Deseret Weekly | 1896-07-04 | Page 3 | Abe Lincoln's Telegraph Operators

written for this paper ABE TELEGRAPH OPERATORS copyrighted 1696 by bv frank 0 carpenter OMAHA june 1896 greatest creates t nerve centers of 0 1 the late W civil war was 9 the telegraph office at the war depart in e n t a at t W washington ashin agton through it passed all the d is pa tc hes wh which ich ca came me field and by it were sent out the orders from president lincoln and secretary stanton to the generals commanding the most expert operators in the military telegraph corps were detailed for the war offic office general anson stager who had been superintendent of the western union telegraph was the head and next to him was general thomas T eckert w who ho is now the manager of the western union telegraph lines general eckert sustained the closest of relations to president lincoln and lincoln used to chat by the hour with him in the telegraph office eckert was also a good story teller and some of the best of Lincol ns stories were uttered while the operators were clicking out messages of war under these chiefs there were a number of very fast te eg raphers among the brightest whom was edward rosewater now proprietor of the omaha bee during the war mr rosewater was for a time a telegrapher in the field after the second battle of bull run he was drought to washington to act as one of the confidential operators of the tha war department during his stay in washington he kept a diary and he has a number of most interesting stories of his experiences of the incidents of that time which have never been given to the pub public lic I 1 chatted with h him im the other night about the telegraph office of the war department dep ariment said he the war department during the time of president lincoln was in the old war department building this was a three story structure just above the white house the telegraph office adjoined the th office of secretary stanton it consisted of two rooms one of which was devoted to the preparation and deciphering of cipher messages and another the operating room proper prop er which also contained the war department library in the cipher room sat general stager general eckert and two cipher operators the operating room contained ten marble tables upon each of which was a telegraphic instrument of the latest pattern we had you know the finest machinery known at that time and the operators had to be fine penmen and one ot of the requirements of the position was to be able to write out in legible hand with ink the dispatches as rapidly as they came from the wires this is done by many operators today it was not so common then 12 who organized our war telegraph mr Roe rosewater water I 1 asked general anson stager and general eckert was the reply general stager was you know superintendent of the western union telegraph before the war began he was called to washington to take charge ot of the telegraph system and organize a military telegraph the first wire built was that which ran from the war department to the navy yard then a system of communication was made with the camps lying within ten or twelve miles of the white ahil te house and the capitol building was connected with the navy department by a loop the lines were soon extended to the chain bridge then over into virginia and finally they had direct communication with all parts of the country general stager originated the cipher code used in the department he was an expert op operator himself and one time when riding on the Pitts pittsburg lurg fort wayne I 1 chicago road the train broke down within nine nine miles of any telegraph office general stager cut the wires and by holding abne above and one below his tongue was able to receive the messages by watching its movements caused by the electric shocks passing through it by this means be received a reply that another engine would be sent to him at once general eckert was also an expert telegrapher his relations with president lincoln were very close and he can I 1 venture tell more good stories pt ot lincoln than any other man now living president lincoln often came into the he telegraph office he generally came in in early in the morning and he often remained in the office at night when serious operations were going on in the field what were your arrangements for delivering messages at night mr rosewater there was as a rule not a great deal of work to be done at night replied mr rosewater though at times the wires were kept hot during a great part of 1893 1 was the night chiet chief of the office I 1 had in the corridor outside the operating rooms a half dozen cavalry men who were on hand to carry such dispatches as were important I 1 remember once during the winter of 1863 that a telegram came urging that reinforce ments be sent at once to columbus kentucky this was then a very important military point and the rebels were moving upon it in large force and the union union general commanding had in this dispatch asked for reinforcements the message came to me between mid night and i a m I 1 banded it over to one of the orderlies and told him t it at once to beneral general halleck I 1 expected very naturally a prompt order from halleck as to the reinforcements an hour passed by nothing came A second hour went by and still no order I 1 was anxious for I 1 