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Thomas T. Eckert Papers
mssEC
1-76
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Title: Thomas T. Eckert Papers
Dates: 1861-1877
Bulk dates: 1862-1867
Collection Number: mssEC
1-76
Creator OR Collector:
Eckert, Thomas Thompson,
1825-1910
Extent:
76 volumes
Repository: The Huntington Library,
Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts
Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains professional papers of Thomas T.
Eckert (1825-1910), chiefly related to his duties as part of United States Military Telegraph
Office during the Civil War.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with
the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Thomas T. Eckert Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Purchased in part by the Library Collectors' Council from Seth
Kaller, January 2012.
Alternative Form of Materials Available
Visit the
Huntington Digital Library
to view digitized items from this collection.
Thomas Thompson Eckert (1825-1910) began his career as an operator in the Morse Telegraph
Company; in 1852 he became the head of the Chicago Branch of the Union Telegraph
Company. In the fall of 1861, Eckert was appointed Assistant General Superintendent
of the United States Military Telegraph. The Telegraph was organized from the
Western Union Company as an expressly civilian service, subordinated directly to the
Secretary of War and the President. The service remained under the civilian control,
despite numerous attempts to put it under the command of the Signal Corps. In
February 1862, Eckert was put in charge of all telegraphic operations of George B.
McClellan's Army of the Potomac. He remained with McClellan throughout the Peninsula
campaign, supervising construction and operation of field telegraph offices in
Virginia and Maryland. In April 1863, when the General Superintendent of the
Military Telegraph Anson Stager moved his office to Cincinnati, Ohio, Eckert was
recalled to Washington and appointed the head of the Military Telegraph office at
the War Department. In addition to managing the Telegraph Washington office, Eckert
was entrusted with important political, intelligence, and diplomatic missions. In
March 1865, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and on July 1866,
became Assistant Secretary of War. He held this position until he resigned from the
War Department in February 1867. In the post-war decades, Eckert managed first the
Vanderbilt family's Western Union and then its chief competitors, Jay Gould's
Pacific Telegraph Company and the then American Union Telegraph. From 1893 to 1900
he was the president of Western Union, and then served as chairman of the company's
board of directors until close to his death in October 1910.
The collection is made up mostly of items related to Eckert's duties as part of the
United States Military Telegraph Office during the Civil War, including 35 volumes
of telegram ledgers containing roughly 16,000 telegrams from 1862 to 1866. These
include telegrams both still in code and decoded (the sent messages are ciphered;
the received telegrams are mostly decoded).
Series one includes 14 United States Military Telegraph volumes containing telegrams
received by the War Department (1862, Feb.-1867, August) and 7 volumes of telegrams
sent from Washington (1862, Feb.-1867, July). Included are messages to and from
Abraham Lincoln, Edwin M. Stanton, George B. McClellan, Henry W. Halleck, Ulysses S.
Grant and others. Subjects include: the campaigns of the Union armies in the Eastern
and Western theaters; intelligence and covert operations; transportation;
communications; hospitals; troop provisioning and logistics; personnel issues;
fugitive slaves; etc.
Series two includes four volumes of telegrams sent and received from the Army of the
Potomac and Fort Monroe (1862-1865).
Series three includes eight volumes of telegrams received and sent by Major Thomas
Eckert (1864-1866). Subjects include the construction, repair, and maintenance of
the Union telegraph lines; transportation; relationship with the press and the
agents of Reuters and Associated Press; intelligence and covert operations in 1864
and 1865; the elections of 1864; etc.
Series four includes two volumes of telegraphs from special investigating agent and
Assistant Secretary of War Charles Anderson Dana sent from Chattanooga and Knoxville
(1863-1864).
Series five includes 32 volumes all related to ciphers and cipher codes used by the
United States Military Telegraph. This series consists of: a volume giving location
of ciphers and cipher keys arranged by Colonel Anson Stager; miscellaneous
handwritten cipher books; cipher books for generals and places; eight copies of
cipher book #1 (1861-1862); two copies of cipher book #2 (approximately 1866); 18
copies of cipher book #5 (1865-1866); and 1 copy of cipher book #9 (approximately
1865). These cipher books often have a listing of the holders of that particular
cipher written in the volume, as well as letters and telegrams regarding the
cipher.
Series six includes five miscellaneous volumes related to the United States Military
Telegraph, including: a pass book; two volumes related to supplies and requisitions;
a ledger of telegram costs and numbers of words sent; and an account of money
collected for the American Telegraph Company at the Military Telegraph Offices in
the Department of the Potomac.
Series seven includes four volumes belonging to Major Thomas Eckert dealing with his
post-war career. This series consists of: a money receipt book, accounts of the
Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company, and two copies of the cipher codes for
weather by the U.S. Signal Service, Division of Telegrams and Reports (1877).
The collection is organized into seven series: 1. United States Military Telegraph
Ledgers; 2. The Army of the Potomac and Fort Monroe Telegraph Ledgers; 3. Thomas T.
Eckert Letterpress Books; 4. Charles Anderson Dana Telegraph Ledgers; 5. United
States Military Telegraph Code Books; 6. United States Military Telegraph
Miscellaneous Ledgers; 7. Thomas T. Eckert Miscellaneous Material Post Civil
War.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Dana, Charles A.
(Charles Anderson), 1819-1897
Dix, John A. (John
Adams), 1798-1879
Eckert, Thomas Thompson,
1825-1910
Grant, Ulysses S.
(Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885
Halleck, H. W. (Henry
Wager), 1815-1872
Lincoln, Abraham,
1809-1865
McClellan, George
Brinton, 1826-1885
Pinkerton, Allan,
1819-1884
Sherman, William T.
(William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
Stager, Anson,
1825-1885
Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin
McMasters), 1814-1869
United States. Army of
the Potomac
United States. Military
Telegraph Corps
United States. War
Department
United States Military
Telegraph
Western Union Telegraph
Company
Telegraph -- United States -- History --
19th century -- Sources
Telegraphers -- United States --
Archives
Fort Monroe (Va.) --
History -- 19th century -- Sources
United States -- History
-- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Campaigns -- Sources
United States -- History
-- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Communications -- Sources
United States -- History
-- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Cryptography -- Sources
United States -- History
-- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Secret service -- Sources
United States -- History
-- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
Ciphers (codes) -- United States --
19th century
Letterpress copybooks -- United States
-- 19th century
Letter books -- United States -- 19th
century
Military records -- United States --
19th century
Telegrams -- United States -- 19th
century