ORs: (CS) Report of George A. Elsworth, Telegraph Operator, Morgan’s command.

War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Series 1, Volume 16, Part 2, Page 774-781

KNOXVILLE, TENN.,
July 30, 1862.

SIR:
On July 10 General Morgan, with a body guard of 15 men and myself, arrived at a point half a mile below Horse Cave, on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, where I took down the telegraph line and connected my pocket instrument for the purpose of taking off all dispatches as they passed through. Owing to a heavy storm prevailing south the atmospheric electricity prevented me from communicating with Bowling Green or Nashville. The first I heard was Louisville calling Bowling Green. I immediately put on my ground wire south, and noticing particularly at the same time what change it would make in the circuit. It did make it stronger, but owing to the storm mentioned above affecting telegraphs more or less, Louisville did not suspicion anything wrong, and I answered for Bowling Green, when I received the following message:

LOUISVILLE, Ky., July 10, 1862.

S. D. BRUCE, Commanding, Bowling Green.:
You and Colonel Stoughton move together. I fear the force of Colonel Stoughton too small to venture to Glasgow. The whole force should move together, as the enemy are mounted. We cannot venture to leave the road too far, as they may pass around and ruin it.

J. T. BOYLE,
Brigadier-General, Commanding.

I returned the usual signal, after receiving the message, of O. K.

Louisville immediately called Nashville, and I answered for Nashville. Receiving business for two hours. This bnsiness was mostly of a private nature and I took no copies. It could be plainly seen by the tenor of the messages that Morgan was in the country, and all orders to send money and valuables by railroad were countermanded (as they supposed); but little did the operator at Louisville think that all of his work would have to be repeated the next day. Louisville also sent the news of the day, and thus we were fnrnished with New York and Washington dates of that day. During the whole of the time it was raining
heavy; my situation was anything but an agreeable one, sitting in the mud, with my feet in the water up to my knees.

At 11 p. m. the general, being satisfied that I had drained Louisville of all the news concluded to close for the night, and he verbally gave me the following message to send, dating and signing it as below:

NASHVILLE, TENN., July 10, 1862.

HENRY DENT, Provost-Marshal, Louisville, Ky.:

General Forrest, commanding brigade, attacked Murfreesborough, routing our forces, and is now moving on Nashville. Morgan is reported to be between Scottsville and Gallatin, and will act in concert with Forrest, it is believed. Inform general commanding.

STANLEY MATTHEWS,
Provost-Marshal.

I am not aware that General Morgan claims to be a prophet or a son of a prophet, but Forrest did attack Murfreesborough and rout the enemy.

On arriving at Lebanon, July 12, I accompanied the advance guard into town and took charge of the telegraph office immediately. This was, as you know, at 3.30 a. m. I adjusted the instrument and examined the circuit. No other operator on the line appeared to be on hand this early. I then examined all the dispatches of the day previous; among them I found the following:

LEBANON, Ky., July 11, 1862.

General BOYLE, Louisville, Ky.:
I have positive information that there is 400 marauders in 20 miles of this place, on the old Lexington road, approaching Lebanon. Send re-enforcemeats immediately.

A. Y. JOHNSON,
Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding.

At 7.30 a. m. an operator, signing Z, commenced calling B, which I had ascertained by the books in the office was the signal for Lebanon office. I answered the call, when the following conversation between Z and myself ensued:

To B: What news? Any more skirmishing after your last message ?—Z.
To Z: No; we drove what little cavalry there was away.—B.
To B: Has the train arrived yet?—Z.
To Z: No. About how many troops on train ?—B.
To B: About 500.—Z.

My curiosity being excited as to what station Z was, and to ascertain without creating any suspicion, I adopted the following plan:

To Z: A gentleman here in the office bets me the cigars you cannot spell the name of your station correctly.—B.
To B: Take the bet. L-e-b-a-n-o-n Junction. Is this not right? How did he think I would spell it?—Z.
To Z: He gives it up. He thought you would put two b’s in Lebanon.—B.
To B: Ha! ha! He is a green one.—Z.
To Z: Yes; that’s so.—B.
To Z: What time did train with soldiers pass, Z ?—B.
To B: At 8.30 last night.—Z.
To Z: Very singular where the train is.—B.
To B: Yes, it is. Let me know when it arrives.—Z.

At 8.20 Z called me up and says:

To B: The train has returned. They had a fight with the rebels at New Hope. The commanding officer awaits orders here.—Z.
To Z: Give us the particulars of the fight. Colonel Johnson is anxious to know all about it.—B.
To B: I will soon as possible.—Z.
To B Here is Moore’s message to General Boyle:

“LEBANON JUNCTION, Ky., July 12, 1862.

