Military Telegraph...how did it cross rivers?

CrisGer

Cadet
Joined
May 10, 2018
We are working on a project about City Point and they for sure had direct Telegraph lines from there to Wash DC but how did it cross the James River which was quite wide...did they have underwater cables back then or did it go up river to a narrower place and cross on a arial line or some bridge?

We found photos finally of telegraph poles in the main depot area and along the USMRR RR line and have a floor plan of the main telegraphy office by the Quartermaster HQ...but i have wondered how to show the line at the river.

thanks for any info on this, this was the only topic area i could find on the board for this topic thanks'

Chris Gerlach
Leader
City Point Army Line USMRR 1865 Project
 
yes they were uninsualed usually but cant imagine a cable could go under water without it.

there were no bridges over the James River it was too wide...it becamse essentially a tidal inslet not too far East to the Norfolk Naval Base and the Atlantic. so the puzzle remains. :smile:

thanks for the replies.

the wire was strung bare along the poles but used glass insulators.
 
Yes, they did have insulated telegraph cables, most cable used by the Union Army was insulated with gutta percha. With permanent installations with poles and glass insulators, bare wire could be used. But the army needed cable that could be run along the ground, underwater, etc.
 
The Confederates would use captured telegraph wire to send the charge from an onshore battery to their underwater torpedoes (mines) igniting the charge, so it must have been insulated to a degree. Also, as the War progressed; stronger insulated iron wire came into use replacing the more fragile copper wire. As a sidelight, today's military comm wire consists of seven wires-4 copper for the signal and 3 steel for the strength-it is then covered with a flexible composite cover.
 
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Gutta-percha was the usual insulator for submarine telegraph cables, and rubber was used for terrestrial ones. From Neal Stephenson's Mother Earth Mother Board essay:

Without rubber and another kind of tree resin called gutta-percha, it would not have been possible to wire the world. Early telegraph lines were just naked conductors strung from pole to pole, but this worked poorly, especially in wet conditions, so some kind of flexible but durable insulation was needed. After much trial and error, rubber became the standard for terrestrial and aerial wires while gutta-percha (a natural gum also derived from a tree grown in Malaya) was used for submarine cables. Gutta-percha is humble-looking stuff, a nondescript brown crud that surrounds the inner core of old submarine cables to a thickness of perhaps 1 centimeter, but it was a wonder material back in those days, and the longer it remained immersed in salt water, the better it got.


From context I suspect that this discovery had been made before the 1860s, as the transatlantic cable of 1858 was insulated with gutta-percha. Whether the US and CS could import enough rubber from Brazil (probably) is another matter.
 
They originally ran a 2.5 mile insulated cable from Jamestown Island (where the terminus of the cable to Washington was) straight over the river landing at Swan's Point, and then overland along the river. Rebel guerrillas then cut it constantly, and ambushed the repair parties. Hence they decided to lay a submarine cable along the river from Jamestown Island all the way to Fort Powhatan.

In 1862 the government purchased the roughly 50 miles of the failed 1858 trans-Atlantic cable that had been salvaged. They immediately used 23 miles of it to connect Cherrystone Inlet (DE) to Backhouse Creek Lighthouse (7 miles from Fort Monroe) and about another 2 miles for river crossings on the Delaware peninsula to connect Wilmington to Cherrystone Inlet. Another piece connected Newport News to Sewell's Point (4 miles). The remaining cable (22 miles, including the 2.5 miles previously laid over the river which was reused) was laid in the James in July '64 and replaced the overland section east of Fort Powhatan. From Fort Powhatan to City Point the line ran overland. The very last half-mile of cable was used to cross the Appomattox River.
 
Don't have answer for you, but you got me thinking. Telegraph wires were bare (uninsulated) wires weren't they? Wouldn't a heavy thunderstorm short out the circuit also?

Thunderstorms don't necessarily short out wire signals. All of today's high voltage wires mounted on to those high towering supports that you see strung across the countryside use non-insulated wires.
 
wow thank you all very much Tigers that was the data we needed. the wire along the RR line was bare wire with insulators we have good photos of several poles. but nothing about the cable under the river that is a HUGE help thank you all for the replies. When i said un insulated i was refering to the bare copper line used along the tracks. thanks again all hands!
Chris
 
Gutta-percha was the usual insulator for submarine telegraph cables, and rubber was used for terrestrial ones. From Neal Stephenson's Mother Earth Mother Board essay:

Without rubber and another kind of tree resin called gutta-percha, it would not have been possible to wire the world. Early telegraph lines were just naked conductors strung from pole to pole, but this worked poorly, especially in wet conditions, so some kind of flexible but durable insulation was needed. After much trial and error, rubber became the standard for terrestrial and aerial wires while gutta-percha (a natural gum also derived from a tree grown in Malaya) was used for submarine cables. Gutta-percha is humble-looking stuff, a nondescript brown crud that surrounds the inner core of old submarine cables to a thickness of perhaps 1 centimeter, but it was a wonder material back in those days, and the longer it remained immersed in salt water, the better it got.


From context I suspect that this discovery had been made before the 1860s, as the transatlantic cable of 1858 was insulated with gutta-percha. Whether the US and CS could import enough rubber from Brazil (probably) is another matter.
Line 256 from the 1860 Census report on manufacturing listed an India rubber industry:
1600990860632.png


It was a very new line of production, so subcategories for different products did not exist at that time.
 
