Telegraphing in Battle

[Reconstructed Rebel]

I haven't finished the entire book yet, but for anyone who wants to do a deep dive into the subject, this source seems like a good start. It was written by John Emmet O'Brien, M. D., Operator and Cipher-Operator, U. S. Military Telegraph, 1862-1866.

Dr. O'Brien gives credit to Andrew Carnegie for being the "father of the US Military Telegraph." This is not a claim I had ever heard before, as I associate Mr. Carnegie with steel, libraries, and institutions of higher learning, but evidently his contributions to his adopted country did not end there.

Telegraphing in battle; reminiscences of the civil war : O'Brien, John Emmet : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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See pages 225-226 for the full translation and explanation of the code used to write the message below.

 

[rpkennedy]

The telegraph system failed badly during the Chancellorsville Campaign. There were multiple instances where
orders took hours to get from Point A to Point B which rendered them obsolete before they were received. When it worked well, the system was excellent. But when it didn't, it was potentially disastrous.

Ryan