F.W. Chesson File: ABECON.HTP
Waterbury, CT 06710 Rev: 6-30-2000
SECRET WIRES
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Lincoln Connections
Abraham Lincoln's first-known received telegram was from one
Isaac Gibson, Secretary of the Alton and Sangamon Railroad, on March
15th, 1851, concerning a court case against three shareholders.
Lincoln's first authored telegram was dated January 19, 1858, and
also involving a legal matter. It was sent over the Caton Line of the
Illinois and Mississippi Telegraph Co. Which, according to its format,
"Extended to Chicago, St. Louis, Dubuque and Rock Island, embracing all
principal towns and cities in Illinois and Iowa."
CATON LINES
Illinois and Mississippi Telegraph Company
By Telegraph from: Springfield Rcvd: Alton, Jany 19, 1858
To...Hon. Geo T. Brown
"Send Jo Gillispe up here at once. Don't fail. A. Lincoln"
(Lincoln Collection, Illinois State Historical Library)
The Election of 1860 and the subsequent North-South hostilities
saw a vast increase in Lincoln's telegrams.
On August 26th, 1861, President Lincoln felt it necessary to deny
General Fremont some of the reinforcements he had promised eleven days
earlier. Four days later, the flamboyant officer would perhaps retaliate
by unilaterally issuing his own Emancipation Proclamation, causing Lincoln
considerable political embarrassment, especially in his efforts to keep
Kentucky neutral.
United States Military Telegraph
Received...Aug 26, 1861
To...Gen. Fremont, Commanding, St. Louis
"Intelligent Gentlemen at Louisville say that the presence of
Rousseau's Regiment is needed there. Pardon us for countermanding
your order to him to join your Department at present.
A. Lincoln, President."
On November 3rd, Lincoln telegraphed Brigadier General Strong in
Saint Louis to explain the extent of McClellan's command structure,
following his recent replacement of retired General Winfield Scott.
United States Military Telegraph
Received...Nov 3, 1861
From...Washington, DC To...Brig. Gen. Wm Strong St. Louis, Mo.
"Gen. McClellan is in command of substantially the whole Army,
including the Department of the West. A. Lincoln."
Using a Executive Mansion letterhead, Lincoln sent the following on
November 7th, 1861 by way of explanation to a request concerning his wife:
EXECUTIVE MANSION
Washington, Nov. 7, 1861
Ferdinand E. Hays Philadelphia, Penn.
"Mary Lincoln is the name you desire. A. Lincoln"
(written in below)
"The President wishes the above despatch sent to its address.
John Hay." (John Hay was a personal secretary to the President)
Note: Mr. Hays and the nature of his inquiry remain unclear.
Another, personally signed Lincoln telegram was sent to
Joshua F. Speed.
United States Military Telegraph
To...Joshua F. Speed Cincinnati, Ohio
"Tell Gen. Anderson & Gen. Sherman, who know our means, to make
their requisitions upon us. We will do our best to comply with them.
A. Lincoln."
25 Chg. State Dept.
United States Military Telegraph
Received...Aug 25, 1861
From...Di To...Louisville Office
"Hurry up answer for A. Lincoln President to message sent
yesterday. J. War Department Office"
LINCOLN IN CIPHER
On Tuesday, November 5th, General Charles C. Fremont was en-route
to St. Louis, recalled from his abortive attempt to bring the elusive
Sterling Price to bay. Thomas T. Eckert dispatched an enciphered telegram
to operator E. C. Bush. The sender was President Lincoln, marking his
first know appearance in an encoded telegram.
(blank page)
Hd Qrts Army Nov 5 '61
E. C. Bush St. Louis
"Nancy Russia signed sent has for thief what matter speed S
swears a to been brig schooner general done you Lincoln drunk you
Mr the pastor prays Curtis in by President Convention.
Thos T Eckert" Chg President 32 wd
When Bush deciphered the telegram, it read:
"For Brigadier General Curtis, St. Louis. What has been done in the
matter sent to you by Mr. Speed (?) Signed, A. Lincoln, President, U.S."
But either Eckert was fatigued, or still learning the new cipher's
operation, because he made, or allowed to get past, one error in fact and
two potential security lapses.
First, he replaced the name of (Leonard) Swett with that of Speed.
This might be excused to some extent, because, on the same day, Lincoln
had sent a telegram to James Guthrie, George D. Prentice and James Speed,
all then at Jeffersonville, Indiana.