"In 1862 the government purchased the roughly 50 miles of the failed 1858 trans-Atlantic cable that had been salvaged. They immediately used 23 miles of it to connect Cherrystone Inlet (DE) to Backhouse Creek Lighthouse (7 miles from Fort Monroe) and about another 2 miles for river crossings on the Delaware peninsula to connect Wilmington to Cherrystone Inlet. Another piece connected Newport News to Sewell's Point (4 miles). The remaining cable (22 miles, including the 2.5 miles previously laid over the river which was reused) was laid in the James in July '64 and replaced the overland section east of Fort Powhatan. From Fort Powhatan to City Point the line ran overland. The very last half-mile of cable was used to cross the Appomattox River."

Excellent points
 
John Emmet O’Brien, Telegraphing in Battle: Reminiscences of the Civil War is republished by Scholar Select https://www.bookdepository.com/publishers/Scholar-Select. Scholars Select republishes works which are “culturally important.”

This book is based on diaries of O'Brien and brother as union telegraphers and ciphers.

Both Union and Confederates used Telegraph as well as tapping into the telegrams of the other side.

Union had even developed a cipher
 
John Emmet O’Brien, Telegraphing in Battle: Reminiscences of the Civil War is republished by Scholar Select https://www.bookdepository.com/publishers/Scholar-Select. Scholars Select republishes works which are “culturally important.”

This book is based on diaries of O'Brien and brother as union telegraphers and ciphers.

Both Union and Confederates used Telegraph as well as tapping into the telegrams of the other side.

Union had even developed a cipher
It was not a good means of communication for plans and intentions. But for communicating information already known by the enemy, to a central location it was invaluable. For spreading disinformation, it was sometimes very useful.
 
The infamous Barnard/Meigs inspection report done upon the Army of James in May 1864 had to be carried from Bermuda Hundred down the James River to Fort Monroe by steamboat. From the Fort the report was placed onto the telegram line to go to Federal HQ. I had assumed this had to be an underwater line leaving the Fort for the State of Maryland. Thanks for the postings to have a better understanding.
 
Telegraph Construction Train AoP.jpeg

Telegraph Construction Train, Army of the Potomac
The entire train consisted of 30 or more battery wagons, wire reels & construction carts.

Telegraph Constructoin Corps Stringing Wire .jpeg

Telegraph Construction Corps stringing wire.​

Under combat conditions, a coil of insulated wire was mounted on a mule. As the mule was led along, men followed stringing the wire on any convenient branch, fence post, etc. Regular cavalry patrols watched the lines.

Field telegraph party, Petersburg June 22, 1864.jpeg

Field Telegraph party, Petersburg June 22, 1864
Behind the tent is an electric battery wagon.
During the Siege of Petersburg headquarters, depots, entrenchments & picket lines were connected by telegraph lines. Frontline operators worked from bombproof bunkers.

Beardslee wire spool & posts Waud .jpeg

The single wire for the Beardslee Repeating Telegraph were insulated with gutta percha. The unvulcanized rubber allowed the wire to be laid the ground & under water. The wagon carried 20 miles or more of wire plus poles with metal hooks for the wire & pointed shoes.

Beardslee operator  Waud Lib Cong.jpeg

Beardslee Repeating Telegraph Operator
It was officially called the army signal-telegraph.​

The Beardslee apparatus could transmit a maximum of 5 to 8 miles. Unlike conventional telegraphs, the Beardslee created its own electricity. Turning the arm that the operator is holding spun a magneto that caused the arm of the receiving unit to move in symphony. Words were spelled out a letter at a time. Unlike other forms of signaling, there was no need to encode messages. The Beardslee signal could not be tapped. A constant electrical charge was all that was transmitted by the wire, there is no data of any kind to be intercepted.

IMG_5220.jpg

At Stones River NB living history volunteers present signal programs on a regular basis.
During the war, Murfreesboro TN was a nexus for the signal net of the Army of the Cumberland.
Visual signals using flags & torches, telegraph & Beardeslee Repeating Telegraphs were perfected here.

IMG_5226.jpg

Telegraph key & ten volt wet cell battery.
Multiple batteries carried in a battery wagon could be hooked together to increase the range of the signal.
The two tables hold telegraph & Beardslee units that are used by volunteers to demonstrate sending & receiving signals.

IMG_5225.jpg

The handle on the right of the dial is used to turn a magneto & send letters one at a time.
The pointer is indicating the letter X, which was sent by the other unit.
The paired Beardslee units had to be set up by transmitting from one unit to the other.
The set screw in the center was loosened to move the indicator to the position of the handle, which synchronized the units.
Because the only way to intercept the signal was to have a Beardslee synced to the signaler.
The synchronization involves signaling to & from in a way that makes tapping the line effectively impossible.
Signaling with the Beardslee was slow, however not having to encode & decode messages saved both time & avoided transmission errors.
A Beardslee was carried forward during the attack on the Mule Shoe. The violence of the fighting made that early attempt at command & control a failure.​


To directly answer the question, no, telegraph wires would not have been run under the river. The gutta percha rubber insulation was not durable. In hot weather, the insulation turned into something similar to rubber cement. When it was cold, the insulation cracked. Over time, the unvulcanized rubber became brittle & broke up. Until Mr. Goodyear invented vulcanizing, rubber was a very problematic insulation material.

Historic images Library of Congress. Stones River photos of volunteer John Betner by the author.


 
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I have always thought what the telegraph made possible was one guy with binoculars sending hand signals to another guy out of sight of the enemy, telling the telegrapher what to signal the long range artillery battery Lt.. The problem was to avoid being in the direct line of fire, to avoid short rounds killing the spotter and his assistant. They would have created such a system, in time.
 
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