518 



,VICM 



Marmadtiko at Boonoville, thus checkmating tho 



nor, who was planning to curry tin- !Stut. 

 the Union. Si-.'l was Rent on Jim-- 'J.'id to south- 

 west Mis)iiri, where Price had collected a strong 

 Ixxly of Confederate militia, and on July 5th met tint 

 enemy at Carthage, liis rjlH) men l>eing opposed to 

 6000. A severe conflict en.sued, ending in his re- 

 pulse, li;it ho conducted the retreat BO skilfully as 

 to check pursuit and inflict heavy loss upon tho 

 enemy. This repulse rendered it necessary for 

 Lyon to take some docisive action, or to abandon 

 tliat portion of the State, lie preferred the former 

 course and advanced r.ipidly t<i Nigel's Kupport. with 

 nl> nit 5000 men, meeting the enemy, with more than 

 that unaiber, at Wils m's Creek on August 

 10th. In the engagement that followed Lyon was 

 killed, and Sigel (now acting-general), who had been 

 sent to gain the enemy's rear, met with a disastrous 

 repulse, lie conducted the retreat from Spring- 

 field, the Confederates having been too severely 

 punished to make any vigorous pursuit. He now 

 received a commission as brigadier-general, to date 

 from May 17th. No further engagement of impor- 

 tance took place in Missouri, but the armies on both 

 idea increased in numbers, and General Price, in 

 command of the Confederate forces, was eventually 

 obliged to retreat to Arkansas, whither lie was fol- 

 lowed, in February, 1802, by General Curtis with a 

 Union army. On March 7th the armies met at Pea 

 Ridge, the Confederate* then under Van Doni, and 

 a severe battle followed, Van Dora, attacking with 

 great energy before the Union lines had completed 

 their formation. Curtis, however, hold his ground, 

 and gradually brought his men into position, Sigel, 

 with the \m wing, not reaching his designated 

 ground until lato iu the night. The battle was re- 

 newed tbo next morning, and the victory was duo to 

 Sigel's skilful manoeuvres. II o pushed forward his 

 line by alternate movements of batteries and infan- 

 try supports, pressing back tho enemy's right until 

 the Union lines formed a curve enclosing the enemy, 

 when by a heavy concentrated artillery firo tho lat- 

 ter were forced to retreat, and were finally com- 

 pletely routed. In this engagement the Union force 

 was utul -r !'.>.(> 10; tho Confederate, pe:4iain twice us 

 strong. This was the last engagement of importance 

 in tlut section of the Union. 



Sigel's energy, skill, and success had now brought 

 Lim into high repute with the German element of 

 the population, and when in May, ISilii, he resigned 

 his position iu consequence of unpleasant relations 

 with General Halleck, the authorities at Washington 

 showed their recognition of the value of his t- 

 by appointing him major-general, to date from 

 March '.ilst. On June 2d ho was placed in charge 

 at Harper's Ferry, and on tho 2-'>tli Hiiccecded to tho 

 comiii ind of Fremont's armv corps. He took part in 

 the second battle of Bull linn, Aug. 2l)-3'>, 1SU2, and 

 on Sept. 14 was imulo commander of the Eleventh 

 army corps. In March, is '4, Si'.rel was placed in 

 command of the department of Went Virginia, and 

 on Grant's advance against Loe he took part in tho 

 several co-operative movements ordered by the com- 

 manding general. His duty was to advance with 

 the 10,000 men under his command, march up the 

 Bhenandoah Valley, and threaten the railrond com- 

 munication with Richmond. In the accomplish- 

 ment of thin movement he was met by the Confeder- 

 ate General Breekenridge at New Market, on May 

 15th. Breekenridge made an impetuous charge 

 upon Sigel's columns, and a sharp fight e 

 which ended in the Union forces breaking and fly- 

 ing in disorder up tho valley, the Confederates pur- 

 suing and inflicting severe loss in men and materials 

 during the 30 miles retreat. This ended Higel's 

 military career. Ho was immediately reli. 

 his command, and succeeded by General Hunter. 



