Lincoln in the Telegraph Office: Recollections of the United States Military Telegraph Corps during the Civil War - Softcover

Bates, David Homer

  • 4.36 out of 5 stars
    25 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780803261259: Lincoln in the Telegraph Office: Recollections of the United States Military Telegraph Corps during the Civil War
Softcover
ISBN 10: 080326125X ISBN 13: 9780803261259
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1995

Synopsis

As the Civil War raged, President Abraham Lincoln spent many hours in the War Department’s telegraph office, where he received all his telegrams. Morning, noon, and night Lincoln would visit the small office to receive the latest news from the armies at the front. The place was a refuge for the president, who waited for incoming dispatches and talked while they were being deciphered.

 

David Homer Bates, one of the first military telegraphers, recollects those presidential visits during times of crisis. Lincoln in the Telegraph Office, originally published in 1907, shows history in the making and personalities at their most unguarded: Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Andrew Carnegie, General George McClellan, and many others. The reader is with Lincoln at the scene of dramatic tidings: of the Northern disasters at Bull Run, of Meade’s victory at Gettysburg, of Grant’s capture of Richmond. Lincoln wrote the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation at the telegraph office, and from there the news of his assassination was relayed. Wartime human-interest anecdotes, the wonder of the new technology, the unraveling of ciphers and codes, conspiracies and rumors, a heightened sense of onrushing events, the tragedy of Good Friday 1865—all are conveyed in this classic of Lincolniana.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Introducing Lincoln in the Telegraph Office is James A. Rawley, Carl Adolph Happold Professor Emeritus of history at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His works include Turning Points of the Civil War, also available as a Bison Book.

From the Back Cover

As the Civil War raged, President Abraham Lincoln spent many hours in the War Department's telegraph office, where he received all his telegrams. Morning, noon, and night Lincoln would visit the small office to receive the latest news from the armies at the front. The place was a refuge for the president, who waited for incoming dispatches and talked while they were being deciphered. David Homer Bates, one of the first military telegraphers, recollects those presidential visits during times of crisis. Lincoln in the Telegraph Office, originally published in 1907, shows history in the making and personalities at their most unguarded: Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Andrew Carnegie, General George McClellan, and many others. The reader is with Lincoln at the scene of dramatic tidings: of the Northern disasters at Bull Run, of Meade's victory at Gettysburg, of Grant's capture of Richmond. Lincoln wrote the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation at the telegraph office, and from there the news of his assassination was relayed. Wartime human-interest anecdotes, the wonder of the new technology, the unraveling of ciphers and codes, conspiracies and rumors, a heightened sense of onrushing events, the tragedy of Good Friday 1865 - all are conveyed in this classic of Lincolniana.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
University of Nebraska Press
Publication date
1995
Language
English
ISBN 10 
080326125X
ISBN 13 
9780803261259
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
432
Rating
  • 4.36 out of 5 stars
    25 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781451004472: Lincoln in the Telegraph Office: Recollections of the United, States Military Telegraph, Corps During the Civil War (Classic Reprint)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  1451004478 ISBN 13:  9781451004472
Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018
Softcover