“General BOYLE, Louisville, Ky.:

“At 11 o’clock last night, at New Hope Station, 5 miles beyond New Haven, part of my command encountered a force of rebel cavalry posted on the county road one-half a mile south of the railroad. After a brisk fire of musketry for twenty minutes the enemy was routed and fled. Skirmishers were sent out in different directions, but were unable to find the enemy.

“At 3 o’clock this morning, apprehending that an effort might be made to destroy the bridges in our rear, we moved down to New Haven and remained until after daylight, when the train went back to the scene of the skirmish. A Mr. Forman, of Owen County, was found mortally wounded. He reported the rebel force at 450, under command of Capt. Jack Allen, and that they had fallen back toward Greensburg. One horse was killed and three captured. The books of the company were found. In the field blood was found at different places, showing that the enemy was severely punished. No casualties on our side. Here with train waiting orders.

“O. F. MOORE,
“Commanding.”

Lebanon Junction being the repeating station for Louisville business, he forwarded the following telegrams just from Louisville 9 a. m.

LOUISVILLE, Ky., July 12, 1862.

Colonel JOHNSON, Lebanon, Ky.:
Leave good guard and join Colonel Owen. Pursue the enemy and drive him out. Be cautious and vigorous. Make no delay.

J. T. BOYLE,
Brigadier-General, Commanding.

LOUISVILLE, KY., July 12, 1862.

Colonel OWEN, Lebanon
You will move after the enemy and pursue him.

J. T. BOYLE,
Brigadier-General, Commanding.

You will see by the above message that Colonel Owen must have been en route for Lebanon.

Up to the time of our leaving Lebanon, which was about noon, Colonel Moore, in command of those 500 troops at Lebanon Junction, had not received his orders or I could furnish you with them. This I greatly regretted, but General Morgan, having no fears of “Lincoln’s web-foot soldiery,” told me I could close my office, and to allay all suspicion at not being able to communicate with Lebanon during the afternoon IL told the operator at Lebanon Junction as follows:

To Z: I have been up all night and am very sleepy. If you have no objections I will take a nap until 2 or 3 o’clock.—B.
To B: All right; don’t oversleep yourself.—Z.

Wonder if I did!

Arrived at Midway, on the Lexington and Louisville Railroad, about 10 a. m. At this place I surprised the operator, who was quietly sitting on the platform of the depot enjoying himself hugely. Little did he suspicion that Morgan was in his vicinity. I asked him to call Lexington and to ask Lexington the time of day. He did so. I demanded this for the purpose of getting his style of handling the key, which corroborated my first impression, from the fact that I noticed paper in the instrument; to use a telegraphic phrase, he was a “plug operator.” I adopted his style of writing and commenced operations.

In this office I found a signal-book, which, by the way, came very useful. It contained the calls for all the offices. Dispatch after dispatch was going to and fro from Lexington, Georgetown, Paris, and Frankfort; all contained something in reference to Morgan. I tested the line and found by applying my ground wire it made no difference with the circuit, and as Lexington was headquarters I cut Frankfort off.

I omitted to state that on commencing operations at this place I discovered that there were two wires on this railroad. One was what we term a through wire, running direct from Lexington to Frankfort and not entering any of the way offices. I found that all military business was sent over that wire and as it did not enter Midway office I ordered it cut, thus forcing Lexington on the wire that did run into this office. Midway was called and I answered, when I received the following:

LEXINGTON, Ky., July 15, 1862.

J. XV. WOOLIJMS, Operator, Midway, Ky.:
Will there be any danger in coming to Midway? Is everything right?

TAYLOR,
Conductor.

I inquired of my prisoner if he knew a man by name of Taylor. He said Taylor was conductor; I immediately gave Taylor the following reply:

MIDWAY, Ky., July 15, 1862.

TAYLOR, Lexington, Ky.:
All right. Come on. No signs of any rebels here.
WOOLUMS.

The operator in Cincinnati then called Frankfort. I answered and received about a dozen of unimportant dispatches. He had no sooner finished when Lexington called Frankfort and again I answered, receiving the following message:

LEXINGTON, Ky., July 15, 1862.

General FINNELL, Frankfort, Ky.:
I wish you to move the forces at Frankfort on the line of the Lexington Railroad immediately, and have the cars follow and take them up as soon as possible. Further orders will await them at Midway. I will in three or four hours move forward on the Georgetown road. Will have most of my men mounted. Morgan left Versailles this morning at 8 o’clock with 800 men on the Midway road, moving in the direction of Georgetown.

WARD.

This being our position and intention exactly, it was thought proper to throw General Ward on some other track. So in the course of half an hour I manufactured the following dispatch, which was approved by General Morgan, and I sent it:

MIDWAY, KY., July 15, 1862.