Since the war Sigel has resided in Now York City, 

 inking some interest in |x>litics. In 1871, he was 

 ' T nf tin \ew York. In 188(5 



he wus appointed a pension agent. 



SIGNAL SKKVIi K. lleforo the American Civil 

 \Vur General A. J. Myer, at that time a Mirgeon in 

 the army, had already conceived a simple plan uf 

 ciimmunicating by signals between I lie soldiers and 

 distant stations when the electric 1 telegraph was n. t 

 available. His plan was a modification of tho 

 MIII-SO alphalx't, and in place of dots and dashes ho 

 used a Hag held iu the hand of the signal-man, who, 

 by waving it to the right for a dot and to the leit 

 for a dash, was thus enabled to spell out the letters 

 of any word by signals that could easily be 

 from one to twenty miles away, according to the 

 clearness of the sky and the location of the observers. 

 At nigh! time the waving of a lantern answered tho 

 same purpose ; in fact, on KJ ecial occasions, any sig- 

 nal whatever, such as a tap, nn ejaculation, a 

 given singly or doubly, and arranged in groups ac- 

 :ing to some previously concerted plan. an""i-dcd 

 the means for distant communication. This simple 

 idea, which was at first designed for immediate use 

 between military parties scattered on the plains of 

 the West and Southwest, found important applica- 



: tion during the war which soon after broke out. 



On the -Jlst of June, 1800, tho Act making appro- 

 priations for the supi>ort of the army added to tho 

 stalT of the army one signal officer, with the rank 

 of major of cavalry. Subsequently, in recognition 

 of the great services rendered by General Myer, 

 tho Act of Juno 30, 1804, gave "him the title . f 

 Chief Signal Officer of the Army, with the rank of 

 colonel, which rank was subsequently raised to 

 brigadier-general (June Ifi, 1880), at which it still 

 remains. During tho war the important services of 

 (he many officers and men engaged under General 

 Myer were freely acknowledged. At the close ,.f 

 the war, however, his staff was cut down to a small 

 number, barely sufficient to maintain a school of in- 

 struction at what was then railed l-'ort Whipple, now 

 Fort Myer, on the Arlington estate near Washington, 

 1). C. In the subsequent development of the work 

 of the military signal office, General Myer properly 

 und successfully maintained that the working of tho 

 electric telegraph for military purposes, the use of 

 balloons and pigeons, and all other methods of 

 communication at a distance were the proper work 

 of liis corps. The methods of building rapidly tele- 

 graph lines on the Western plains were so modified 

 as to apply to tho hilly and mountainous regions of 

 th(vcountry, and when it became necessary to build 

 such lines along the sandy sea-shore over the i/ 

 part of the distance from Boston to Key West, con- 

 necting together life-saving, lighthouse, and mcVoto- 

 logical stations, the wooden pole W:L ;nlly 



replaced by iron tubes with a broad flange, which 

 latter buried itself in the sand, forming a base for 

 the whole. Tho field telegraph tmin, ready at a 

 moment's notice tobnild ten miles of telegraph line, 

 was the characteristic rallying point of the telegraph 

 corps, as the kit of flags and torches was the emblem 

 of tho signal corps in general. 



General Myer has often told the present writer 

 of his various schemes for developing the further 

 usefulness of tho signal corps in times of peace as 

 well as of war. Thus, at the time of the extensive 

 riots of 1877, he kept the President informed by 

 regular three hour reports of the state of the conn- 

 try at each of the 150 signal-stations. As his codn 

 and methods applied to tho ocean us well as tho 

 land, he recommends! its introduction into tho 

 Navy, and contributed greatly to tho general intro- 

 duciion of the International Code. But his greatest 

 triumph 1 in the utilization of the signal 



[ corps for the transmission of weather-reports to tho 



