OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Ohio in the Civil War    Pt 13c
***********************************************************************
OHGENWEB NOTICE:  All distribution rights to this electronic data are
reserved by the submitter.  Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted
material will require the permission of the copyright owner.  The submitter 
has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently 
for free access.
***********************************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
November 27, 1999
***********************************************************************
Historical Collections of Ohio
Diaries of S. J. Kelly
Plains Dealer
Know Your Ohio
by Darlene E. Kelley
***********************************************************************

Ohio in the Civil War-- Pt 13 C

The Military Telegraph Service--

While telegraph duties were performed with efficiency, troubles were
often precipitated by divided authority. When Superintendent Stager
ordered a civilian, who was engaged in building lines, out of Halleck's
department, the General ordered him back, saying " There must be one
good head of telegraph lines in my department, not two,and that head
must be under me."  Though Stager protested to Secretary of War Stanton,
the latter thought it best to yield in that case.

When General Grant found it expedient to appoint an aide as general
manager of lines in his army, the civilian chief, J.C. Van Duzer,
reported it to Stager, who had Grant called to account by the War
Department. Grant promptly put Van Duzer under close confinement in the
guardhouse, and later sent him out of the department, under guard. As a
outcome, the operators planned a strike, which Grant quelled by
telegraphic orders to confine closely every man resigning or guilty of
confumacious conduct. Stager's efforts to dominate Grant failed through
Stanton's fear that pressure would cause Grant to ask for relief from
his command.

Stager's administration culminated in an order by his assistant, dated
Cleveland, November 4, 1862; strictly requiring the operators to retain
" the orginal copy of every telegram sent by any military or other
Government officer----and mailed to the War Department." Grant answered, 
" Colonel Stager has no authority to demand the orginal of military
dispatches, and cannot have them." The order was never enforced, at
least with Grant.

If simular exeriences did not change the policy in Washington, it
produced better conditions in the field and ensured harmonious
cooperation. Of Van Duzer, it was said that he later returned to the
army and performed conspicuous service. At the Battle of Chattanoga, he
installed and operated lines on or near the firing-line during two
fateful days, November 24-25, 1863, often under heavy fire. Always
sharing the dangers of his men, Van Duzer, through his coolness and
activity under fire, has been mentioned as the only fighting of officer
of the Federal telegraph service.

Other then telegraphic espionage, the most dangerous service was the
repair of lines. which often was done under fire and more frequently in
a guerilla-infested country. Many men were captured or shot from ambush
while thus engaged. Two of Clowry's men in Arkansas were not only
murdered, but were frightfully mutilated. In Tennessee, conditions were
sometimes so bad that no linemen would venture out save under heavy
escort. Three repairmen were killed on Fort Donelson line alone. About
one in every twelve of the operators engaged in the service of repair
were killed, wounded, captured, or died in the service from exposure, as
was stated in the " Military Telegraph Papers" by W.R. Plum.

Telegraphic duties at military headquarters yielded little in brillancy
and interest compared to those of desperate daring associated with
tapping the opponet's wires. At times, offices were seized so quickly as
to prevent telegraphic warnings. General Mitchel captured two large
Confederate railway trains by sending false messages from Huntsville,
Alabama office, and General Seymour similarly seized a train near
Jacksonville, Florida.

While scouting, Operator William Foster, obtained valuable dispatches by
tapping the line along the Charleston-Savannah railway, two days.
Discovered, he was pursued by bloodhounds into a swamp, where he was
captured up to his armpits in mire. Later, the telegrapher died in
prison.

In 1863, General Rosecrans deemed it most important to learn whether
Bragg was detaching troops to reinforce the garrison at Vicksburg or for
other purposes. The only certain method seemed to be by tapping the
wires along the Chattanoga railroad, near Knoxville, Tennessee. For this
most dangerous duty, two daring members of the telegraph service
volunteered-- S.F. Van Valkenbergh and Patrick Mullarkev. The latter
afterward was captured by Morgan, in Ohio. With four Tennesseans, they
entered the hostile country and, selecting a wooded place, tapped the
line, fifteen miles from Knoxville, and for a week listened to all
passing dspatches. Twice escaping detection, they heard a message going
over the wire which ordered the scouring of the district to capture
Union spies. They at once decamped, barely in time to escape the patrol.
Hunted by cavalry, attacked by guerillas, approached by Confederate
spies, they found aid from Union mountaineers, to whom they owed their
safety. Struggling on, with capture and death in daily prospect, they
finally fell in with Union pickets--beng then half starved, clothed in
rags, and with naked, bleeding feet. They had been thirty-three days
within the Confederate lines, and their stirring adventures make a story
rarely equaled in thrilling interest.

Confederate wires were often tapped during Sherman's march to the sea, a
warning of General Wheeler's coming raid being thus obtained. Operator
Loneergan copied important dispatches from Hardee, in Savannah, giving
Bragg's movements in the rear of Sherman, with reports on cavalry and
rations.

Wiretapping was also practiced by the Confederates, who usually worked
in, a sympathetic community. Despite their daring skill the net results
were often small, owing to the Union system of enciphering all important
messages. their most audiacious and persistant telegraphic scout was
Ellsworth. Morgan's operator, whose skill, courage, and resourcefullness
contributed largely to the success of his daring commander. Ellsworth
was an expert in obtaining dispatches, and especially in disseminating
misleading information by bogus messages.

The ciper- operators with the various armies were men of rare skill.
unswerving integrity, unfailing loyalty. Caldwell, as chief operator,
accompanied the Army of the Potomac on every march and seige,
contributing also to the efficiency of field-telegraphs. Beckwith was
Grant's cipher operator to the end of the war, and was the man who
tapped a wire and reported the hiding place of Wilkes Booth.
It is regretable that such men were denied the glory and benifits of a
military service, which they actually, though not officially. gave.

During siege operations at Petersburg, a system of lines connected the
various headquarters, depots, entrenchments, and even some picket lnes.
Cannonading and sharpshooting were so insistant and operators were often
driven to bombproof offices--epecially during artillery duels and
impending assualts. Nerve racking were the sounds and uncomfortably
dangerous situations, yet the operators held their posts. Under terrible
conditions of an night assault, the last despairing attempt to break
through the encircling Federal forces at Petersburg, hurried orders and
urgent appeals were sent. At dawn of March 25,1865, General Gordon
carried Fort Stedman with desperate gallantry, and cut the wire to City
Point. The Federals speedily sent the message of disaster. Assuming
command, General Parke ordered a counter attack and recaptured the Fort.
Promptly the wire was restored, and Meade, controlling the whole army by
telegraph. made a combined attack by several corps, capturing the
entrenched picket line of the Confederates.

First of all the great commanders, Grant used the military telegaph both
for grand tactics and for strategy in its broadest sense. From his
headquarters with Meade's army in Virginia, May, 1864, he daily gave
orders and received reports regarding the operations of Meade in
Virginia, Sherman in Georgia, Sigel in West Virginia, and Butler on the
James River. Later he kept under direct control military forces
exceeding half a million of soldiers, operating over a territory of
eight hundred thousand square miles in area. Through concerted action
and timely movements, Grant prevented the reinforcement of Lee's Army
and so shortened the war. Sherman said, " The value of the telegraph
cannot be exaggerated, as illustrated by the perfect accord of action of
the armies of Virginia and Georgia,"
**********************************************

civil war in Ohio to be continued--