As to security breaches, while Eckert had correctly used the codeword
PASTOR for St. Louis, he failed to substitute CHESTER for General Curtis and
IRVING for President Lincoln.
Still, he did employ distinctive end-of-column nulls, yielding such
interesting fragments as: "The pastor prays," and "Lincoln drunk!"
Correcting the personal-name error and using CHESTER and IRVING, the
telegram might have been sent as follows, using the three-line indicator
FREDONIA.
NANCY FREDONIA YOU BY DONE FOR STEALING BEEN TO IRVING CITY
BY IN CHESTER REVEREND PASTOR THE MR SMITH SIGNED SENT HAS CASH
WHAT MATTER SWETT HARD.
By the end of December, Eckert had enciphering techniques resolved
in this next-known encoded Lincoln telegram.
(plain page)
Dec. 31st, 1861
E. C. Bush St. Louis
"Egypt might simultaneous it he Alvord for poles are when hinders a
saffron Irving swears prevent movement being moves and Alden City Andes
yourself on reinforced by it check signed on Saffron what connect sick
music is in sermon from you answer soon. Thos T. Eckert." (4-792)
Bush's decipherment read:
"For Gen. Halleck. McClellan is sick. Are Gen. Buell and yourself
in concert when he moves on Bowling Green (Ky)? What hinders it being
reinforced from Columbus (Ky)? A simultaneous movement on Columbus might
prevent it. Answer. Signed, Lincoln."
Thus, with McClellan down with typhoid fever, Lincoln took it upon
himself to counsel Halleck and Buell about a proposed movement on very
strategic Bowling Green....
When McClellan's drive against Richmond stalled in mid-1862, Lincoln
personally wired Ambrose Burnside as to the massive shift of Army of the
Potomac forces now underway to reinforce Pope's own ill-starred Army
of Virginia....
FALMOUTH, Va., August 21, 1862--7.55 a.m.
To the President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN:
"Telegram received. Two brigades of Porter's corps arrived, with
Tyler's heavy artillery, of over forty pieces. A large number of steamers
in sight below Aquia. Will telegraph what troops are on board as soon as
I learn. Over 6,000 troops were landed yesterday, and I hope double that
will be landed to-day. All that I can't land here at once I will send to
Alexandria.
A. E. BURNSIDE,
Major-General."
Late in 1862, there were new problems in Missouri requiring a
presidential telegram....
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington,
Dec 19, 1862--10.10 a.m.
Major-General CURTIS, Saint Louis, Mo.:
"Hon. W. A. Hall, member of Congress here, tells me, and Governor
Gamble telegraphs me, that quiet can be maintained in all the counties
north of the Missouri River by the Enrolled Militia. Confer with Governor
Gamble and telegraph me.
A. LINCOLN, President."
The reply was not especially encouraging....
SAINT LOUIS, December 19, 1862.
President ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Washington:
"Only two skeleton regiments, United States troops, north of the
river. The Governor is absent. Some Enrolled Militia; not so reliable.
I will write you.
SAML. Ryan CURTIS,
Major-general."
Following the defeat at Chancellorsville, Lincoln made a worried
visit to Hooker's command post. On Thursday, May 7th, he conferred
with General Daniel Butterfield, Chief of Staff for the Army of the
Potomac. Butterfield, who had composed the immortal "Taps" about a year
earlier, took the President to a Signal Corps observation tower for a
telescopic view of the enemy.
On the following Monday, Lincoln, perhaps in response to questions
of just how close he had been to the rebel lines, sent the following
query. After being enciphered in Code No. 9, it was sent under Major
Eckert's signature to A. Harper Caldwell, Chief Operator to the Army of
the Potomac.
Washington, May 11, 1863. Eckert to Caldwell.
LUCKY NETTLE IS OBSERVATORY LAST LINE YOU UPON HONEST ABE BETHUNE
GLASS WORKS THE AT THE DISTANCE HENRIETTA SWOONS ABOUT IT WE THURSDAY
OF RANGED FOR OLD MAN ABRAHAM ME THE UMBERS STOPPED FROM WHAT NOT.
Promptly, Caldwell sent back Butterfield's brief reply, also in cipher.
Received in Washington 6:15 PM, May 11, 1863.
ENGAGE HOW A MOHAWK SQUAW BETHUNE IN OH LORD ABOUT DIRECT
WARM WEATHER NETTLE MILES FOR WALK TWO LINE TIS TRUE.
When deciphered, the messages show interesting examples of
skilled cipher operators at work.
