New York inventor George W. Beardslee developed a simple magneto-driven telegraph system for field use. It transmitted letters rather than code and was simply enough for any soldier to use. The Union Army used the device in conjuction with mobile wiring units to aid battlefield communications. The first demonstrated use connected Army of the Potomac headquarters with General George Stoneman's forces three miles away in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Development of Beardslee's innovation was abandoned in 1863. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Joseph Willard Brown, The Signal Corps, U.S.A. in the War of the Rebelion (Boston, MA: U.S. Veteran Signal Corps Association, 1896), 177
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Science/Technology
