Civil War Telegraphs
Library of Congress
“It would be difficult to enumerate the hazards, vexations, and obstacles incident to the construction of military telegraph lines. The telegraph is ever at the front, occupying the post of danger and of honor…. Follow the army where you may, there also will you find the telegraph exercising its vigilance and its protection over the surrounding camps.” So wrote Anson Stager, superintendent of the U.S. Military Telegraph Corps, in his annual report to Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs in 1863. Formed shortly after war broke out and staffed by civilians, the U.S. Military Telegraph Corps worked to provide speedy and clear communication between battlefront and homefront—in particular between commanders in the field and Washington, D.C.—using existing telegraph lines where available and creating new lines as required by Union forces moving through the southern states. (Above, operators are shown hanging wire in 1864; of the country’s prewar capacity of 50,000 miles of wire and 1,400 stations, some 10 percent was located in Confederate territory.) Operators’ jobs were demanding and, as Stager noted, perilous on the front lines. By war’s end, thousands of miles of line had been constructed by the corps, which one Union general claimed had been responsible for saving “thousands of lives and millions of treasure.” Shown here are statistics associated with U.S. Military Telegraph Corps operations.
Civil War Telegraphs By the Numbers
Number of telegrams sent by U.S. Military Telegraph Corps operators between July 1, 1862, and June 30, 1864 (or 4,110 per day): 3 million
Monies spent in support of the U.S. Military Telegraph Corps between May 1, 1861, and June 30, 1865: $2,655,500
Approximate number of U.S Military Telegraph Corps operators at the organization’s maximum strength: 1,500
Number of operators captured during the war: 71
Approximate number of operators who died in the service: 25
Approximate number of operators killed by the enemy: 8
Miles of land lines constructed by the corps: 12,201
Miles of submarine lines constructed by the corps: 147.5
Approximate miles of unspecified “temporary field lines” constructed by the corps: 1,000
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