Telegraph Speak!

[Terry Sorchy]

I am putting together a working telegraph set up for the fed side at Marmadukes and was wondering if anyone going knows the language.
This will be used to receive messages from the regiment and it will also allow some of our more agile young men to climb trees to string the wire.
Let me know if your interested.
Cheers
Terry Sorchy

[IowaYank]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

Dont know the language Terry, but I'll certainly do some tree climbin!!

[JohnTaylorCW]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

*Chuckle*

Do you want "American Morse Code" which appears to be correct for the period

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Morse_code

or what we now think of as Morse Code:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

(Seriously, see if you can find Ham Radio folks. My study buddy's spouse is a Ham who 'speaks' fluent Morse Code but he's up here in Canada, and not available for loan out. Sorry)

[Hairy Nation Boys]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

I talked with Jake Wickham last night and he may be able to work the telegraph. That is when Co.A is not looking for rebels and mossbacks.

Holler

[lambrew]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

My Morse is rusty. I have not used it since the Boy Scout days, however I can climb the tree for ya.

Respectfully....
Sean Collicott

[Andy Ackeret]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

As shown in the Wikipedia article cited above, Morse code of the period shares many letters with today's "International" Morse code, but there are differences. Both ends of the telegraph line will have to be consistant in their code or we may suffer mass confusion. ;) :) :D

[BrianHicks]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

I can Morse Code.

Let me know where the lines are laid out, and I'll be glad to tap in and join in the message transmittal's.

[John-Owen Kline]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

I'm not sure how it relates to a US form but there is a CS Military Telegraph form posted in the Sons of the Old North State group. It looks like a pretty simple form to copy. Garrison B has the dimensions.

[Abrams]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

I'll learn morse code enough to tap into the lines and send false messages... :wink_smil

[moarkcav]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

I just want to say that this event seems to get better and better every day. I am counting the days.

Chris Talburt

[Hank Trent]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

I'll learn morse code enough to tap into the lines and send false messages... :wink_smil

Just don't learn the code better than the real operator, or this will happen again:

General Price took command in the department and sent Marmaduke with a larger force than before into South-eastern Missouri, to Frederickton, from which point he moved against Cape Girardeau, where he fought McNeil's force, April 25, but withdrew and retreated to Arkansas on discovering the approach of gunboats and reinforcements for
McNeil.

J. D. McCleverty, [telegraph] operator at Frederickton at this time, was captured and handcuffed. Dr. Boyd, who was acting as Confederate surgeon, was quite a fair operator, excelling McCleverty, who, in the vernacular of the key, was but a plug. Boyd
thought to deceive the Yankees as to Marmaduke's objective, and possessing himself of the Frederickton office, he called St. Louis and asked for R. C. Clowry, who responded; whereupon, Boyd, feigning to represent McCleverty, said: "I have just escaped
from Frederickton. Marmaduke has taken the place and I have learned just enough to know that he will move from Frederickton on Rolla. I am in the woods and have tapped the
line to report these facts. Mc." But Clowry knew at once that it was not Mc at the key, and told Boyd that his trick would not work, and calling up Pilot Knob instructed the operator to cut Frederickton out. Boyd subsequently acknowledged himself beaten, adding that he then declared he would never attempt another Yankee trick. Source

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Lone Guard]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

Adding to what another said, wow! To see a functioning telegraph would be incredible!

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

I don't know whether the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (the one in Strasburg, not Railroaders' Memorial in Altoona) still has their telegraph set up, but at one time you could send messages back and forth if you cared to. I doubt the Prince Albert can is period-correct, however :) (even though it became almoist a required part of any telegraph setup later, as an amplifier.)

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

Terry-

Bully idea, sir... I'll help in any way you need.

A phrase: "low crawls with spools of telegraph wire while the enemy shoots above your head" Fun.

What happened if the telegraph operator got killed on his way out to establish a Signal Corps field station? You get a codebook and type-out a message yourself... too easy. :D

If you need telegraph operator paper... here is some for you and (all of our comrades out there) to copy...

See ya'll there.

All the best- Johnny Lloyd

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Telegraph Speak!

Mr. Ackeret-

Thanks for below, I stand corrected... bad proofreading between two codes...

Here you go: http://home.clara.net/rod.beavon/morse.htm

But an interesting footnote on this website says:

For international use it [American Morse Code]was modified as a result of a conference in Berlin in 1851; this regularised the code on a more rational basis and eliminated the spaces within the letters, but equally important from a European point of view it provided codes for accented letters.

But good call.. I'd think for all intents and purposes, obviously the American code would have been in more common use in the US.

Can anyone provide more info/citations who knows more?

Must've driven the telegraphers nuts on the transatlantic cable when it went into use...

How about a German immigrant that was a telegrapher in Germany and America? If the above is true... He might have had to know BOTH codes. Confusing.

http://www.history-magazine.com/cable.html

-Johnny Lloyd