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Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882 Military Telegraph Operators at City Point.

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06738.06 Author/Creator: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882 Place Written: City Point, Va. Type: Photograph Date: 1864 August Pagination: 1 albumen Height: 17.9 cm, Width: 23.6 cm Order a Copy

Caption: Photographer. 7 men in two rows, 2 standing and 5 seated, grouped between two pine trees in front of two tents. The man furthest right in the picture sits on an upended suitcase and leans against a fence; the man to his right sits in a rocking chair. The other three men in this row sit on a bench. The men have been identified as: (left to right) Dennis Doren, Superintendent of Construction: A. H. Caldwell, Cipher Clerk at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac; James A. Murray, a wire-tapper of Confederate telegraph lines; J. H. Emerick, who became cipher operator in Richmond in 1865, and Samuel H. Beckwith, the cipher operator who accompanied Lincoln on his journey from City Point to Richmond, April 4 1865. The identity of the remaining two men is unknown. (Source: Photographic History of the Civil War. Vol. 4. Soldier Life and Secret Service. Prisons and Hospitals. Secaucus, N.J.: The Blue & Grey Press, c 1987 p. 361).

Emerick, J. H., fl. 1861-1865
Doren, Dennis, fl. 1864-1865
Caldwell, A. Harper, fl. 1864-1865
Murray, James A
Beckwith, Samuel H., fl. 1864

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