Brigadier-General WARD, Lexington, Ky.:
Morgan, with upward of 1,000 men, came within a mile of here and took the Old Frankfort road, bound, as we suppose, for Frankfort. This is reliable.

WOOLUMS,
Operator.

In about ten minutes Lexington again called Frankfort, and as I was doing the work of two or three offices, I answered the call and received the following:

LEXINGTON, Ky., July 15, 1862

General FINNELL, Frankfort, Ky.:
Morgan, with more than 1,000 men, came within a mile of here and took the Old Frankfort road. This dispatch received from Midway and is reliable. The regiment from Frankfort had better be recalled.

WARD.

I receipted for this message, and again manufactured a message to confirm the information General Ward had received from Midway, and not knowing the tariff from Frankfort to Lexington I could not send a formal message. I waited until the circuit was occupied and then broke in, appearing greatly excited, and told those using the wire I must have the circuit, and commenced calling Lexington. He answered with as much gusto as I called. I telegraphed as follows to Lexington:

Tell General Ward our pickets just driven in. Great excitement. Pickets say force of enemy must be 2,000.

FRANKFORT.

It was now 2 p. in. and General Morgan wished to be off for Georgetown. I run a secret ground connection and opened the circuit on the Lexington end. This was done to leave the impression that the Frankfort operator was skedaddling or that Morgan’s men had destroyed the telegraph. We arrived at Georgetown at sundown. I went to the telegraph office, found it locked; inquired for the operator. He was pointed out to me. I hailed him and demanded admission into his office. He very courteously showed me into his office. I discovered the instruments had been moved. I asked where they were. He replied that he had sent them to Lexington. I asked him what time he had Lexington last. He said 9 o’clock, and since that time the line had been down. I remarked that it must be an extraordinary line to be in working condition when it was down, as I heard him sending messages to Lexington when I was at Midway at 1 o’clock. This was a stunner; he had nothing to say. I immediately tested the line by applying the ends of the wires to my tongue and found the line O. K. I said nothing to him, but called for a guard of two men to take care of Mr. Smith until I got ready to leave town. I did not interrupt the line until after tea, when I put in my own instrument, and after listening for an hour or two at the Yankees talking I opened the conversation as follows, signing myself "Federal Operator,” as I had done before successfully at other places:

To LEXINGTON: Keep mum. I am in the office reading bythe sound of my magnet in the dark. I crawled in when no one seen me. Morgan’s men are here, encamped on Dr. Gano’s place.

GEORGETOWN.

To GEORGETOWN: Keep cool; don’t be discovered. About how many rebels are there?

LEXINGTON

To LEXINGTON: I don’t know. I did not notice, as Morgan’s operator was asking me about my instruments. I told him I sent them to Lexington. He said, “Damn the luck,” and went out.

GEORGETOWN.

To GEORGETOWN: Be on hand and keep us posted.

LEXINGTON.

To LEXINGTON: I will do so. Tell Geaera1 Ward I will stay up all night if he wishes.

GEORGETOWN.

To GEORGETOWN: Mr. Fulton wishes to know if the rebels are there.

CINCINNATI.

To CINCINNATI: Yes; Morgan’s men are here.

GEORGETOWN.

To GEORGETOWN: How can you be in office and not be arrested?

CINCINNATI.

To CINCINNATI: Oh, I am in the dark and reading by sound of the magnet.

GEORGETOWN.

This settled Cincinnati. Question after question was asked me about the rebels and I answered to suit myself. Things had been going on this way about two hours, when Lexington asked me where my assistant was. I replied, "Don't know.” He then asked me, “Have you seen him to-day ?“ I replied, “No.” Well, from this time out no telegraphing could I do in the beautiful city of Georgetown.

Wishing to keep myself busy and make myself useful, I concluded to call on Mr. Smith, the operator, who was under guard in my room. I did so. I informed Mr. Smith that I would furnish him with a mule in the morning and I should be pleased to have him accompany me to Dixie, as I understood he was in the employ of the United States Government. This was anything but agreeable to the said Smith. It seemed to me I had hit the young man in the right place,and I remarked that had he not sent his instruments to Lexington I would have taken them in preference to his person. His face brightened and an idea struck him very forcibly that he would make a proposition. He did so, and it was to furnish me the instruments if I would release him. This I agreed to, as telegraph instruments are of much more value to the Southern Confederacy than Yankee telegraphers. I accompanied Mr. Smith to the servants’ room, and there under a bed in a chest were the instruments. After Mr. Smith’s giving me his word of honor not to leave town for twenty-four hours he was at liberty to visit his wife and young Smiths.

