Construction of Telegraph Lines
The Telegraph Construction Corps were charged with the dangerous job of building telegraph lines in the field during battles. Consisting of about one hundred fifty men, the Telegraph Construction Corps set out in wagon trains to construct temporary lines. During a battle, one wagon was stationed at the starting point of the battle to act as a receiving station, while another wagon traveled into the field to be a sending station. Thus, the orders could be sent back and forth between general headquarters and the battlefield, and what occurred during the battles could be sent back to the Military Telegraph Office in Washington, D.C.
Initially these telegraph lines were only constructed for temporary use because of the brittle exposed copper wire that was used. But, after insulated wire began to be used, permanent lines were built. The Telegraph Construction Corps would load a coil of this wire on a mule's back and lead it straight forward to unreel the wire. As the mule moved forward unwinding the wire, two men followed and hung the line on fences and bushes so that it would not be run over until it was propped up with pikes. Because these lines were so vulnerable to Confederate wire tapping and cutting, cavalry patrols kept guard of the wires when they were being built in an area lacking in Union soldiers. Over the course of the war, the Telegraph Construction Corps built a total of 15, 389 miles of field, land, and submarine telegraph lines.
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