Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

As soon as a marching army had gone into bivouac the telegraphic wires established a connection between all the general headquarters; the tent where Morse's battery was hastily set up became the rendezvous of all who under any pretext whatever could obtain access to procure the latest news. It is stated that some newspaper correspondents found means to possess themselves of important secrets by learning to distinguish the words through the clickings, more or less repeated, of the instrument while it was printing its lines and points upon a strip of paper. A corps of employes was organized for this service, selected with care and sworn to secrecy, for upon their discretion depended the fate of the armies. In the army of the Potomac it was placed under the direction of Major Eckert, who by his intelligence rendered the most important services.

The field-telegraph was composed of a few wagons loaded with wire and insulators, which were set up during the march, sometimes upon a pole picked up on the road, sometimes on the trees themselves which bordered it; and the general's tent was hardly raised when the operator was seen to make his appearance, holding the extremity of that wire, more precious than that of Ariadne in the labyrinth of American forests. An apparatus still more portable was used for following the troops on the day of battle. This was a drum, carried on two wheels, around which was wound a very slender copper wire enveloped in gutta-percha. A horse attached to the drum unwound the wire, which, owing to its wrapper, could be fastened to the branches of a tree, trailed on the ground, or laid at the bottom of a stream. A way-station was established wherever the drum stopped, even in the centre of the battle-field, and placed the troops engaged in the conflict in direct communication with the general-in-chief. These fieldtelegraphs, established at the rate of three kilometres per hour, generally extended to a distance of from eight to ten, and sometimes even to thirty-two, kilometres.

A single example will show the importance of the military telegraph. Without counting the lines already in existence of which possession was taken, the employes of the government constructed