On arriving at Cynthiana I found that the operator had skedaddled. I tested the wires, and found no fluid from either Cincinnati or Lexington, nor were the wires in working condition when I left the next day.

At Paris the operator had made a clean sweep. He left the night before, taking all his instruments.

At Crab Orchard there was no office, and I put in my pocket magnet. This was at 11a.m., and the first message I heard was the following:

LOUISVILLE, Ky., July 21, 1862.

Colonel WOLFORD, Danville, Ky.:
Pursue Morgan; he is at Crab Orchard, going to Somerset.

BOYLE.

No sooner had the Danville operator receipted for this then the operator at Lebanon suggested the following:

To LEBANON JUNCTION: Would it not be well for Dauville and offices below her to put on their ground wires when they send or receive important messages, as George Elsworth, the rebel operator, may be on the line between here and Cumberland Gap?

LEBANON.

The operator at the Junction agreed with him and said it would be a good idea, but it was not carried into effect.

Arrived at Somerset that evening. I took charge of the office. I ascertained from citizens that the office had been closed for three weeks up to the very hour our advance guard arrived in town and then it was opened by the operator from London, who came to work the instrument for the purpose of catching Morgan, but unfortunately for Uncle Sam the operator had no time to either send or receive a message, but I am glad to say he had it in fine working condition for me. I had been in the office some time when Stanford called Somerset and said:

I have just returned from Crab Orchard, where I have been to fix the line. The rebels tore it down. I left there at 8 o’clock. The Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry had not then arrived. What time did you get in from London?

STANFORD.

To STANFORD: Just arrived and got my office working finely.

SOMERSET.

To SOMERSET: Any signs of Morgan yet? He left Crab Orchard at 11.30 a. m. to-day.

STANFORD.

To STANFORD: No; no signs of him as yet.

SOMERSET.

To SOMERSET: For fear they may take you by surprise I would suggest we have a private signal. What say you?

STANFORD.

To STANFORD: Good; before signing we will make the figure 7.

SOMERSET.

This was mutually agreed upon. I asked when would Wolford be at Somerset, and he said Wolford had telegraphed Boyle that his force was green and insufficient to attack Morgan. Seeing there was no use of my losing a night’s rest I told Stanford I would retire, and that I had made arrangements with the pickets to wake me up in case Morgan came in. The operator at Lebanon Junction urged me to sit up, but I declined on the ground of being unwell. This did not satisfy him, but after arguing with him some time I retired.

JULY 22.

Opened office at 7 o’clock. Informed Stanford operator Morgan not yet arrived; made inquiries about different things, and after everything in town belonging to the United States Government was destroyed the general gave me the following messages to send:

SOMERSET, Ky., July 22, 1862.

GEORGE D. PRENTICE, Louisville, Ky.:
Good morning, George D.! I am quietly watching the complete destruction of all of Uncle Sam’s property in this little burg. I regret exceedingly that this is the last that comes under my supervision on this route. I expect in a short time to pay you a visit and wish to know if you will be at home. All well in Dixie.

JOHN H. MORGAN,
Commanding Brigade.

SOMERSET, KY., July 22, 1862.

General J. T. BOYLE, Louisville, Ky.:
Good morning, Jerry! This telegraph is a great institution. You should destroy it, as it keeps me too well hosted. My friend Elsworth has all of your dispatches since July 10 on file. Do you wish copies?

JOHN H. MORGAN,
Commanding Brigade.

SOMERSET, Ky., July 22, 1862.

Hon. GEORGE DUNLAP, Washington, D. C.:
Just completed my tour through Kentucky. Captured sixteen cities, destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of United States property. Passed through your county, but regret not seeing you. We paroled 1,500 Federal prisoners.

Your old friend,

JOHN H. MORGAN,
Commanding Brigade.

The following is an order I issued to all operators while at Georgetown:

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 1. }HDQRS. TELEGRAPH, DEPARTMENT OF KENTUCKY, C. S. A.,

Georgetown, Ky., July 16, 1862.

When an operator is positively informed that the enemy is marching on his station he will immediately proceed to destroy the telegraph instruments and all material in his charge. Such instances of carelessness as exhihited on the part of the operators at Lebanon, Midway, and Georgetown will be severely dealt with.

By order of

G. A. ELSWORTH,
General Military Superintendent C. S. Telegraph Department.

The above report contains but a few of the dispatches I received and sent during General Morgan’s late expedition through Kentucky. Those of the greatest interest and importance are respectfully submitted.

I remain, your obedient servant,

GEG. A. ELSWOIITII,
Morgan's Telegrapher.

Capt. H. A. ALSTON, Assistant Adjutant-General.

 

 

 

---