88 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
so that Washington headquarters could direct the campaign 
more intelligently. Another recommendation of his was the 
purchase of improved British gunboats to protect Northern 
commerce and blockade Southern ports. President Lincoln 
relied greatly upon telegraphic news. 
Among other officials whom Field assisted were Secretary of 
- State William H. Seward, Assistant Secretary of War ‘Thomas 
A. Scott (who had charge of the railroads), General George 
B. McClellan, Colonel ‘Thomas W. Sherman, and General 
U. S. Grant. On several occasions he visited the armies at the 
front, where he was helpful and welcome. The methods of 
conducting war at that time were more informal than today, 
and an intelligent civilian who understood such an important 
subject as telegraphy could make himself useful and some- 
times act as intermediary between Washington headquarters 
and the officers in the field. Field’s tact and disarming man- 
ners enabled him to achieve several helpful services for the 
hard-pressed officers with whom he conferred. Later Field’s 
daughter Alice also visited the front in Virginia and wrote an 
interesting letter of her impressions. 
Something of Field’s character and standing can be under- 
stood by reference to a typical correspondence during the 
War. On December 4, 1861, he wrote from a hotel in Wash- 
ington to Major-General McClellan suggesting that the “Gov- 
ernment establish at once telegraphic communication be- 
tween Washington and Fortress Monroe by means of a sub- 
marine cable from Northampton County to Fortress Monroe; 
that Forts Walker and Beauregard be connected by a sub- 
marine cable; that a submarine cable be laid between Hilton 
Head and Tybee Island; that the forts at Key West and Tor- 
tugas be brought into instant communication by means of a 
telegraph cable; that a cable be laid connecting the fort at 
‘Tortugas with Fort Pickens.” 
General McClellan approved these suggestions in the fol- 
lowing notation: “I most fully concur in the importance of 
