Civil War era telescopes.

[major bill]

Telescopes and binoculars pre date the Civil War.

The above telescope is in a display case at the Michigan History Museum.

I know that senior officers often carried binoculars, but who used telescopes?
I would guess the signal Corps would have had some and that the Navy used some.


A certain number of binoculars and telescopes would have been needed by both sides.

 

[major bill]

Do we have any binocular and telescope experts here on CivilWarTalk? I am not sure binoculars and telescopes were being made in the United States during the Civil War. I am not certain that the Confederate States had the ability to manufacture optic lenses. On the other hand if they could make lenses for glasses, could they then make optic lenses for binoculars and telescopes?

 

[Package4]

Do we have any binocular and telescope experts here on CivilWarTalk? I am not sure binoculars and telescopes were being made in the United States during the Civil War. I am not certain that the Confederate States had the ability to manufacture optic lenses. On the other hand if they could make lenses for glasses, could they then make optic lenses for binoculars and telescopes?

Paging @Lanyard Puller

 

[Package4]

Do we have any binocular and telescope experts here on CivilWarTalk? I am not sure binoculars and telescopes were being made in the United States during the Civil War. I am not certain that the Confederate States had the ability to manufacture optic lenses. On the other hand if they could make lenses for glasses, could they then make optic lenses for binoculars and telescopes?

I believe that most of their optics were imported

 

[major bill]

Yes I suspect quality optic lenses were imported.

 

[Ed Zeppelin]

I read somewhere on the Internet they got that stuff from Optics Planet. Yes? No?



Sent from my Commodore 64 running Windoze 95

 

[Kurt G]

This telescope was at the Pry House when I visited several years ago .It was McClellan's headquarters during the battle of Antietam . A reporter from the Boston Journal observed "Stakes had been driven in the earth in front of the house to which were strapped the headquarters telescopes , through which the view of the operations and movements of the two armies could be observed . " I was told the telescope was a Civil War era piece . The Pry House is on a large hill that allowed observation of the battle from a distance . .

 

[Rhea Cole]

The US Signal Corps regularly issued telescopes of all sizes. They were used by stations of observation to observe enemy movements & to intercept visual messages.

Large telescopes were permanently mounted in facilities like the Rutherford Co Courthouse in Murfreesboro TN. Two telescopes were mounted one above the other. They were manned 27/7. When a visual message came on from Fort Transit ten miles eastward, & the Works at Triune 15 miles to the west. The courthouse clock's bell would be ring & an officer would climb up to receive the message.

On cold clear nights during the winter, Fort Transit signaled with turpentine torches directly to Fort Negley in Nashville. That is a distance of 41 miles, the longest visual signals of the war.

Both US & CSA signal teams used telescopes daily throughout the war.

 

[major bill]

Can we assume these Signal Corps telescopes were imported? I am asking because the Confederacy would have needed a fair number of telescopes. All of which might have came in on blockade runners.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

 

[Copperhead-mi]

The earliest American maker of binoculars that I've been able to find is [John] Bausch & [Henry] Lomb who began manufacturing monocles in 1849 but did not begin manufacturing binoculars until 1893.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

During the Civil War, telescopic sight makers such as Morgan James (Utica, NY), M.L. Mogg (Marcellus, NY), William Malcolm (Syracuse, NY), John W. Sidle (Philadelphia, PA), and Milton Pierce (Philadelphia, PA) all made rifle scopes for the Union Army but I cannot find where any of them manufactured the larger diameter tubed telescopes.

 

[Mike Serpa]

From the LOC: Adm. David D. Porter, Lt. Commander, on deck of U.S. Steamship Fulton

Did we have discussion about this photo and determine this man is not Porter?

 

[Mike Serpa]

These from the LOC: Major General Robert Anderson of General Staff Regular Army Infantry in uniform with telescope

Major General William Starke Rosecrans of 23rd Ohio Infantry Regiment and General Staff U.S. Volunteers Infantry Regiment in uniform with telescope, map, and sword

 

[Seduzal]

@major bill I did a search at the top of this page put in 'binoculars in the Civil War', hit search tab came up with 6+ pages.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

Here is a 2016 thread titled Civil War Era Binoculars started by James N. (a lot of good info on manufacturers):

Civil War Era Binoculars | Relic Hunting & Collecting

It seems that, as with many other items I own, I've inadvertently become a collector of French and German military binoculars or field glasses. My collection now includes, top row left-to-right: WWII German 6 X 30; WWI German Fernglas 08 which were issued to machine gunners, NCO's, etc.; and...

civilwartalk.com