Lately, I've been wondered how commanders were able to stay in touch with each other amid Civil War combat, when communication was primitive by standards of today. It took days, weeks or months for messages to reach intended recipients. By then, substantive content may have been obsolete. Such lag times seem crucial in active combat that can mean victory or defeat for both sides. One podcast I recently heard mentioned some CW submarine near California's coastline didn't get news of Lee's surrender until SIX MONTHS later. So, that leads me to wonder how many lives were lost and scarce resources wasted all because commanders didn't know the war was over! How, if at all, did they deal with this issue back then?