feared that the wires might be cut or broken before morning and in this case no relief could be gotten to our forces at columbus I 1 remained on duty all night but no message came from halleck between seven and eight in the morning I 1 went out tor for my breakfast and upon returning found that general halleck had not yet order ed reinforcements I 1 asked the orderly if he had delivered the message and if so why he had not brought an answer he replied that general H halleck all eck had biven iven directions that he was never to be is ur bed after midnight this state ment made me very angry the idea of the commanding general of the great army giving orders that he was to be awakened under no circumstances when such vital interests were under his charge seemed to be simply awful I 1 was so wrought up over the matter that I 1 thought I 1 would go to the president and tell him about the halleck order in the first place however I 1 decided to ask general who know my superior officer I 1 did so and told him that I 1 was going to see the president he replied by asking me what business it was of mine whether the order was sent or not said he my have nothing to do with general Hall hallecks eckls orders we have done our luty duty it is our business to receive and deliver dispatches and that is all we do I 1 was still angry but after general S stagers agers making such a remark 1 I could do nothing he was my superior officer end and his answer was in the nature of an order was this the case with the other officers I 1 asked no ls 21 replied mr rosewater many of the officers watched things more care fully take general burnside lor for i instance n he often remained up all night I 1 could ifould not in fact tell when he slept and I 1 often wired him dispatches as lave late as 5 in the morning I 1 had known burnside before I 1 met halleck and I 1 did not think much of a man who could not stay awake upon great occasions all night general burnside was in command at the battle ot of fredericks burg where he had you know such a disastrous defeat he did not wish to be commander of the army and he told president lincoln that he was not competent to take charge of it lincoln insisted however and he at last accepted the place burnside maintained that there was treachery in the war department and that the rebels got the orders sent out from the war devart department ment as soon as lie he did and that in this way they were able to counteract his proposed movements before he executed them was lincoln in the office at the time of the battle ot of fredericksburg I 1 asked yes replied mr rosewater he came into the office at 8 that morning and remained iema ined there until long after dark he came over from the white house in his bis slippers slip persI remember it was sunday and the dispatches were going ering and coming all day president lincoln stood behind me much of the time and dictated the dispatches to me which I 1 wrote and sent I 1 took the answers as they came from the wires and handed them to him we were sending and receiving news all morning at poon noon the dispatches were still stid coming and instead ot of getting a luxich lunch secretary stanton sent his ice pitcher over to the winder building and had it filled with beer and this beer with some crackers made up the innab of the party general eckert ackert captain fox acting secretary of the navy all taking their turn at the pitcher president lincoln took his share re of the beer and I 1 am I 1 venture one of the few men who have ever taken a drink of beer with president lincoln how did president lincoln act at such times ahe he was perfectly simple and un unassuming replied mr rosewater I 1 ne he did not seem at all nervous during the battle though it was going against us the result was you know an awful defeat and we lost more than in killed and wounded burnside did not want to make the attack but he was overruled by secretary stanton and president lincoln alter after the battle it seemed to me that president lincoln was very much depressed and worn he was never however averse to a joke and a laugh seemed to relieve him shortly alter after the battle of fredericksburg burnside was released irom from command and frank lesliea Le newspaper published an illustration in which lincoln was represented as the high chief executioner with a great big axe in his hand chopping off heads on the ground near him in in this picture lay McClel lans head which had just been chopped off beside this was the head ot of burnside and there were other heads at hand ready to be cut off it was not long after this fight that one of these papers was lying on one of the telegraph tables when president lincoln came in As be was looking at it general burnside entered they discussed the picture together and both laughed heartily beir tily over it 1 I suppose there were many funny things happening even during the darkest days ot of the war were there not I 1 yes replied mr rosewater there were many little interesting things which seemed silly to me at the time the war was to me so serious that I 1 could not appreciate that great minds like that of president edt lincoln must have relaxation I 1 remember once when things looked the blackest tom thumb and general nutt were brought by P T barnum to the white house president lincoln and his cabinet gave