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Rear Admiral Faragut had signal officers stationed high in the rigging of each of his ships to keep them in touch with each other and signal his intentions
to each ship during his operations off the coast of Louisiana. The existence of the Signal Corps now being much safer, it played another vital part in the
fighting around Allatoona, in October 1864, during the battle for Atlanta, Georgia. A vital message was passed by signallers advising of the arrival of
reinforcements. A young Signal Corps private named Morgan Lane even won the Congressional Medal of Honour (US Army equivalent of the V.C.) for
his part in the capture of a Confederate gunboat, the Nansemond, together with its flag and crew. So, despite enemies both in the Confederacy, whom they
expected to be against them, and others, in their own army and government, whom they most certainly did not, the Signal Corps of the US Army, survived
the end of the Civil War which had seen its birth. The Military Telegraph, born at about the same time, and its rival, ironically did not, being disbanded at
the end of the civil war, in 1865. Like so many other Americans at that time, they did not know where they were going, or what would happen to them, but
they sure as hell were going some place! And it just HAD to be better than where they had just been!!!
(Sincere thanks to the US Army Centre for Military History for access to, and permission to use, the information used in this article. All copyright stays
with them.HJH.)
US ARMY SIGNAL CORPS POST CIVIL WAR.
As with most armies following any huge and traumatic conflict, the numbers in the Ranks of the Signal Corps dropped dramatically. November 1864 saw
the nominal roll listing over 1,500 officers and men. In October 1865, this strength had dropped to 160 officers and men. More political in fighting had
broken out, with Myer, considered by many to be the father of the Signal Corps, being determined to present a strong case for reinstatement as Chief
Signal Officer. He had assembled some powerful allies. The story of this is far outside this narrative, but suffice it to say that he was reinstated, but at the
cost of a US President’s impeachment. (Andrew Johnson) Myer, now a general, took back what he must by now have considered as his baby, the US Army
Signal Corps. He reinstated the signals courses at West Point, with effect from October 1, 1867. The US Navy began instruction in the Myer method of
signalling at their Naval Academy, although they did not set up a separate branch of signalling, preferring instead to use trained specialists from within the
ranks of enlisted seamen and officers. Equipment was improved as was training, both field and theory. After the Signal School opened, overseas armed
forces sent student officers to train at the establishment, Denmark and Sweden being the first.
Myer, ever mindful of the precariousness of his new unit, foresaw the swinging axe of political money saving. No mean player in the political arena, he put
the Signal Corps forward for the important and, at that time, still non- allocated duties of Meteorological work. Many would say “What the hell has
weather to do with the Army” Any former squaddy who has enjoyed the delights of a scheme season in Germany in mid winter, or dug a Land Rover and
trailer out of a rutted mountain road with said ruts full of unexpected rain would enlighten them at no charge, and in probably very basic English! Congress
saw the need for such a service, and after the usual political debating, a law was passed in February 1870 which saw the meteorological service come
under the military umbrella. Having got the duties for weather forecasting and all associated duties, Myer now set up a reporting system, without which
such a service is obviously useless. Here the telegraph again came into use, as a means of rapidly distributing this information. The duties of the
meteorological observer are far outside the scope of this article, but suffice to say they were arduous both physically and mentally. Another function which
the Signal Corps undertook in connection with this newly acquired meteorological work was the laying of electric telegraph lines, something for which it
was of course eminently suited. A network of telegraph lines soon criss- crossed the country, and that, even in those days, was a lot of distance! The
weather service soon built up international links with the weather reporting services of other nations outside the USA, notably those of Canada and the
West Indies. This, of course, improved their signalling skills and knowledge. Despite lean years for many units in the US Army, by 1880 the establishment
for the Signal Corps was an enlisted strength of 500. By 1880, the number of weather reporting stations was 110. These reported three times daily by
telegraph. But 1880 also saw Myer, who had become ill in Europe the previous year contract nephritis and die at the age of 51 years of age. It was decided
to re-name Fort Whipple, one of the first Signal Corps depots, Fort Myer.
The next signal officer was Colonel William B.Hazen, a regular army officer
and a distinguished Civil War veteran. Under him the signal corps flourished
and became even more interested in the theoretical as well as the practical side
of signalling communications and allied subjects. Among the specialists whom
he used as consultants was Alexander Graham Bell, now a household name.
Then 1880s were not. However, good years for the US Army Signal Corps, or
for General Hazen, who died in January 1887, it is said as a result of wounds
received pre Civil War. His successor was Captain Adolphus Greely, who
inherited a Signal Corps from which had been taken many duties and miles and
miles of telegraph line, which had been handed to civilian companies for repair
operation and maintenance. Fortunately, the need had been noted for signalling
in the execution of modern warfare, and courses in both theory and practical
aspects of field signalling were prominent at both Cavalry and Infantry
officers’ training schools by the end of the nineteenth century. Never too proud
to learn or take advice, the schools at which signalling was taught looked
around and realised that the US Army was falling behind in the field of military
communications. Sweden had developed a smaller lighter field train, whereas
that of the USA had remained as it was at the start of the Civil War.
HELIOGRAPH USED BY US SIGNAL SERVICE. (Clockwise from top)
HELIOGRAPH WITH TWO MIRRORS, SUN IN REAR: SCREEN
MOUNTED ON TRIPOD: HELIOGRAPH WITH ONE MIRROR AND
SIGHTING ROD, SUN IN FRONT.(Courtesy and copyright of the US
Army Centre for Military History.)
1873 saw the Signal Corps studying the heliograph having been impressed with the British Army use of this signalling tool in India under active service
conditions. In 1886, General Nelson Miles, who had heard stories of the British use of the heliograph, asked for a detachment of troopers trained in its use.
He was, at that time, operating against the Apaches under Geronimo in the South Western United States. A detachment of eleven men and thirty
heliographs ten telescopes and thirty marine glasses and a aneroid barometer duly arrived, and Gen. Miles was delighted with the results which they
produced. The army formally adopted the heliograph in 1888.albeit in an improved form from that which had originally taken the field for trials. In field
trials in Arizona, in 1890, the signallers established heliograph links of 2,000 miles of lines and sent almost 4,000 messages. A record for that time was a
relay of messages of a distance of 125 miles Later, this was broken by a team flashing a message from Mount Ellen,Utah,and Mount Uncompahgre,
Colorado, a distance of 183 miles.
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