows history in the making and personalities at their most unguarded: Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Andrew Carnegie, General George McClellan, and many others. The reader is with Lincoln at the scene of dramatic tidings: of the Northern disasters at Bull Run, of Meade's victory at Gettysburg, of Grant's capture of Richmond. Lincoln wrote the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation at the telegraph office, and from there the news of his assassination was relayed. Wartime human-interest anecdotes, the wonder of the new technology, the unraveling of ciphers and codes, conspiracies and rumors, a heightened sense of onrushing events, the tragedy of Good Friday 1865-all are conveyed in this classic of Lincolniana. Introducing Lincoln in the Telegraph Office is James A. Rawley, Carl Adolph Happold Professor Emeritus of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His works include Turning Points of the Civil War, also available as a Bison Book. |
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Contents
INTRODUCTION | 3 |
ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH | 14 |
THE WAR DEPARTMENT TELEGRAPH OFFICE | 38 |
CIPHERCODES AND MESSAGES | 49 |
CONFEDERATE CIPHERCODES AND INTER | 68 |
MCCLELLANS DISAGREEMENTS WITH | 101 |
VHI LINCOLN IN TOUCH WITH ARMY MOVEMENTS | 113 |
ECKERT CHIEF OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT | 124 |
LINCOLN UNDER FIRE AT FORT STEVENS | 250 |
CABLES AND SIGNALS | 257 |
LINCOLNS FOREBODINGS OF DEFEAT AT THE POLLS | 267 |
CONSPIRATORS IN CANADA | 287 |
THE ATTEMPT TO BURN NEW YORK | 299 |
GRANTS ORDERS FOR THE REMOVAL OF THOMAS | 310 |
THE ABORTIVE PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS | 322 |
LINCOLNS LAST DAYS | 343 |
THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE EMANCIPATION | 138 |
LINCOLNS TENDER TREATMENT OF ROSE | 158 |
A REMARKABLE FEAT IN RAILROAD TRANS | 172 |
LINCOLN IN EVERYDAY HUMOR | 183 |
CHAPTER PAGE XV LINCOLNS LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN | 208 |
A BOGUS PROCLAMATION | 228 |
GRANTS WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN | 244 |
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Common terms and phrases
Andrew Carnegie April army arrest asked assassination August Baltimore Bates battle Beckwith Booth cabinet Captain capture cipher cipher-code cipher-despatch cipher-operator City Point Civil coln coln's Colonel command Confederate conference conspirators copy Dana Davis December December 15 Department telegraph office despatch enemy Facsimile fire Fort Monroe Government Grant graph Halleck hand headquarters incident Jacob Thompson Jefferson Davis John John Wilkes Booth Johnson July later letter lines Major Eckert MAJOR-GENERAL March McClellan ment Military Telegraph Corps morning Nashville night North November October October 13 Ohio operators paper Payne person Potomac President Lincoln President's proclamation railroad reached received referred remark reply Richard O'Brien Richmond Rosecrans Sanford says Scott Secretary of War Secretary Stanton sent Seward spatches Stager Stanton story tary tele telegram Thomas Tinker tion told translation troops Union Virginia votes Washington White House wires words write wrote York