Re: Civil War Crypto Question... (fwd)

[Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>]

Hi,

There is a historical problem w/ the accredation of the various signals in
use during the Civil War in the book:

>    "Codes and Ciphers: An A to Z of Covert Communication, 
>    from the Clay Tablet to the Microdot,"
>    Fred B. Wrixon, Prentice Hall, 1992, paper. $18.00 
>    ISBN 0-13-277047-4

The author claims (from John Young's cydisk.htm):

<B> Myer, Albert</B> (1829-1880), U S. Army surgeon and cryptographer. To
finance his medical studies, Myer worked as an operator for the New York,
Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Company. After entering the army, he developed
a visual signaling method in 1856 and called it flag telegraphy. (Two British
officers, Sir Francis Bolton and Vice Adm. Philip Colomb, independently developed
a similar system at about the same time.) Though it was approved for use
in 1860, the year Myer became chief signal officer, the system was not fully
appreciated until the outbreak of the U.S. CIVIL WAR in 1861. Myer's technique
then came to be known as "wigwag," from the motions of its hand-held flags
or disks for daytime signaling and torches or lanterns for sending messages
at night.

This is clearly several errors regarding 'wig-wag' signaling techniques and
Myer. These techniques go back to pre-Napoleonic times. Myers was a alphabetic
system where arm position denoted the letter, not the arm motion (hence
wig-wag).

In:

The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare
Edward Hagerman
pp. 40

"But the primary motive was recognition  of the benefits of this technology
to tactical and strategic coordination. The increasingly extended lines of
large American armies, especially  their tactical extension with the rifled
musket, as well as the rough terrain, challenged existing technology based
on wigwag signals supplemented by couriers."

In addition, McClellan didn't appoint Myer to be his signal officer until
August 20, 1861. Further, there was *no* signals department in the US Army
to be appointed to until *after* March 3, 1863 when legislation was passed
bringing the official Signal Corp. into being.

I don't have clue what Wrixon is talking about, but it clearly doesn't
have anything to do with history in general or crypto specificaly.

Cite this Wrixon's book with care.

  

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