The Raw Decode
Swoons LUCKY Not
--------------------------------------------------------
HENRIETTA NETTLE ABOUT WHAT
DISTANCE IS IT FROM
THE OBSERVATORY WE STOPPED
AT LAST THURSDAY TO
THE LINE OF UMBERS
WORKS YOU RANGED THE
GLASS UPON FOR ME
BETHUNE HONEST OLD ABRAHAM
---------------------------------------------------------
Abe Man
LUCKY specifies a four-column, eight-line enciphering box,
with the transposition route of Down 2, Up 1, Down 3 and Up 4.
Codewords are: HENRIETTA = 6:00 PM, NETTLE = Butterfield,
BETHUNE = President (Lincoln), UMBER = Enemy.
Nulls are Swoons, Abe, Man, Not.
The complete decipherment thus reads:
6:00 PM. (for) General Butterfield. About what distance is
it from the observatory we stopped at last Thursday, to the line
of (the) enemy's works (where) you ranged the glass upon for me ?
The reply's raw decode reads:
Walk Squaw
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FOR BETHUNE MOHAWK ABOUT TWO
MILES IN A DIRECT LINE
NETTLE OH HOW WARM TIS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Lord ENGAGE Weather True
ENGAGE specifies a five-column, three-line enciphering box,
with route of Up 3, Down 2, Down 4, Up 1, Down 5.
Codewords are: BETHUNE and NETTLE from above, and MOHAWK =
Washington, D.C.
The complete decipherment reads:
"For Lincoln, Washington. About two miles in a direct line.
Butterfield."
Note how Eckert and Caldwell filled in the last lines of their
blocks with a tribute to Lincoln and a comment on the weather. Humor also
appears in the choice of column-ending nulls: HENRIETTA SWOONS ABOUT IT...
HONEST ABE...OLD MAN ABRAHAM...and...HOW, A MOHAWK SQUAW.
Death Sentences and Reprieves by Code.
In August, 1863, a death sentence for desertion was about to be
executed. The soldier's case reached Lincoln's attention and he granted
a pardon, but a few hours before the time of execution. But before the
pardon could be transmitted, all telegraphic communication from Alexandria
was cut off.
Plum relates how chief railroad operator Dorrence carried the message
by special train to the break, west of Burke's Station, and managed to send
it on to the camp commander, just in time.
As Commander-in-Chief, Lincoln pardoned or commuted death sentences
for a number of military prisoners. But in the following case, he upheld
the sentences of five condemned men, whom General Meade described as:
"substitute conscripts who enlisted for the purpose of deserting after
receiving the bounty...."
United States Military Telegraph
War Department, Washington, D.C.
Received...Aug 27, 1863
To...Major General Meade Warrenton, Va;
"(Soldiers) Walter, Rainese, Folancy, Lai and Kuhn appealed to me
for mercy, without giving any ground for it whatever. I understand these
are very flagrant cases, and that you deem their punishment as being
indispensible to the service. If I am not mistaken in this, please let
them know at once that their appeal is denied. A. Lincoln."
(OR. Vol. 29, Pt. 2. pp-102,103.)
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, August 27, 1863.
His Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States:
Walter, Rionese, Folancy, Lai, and Kuhn were to have been executed
yesterday. Their execution was postponed by my order till Saturday, the
29th, that time might be given to procure the services of a Roman Catholic
priest to assist them in preparing for death. They are substitute
conscripts who enlisted for the purpose of deserting after receiving the
bounty; and being the first of this class whose cases came before me, I
believed that humanity, the safety of this army, and the most vital
interests of the country required their prompt execution as an example,
the publicity given to which might, and, I trust in God, will, deter
others from imitating their bad conduct. In view of these circumstances,
I shall therefore inform them their appeal to you is denied.
GEO. G. MEADE,
Major-General, Commanding.
Another hair's breadth escape from Eternity via the telegraph came
in early 1864....
Two captured Union privates, threatened with dire consequences,
agreed to join the Confederate service, mainly in the hope of escaping.
They then found themselves as participants of Harry Gilmore's raid
against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad near Kearneysville, W. Va., on
February 11. Here they were captured and taken to Harper's Ferry, where
they were recognized and clapped into irons. A military court found them
guilty of bounty-jumping, desertion, bearing arms against the Government
and promptly sentenced them to be shot.
