Eckert, Thomas Thompson, 1825-1910. Papers of Thomas T. Eckert, 1862-1877, (1862-1867 )
Title:
Papers of Thomas T. Eckert, 1862-1877, (1862-1867 )
Archive of Eckert's professional papers that he accumulated from 1862 to 1877; the bulk of the collection covers his Civil War service. The collection includes: 14 ledgers of telegrams received by the War Department (1862, Feb. 2 00 1867, Aug. 1); 7 ledgers of ciphered telegrams sent from Washington (1862, Feb. 1 -- 1867, July 30); 1 ledger of ciphered communications of the Army of the Potomac (1862, Aug. 29- 1863, Apr. 28); 4 ledgers of telegraphic communications of the Union post at Fortress Monroe, Va. (1863, Aug. 29 - Apr. 6, 1865), and 2 ledgers of messages that the special investigating agent Charles A. Dana sent from Chattanooga and Knoxville (1863, Sept. 10- 1864, Aug. 2). Also included are 8 letterpress books of Thomas T. Eckert's own correspondence, supply orders for the Military Telegraph, a ledger of Jay Gould's American Union Telegraph, and cipher code books with different versions of the ciphers in use by various operators. The ledgers of the United States Military Telegraph cover the campaing of the Union armies in the Eastern and Western theaters, intelligence and covert operations, the organization transportation, communications, hospitals, provision of the troops and other aspects of the logistics; personnel issues; fugitive slaves The ledgers contain the initial text of telegraphic messages, as they were transmitted by the operators and before they were copied on loose sheets papers to be delivered to the addressee. Some of the sent messages appear to have been dictated rather than drafted in writing. The sent messages are ciphered; the received telegrams are mostly decoded. Some telegrams are followed by brief messages that operators sent to each other. The letterpress books contain Eckert's own telegrams received between Mar. 30, 1864 and Apr. 7, 1860 and sent between June 4, 1865 and Aug. 7, 1866. Subjects inlude the construction, repair, and maintenance of the Union telegraph lines; transportation; relationship with the press, including with the agents of Reuters and Associated Press, intelligence and covert operations in 1864-1865, the elections of 1864, etc. Correspondents include Abraham Lincoln, Edwin M. Stanton, Anson Stager, Thomas A. Scott, Charles A. Dana, George B. McClellan, Ulysses S. Grant, Henry W. Halleck, William T. Sherman, John A. Dix, Alan Pinkerton, and others.
ArchivalResource:
76 ledgers.
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