Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/104

 98 Southern Historical Society Papers.

another to Vicksburg, and Elcan Jones with another to Kirby Smith across the river. These were three good men meriting the promo- tion they afterwards got. All of them became captains in the Signal Corps, and Elcan Jones, the hero of Battery No. i, was, at the end of the war, Chief Signal Officer to General Joseph E. Johnston.

Although, as has been shown, the Signal Service was in active and useful operation on several theatres of war in the East in 1861, and early in 1862 in the West it was not until April iQth. 1862, that the act was approved organizing the Signal Corps as a distinct branch of the Confederate army, and the Secretary of War was authorized to establish it as a separate corps or to attach it to the Adjutant and In- spector's Department or to the Engineer Corps. The Secretary decided to attach it to the Adjutant and Inspector-General's Depart- ment, and May 2gth, 1862, was issued General Orders No. 40, A. & I. G. O., creating the Signal Bureau, with Major Wm. Norris, of General Magruder's staff, as the head of it. No uniform was pre- scribed for the Signal Corps. The officers wore the uniform of the general staff of the same grade, and the detailed men wore that of the arm of the service to which they belonged, and on the rolls of which they were borne as detailed men. The Signal Corps, as organ- ized, consisted of one Major Commanding, ten Captains, ten first and ten second-class Lieutenants and twenty Sergeants there were no privates, as men were detailed from the line of the army when- ever wanted, and when their services were no longer required they returned to their respective commands.

The detailed men in all the various branches of the service num- bered about fifteen hundred, and it was a remarkable fact, that while these men were often employed in independent service, and were in possession of important secrets, not one of them ever deserted or be- trayed his trust. All the detailed men were instructed in the cipher system, and entrusted with the key-word. They were also instructed in the use of the electric telegraph. When occasion required, they became dauntless messengers and agents, going into the enemy's lines and cities, or to lands beyond the sea; communicating with agents and secret friends of the Confederate Government and people; order- ing supplies and conveying them to their destination ; running the blockade by land and sea; making nightly voyages in bays and rivers; threading the enemy's cordon of pickets and gunboats; following blind trails through swamps and forest, and as much experts with oar and sail, on deck and in the saddle, and with rifle and revolver, as with flags, torches, telegraph, and secret cipher.