As the day of execution neared, a Catholic Chaplain heard their story
of enforced rebel servitude and also received corroboration from an enemy
prisoner. He then telegraphed President Lincoln for clemency, a day before
the firing squad was to assemble. Operator Ludwig waited eighteen hours,
but the following noon found all circuits to Baltimore and Washington down,
with but one more hour to go. Ironically, Baltimore operator Gentry
received the long-sought reprieve at ten AM, but all was silence at Harpers
Ferry, eighty miles away.
As Ludwig adjusted his instruments to pick up the faintest current
from the east, he heard the dread "Dead March" and saw the procession pass
by, the condemned in carts, sitting upon their own coffins. Then, at a
quarter-past twelve the circuit was restored and Ludwig dispatched his
mounted orderly for the execution site, two miles away, at Bolivar Heights.
The rider whipped his mount into its fastest gait, racing up the mountain
road. On arriving, he saw the soldiers about to take aim. Urging his
horse to its ultimate for the last quarter mile, he toppled off as the
poor beast fell dead under him. However, the firing party saw all the
commotion and the doomed men were saved.
Thus, the good Father could now celebrate a Te Deum, instead of a
Requiem for two reprieved souls.
Interestingly enough, Jefferson Davis was also involved in a last-
minute telegraphic reprieve. Early in the war, a Knoxville tribunal
convicted an East Tennessee Unionist of bridge-burning and sentenced him
to hang. On the morning of the fatal day, a daughter appealed to Davis
by telegraph. A stay was granted, but before the message could reach
Knoxville, an operator at Dublin Depot grounded out his eastern line,
in order to work local traffic.
The operator back at Lynchburg became more and more agitated as the
two P.M. execution date approached. Barely fifteen minutes before the
fatal hour, the local operator restored his east-bound circuit and Davis'
telegram went on to Knoxville, where it was said that it met the execution
party between jail and gallows.
Again, Lincoln reacted by telegraph to problems in the uneasy
Department of Missouri, evoking a prompt response....
HEADQUARTERS DEPT OF THE MISSOURI, Saint Louis, Mo., May 11, 1864.
Brigadier-General FISK:
The following dispatch has been received from the President of the
United States:
"Major-General ROSECRANS: Complaints are coming to me of
disturbances in Carroll, Platte, and Buchanan Counties. Please ascertain
the truth; correct what is wrong and telegraph me. A. LINCOLN."
In mid-January, 1865, Lincoln again telegraphed his concerns over
a still-restive Missouri, where the abolition of slavery was inflaming
passions. Newly installed governor, Thomas C. Fletcher, a friend of
Lincoln and former POW, would have much to cope with before any semblance
of peace could prevail.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, January 15, 1865.
Major-General DODGE, Saint Louis, Mo.:
"It is represented to me that there is so much irregular violence
in Northern Missouri as to be driving away the people and almost
depopulating it. Please gather information, and consider whether an
appeal to the people there to go to their homes and let one another
alone, recognizing as a full right of protection for each that he lets
others alone, and barring only him who refuses to let others alone, may
not enable you to withdraw the troops, their presence itself a cause of
irritation and constant apprehension, and thus restore peace and quiet
and returning prosperity. Please consider this, and telegraph or write
me.
A. LINCOLN."
WAR DEPARTMENT, January 15, 1865.
His Excellency Governor FLETCHER, Jefferson City, Mo.:
"The Secretary of War being absent it is my duty to answer your
telegram of yesterday. This Department receives with joy the assurance
it contains. The abolition of slavery in Missouri is an historical event
of vast significance and moment. As in the border struggle for Kansas,
the slave-holders of Missouri were the first to begin the war against
freedom and democracy, so the triumph of Emancipation in your great
Central State is the sure precursor and pledge of the speedy and immovable
establishment of liberty and unity for the entire nation.
C. A. DANA,
Asst Secretary of War.
Lincoln's last-known enciphered telegram was transmitted at 6 P.M.
on Wednesday, April 12, to Major General Godfrey Weitzel, the Military
Commander of Richmond. It concerned misconceptions over the nature of
the Virginia State Legislature, which wished to reconvene.
As the members seemed to be of a mind to renew the "Old Regieme"
the President concluded:
"Do not allow them to assemble, but if any have already come, allow
them safe-return to their homes...."
Elsewhere, on this day, Mobile fell to Canby's troops, while at
Appomattox Court House, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia formally
surrendered. In North Carolina, Jefferson Davis reluctantly gave
General Johnston authority to enter into surrender negotiations with
Aherman.
Back in Washington Booth and the Conspirators plotted, their plans
still incomplete....
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