up business for an hour and spent it in being entertained by them this at the time seemed to me outrageous I 1 thought it was a very foolish proceeding to engross the attention of the president at such a time but it was perhaps a needed relaxation I 1 saw tom thumb afterward and he told me that he rode to the white house that day in a carriage which was given to him by queen victoria did president lincoln really know much about the operations ot of the war I 1 asked yes indeed president lincoln knew of every movement on the military chess board he directed many of the operations himself it was he be who whore removed mcclellan I 1 dont think the real story of this order has ever been told it was just after the battle of antietam in september 1862 both lincoln and stanton had bad been urging mcclellan to move on after general lees army and capture it I 1 sent for president lincoln message after mes sage to mcclellan directing him to move on and mcclellan repeatedly replied that rapid movement wasim was impossible pos he held back on various various pretexts and finally sent a message which capped the climax this last telegram was as jellows lol Jol lows president lincoln A ae e are still delayed cavalry horses tongues are sore signed GEORGE B MCCLELLAN the idea of stop stopping ping a great grea t army because of the soreness of the tongues of the horses was more than lincoln could stand within an hour after the telegram came McClel lans was off an order was issued relieving him of the command of the army of the potomac how did secretary stanton impress you I 1 asked edwin M stanton seemed tv to me a man of great force replied editor rosewater there was no joking about him and he did an enormous amount of work you must remember that there were no stenographers or typewriters then to write telegrams and letters stanton wrote the most oi of his dispatches which were very numerous I 1 sent oft off many telegrams for president and mrs lincoln and it was a curious thing to me that mrs Lincol ns hand ing was so much like that of the president that you could hardly tell them apart As for general burnside be wrote a worse hand band than horace greeley secretary St antons penmanship was in a big round hand I 1 how about your work with the army mr rosewater telegraphing during a battle must musi be very exciting yes it is replied mr rosewater 1 GI I was in a number of minor engagement and I 1 did all the telegraphing that was done for our army at the second battle of bull run I 1 thought our army was going to move right on to richmond at that time and I 1 asked that I 1 might be detailed to accompany general pope so that I 1 might be one of the first io 10 arrive at the rebel capital at bull ball run I 1 had bad my instrument placed on the ground among the dead horses there was shooting going on around me and I 1 could not tell whether we were whipping the rebels or whether they were whipping us general pope was sending dispatches all day stating that he was beating the enem enemy y while in fact he was really being defeated at the first battle of bull run you know there were a line of couriers which brought the news to fairfax court house bouse from where it was telegraphed to washington the wire was not carried to the battle itself but the news was brought for ten miles to fairfax station and then sent on the day of the battle the telegraph office desk chair etc consisted ot of a railroad tie upon which the instrument was placed I 1 ahe he operator was a man named rose he sent dispatches up until 4 0 clock stating that everything was going well and then for a time there was no news and finally came a dispatch stating our army is in full retreat president lincoln and his cabinet were in the W war ar department office ceat at theotime the time and the news wasa was a great shock to them that same night however orders were telegraphed over the country for reinforcements and you know men enlisted within two days what kind of machinery did you carry with you to the field I 1 asked not much replied mr rosewater during my service with general fremont in west virginia as well as in the campaign with general pope all I 1 had was a pocket instrument about three inches wide and six inches long I 1 could connect my instrument with any wire at any point and could disconnect it when we were through telegraphing wherever the army was stationed for any length of time we would establish an office sometime we had a board placed on the ground for the instrument and we sat on the ground to do our telegraphing the war telegraphers were often watched by sharpshooters and we had bad to be careful in selecting our positions sometimes the telegraph instrument I 1 ment tit would be placed in front of the army and sometimes it would be away I 1 in in the rear the day before the second battle of bull run the wires had been f cut between us and warrenton va and I 1 was sent out with a reconnoitering reconnoiter ing ex A tion to reestablish establish re the connection W e had bad three box cars and about men we were attacked by artille artillery ry and flanked by cavalry but we were able notwithstanding this to connect the wires tell betell me how abraham lincoln looked when you saw him in the war department at that time 11 r he was just like his picture only possibly a littlemore little more worn