Lot 346

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Description:

Civil War Telegraph Key Used by Telegrapher Who Knew Lincoln

This telegraph key provides a fascinating link to the technology of the Civil War. Military telegrapher William Bender Wilson used it in the field scouting the Confederate incursions into Maryland and Pennsylvania in 1862 and 1863 and Confederate General Jubal A. Early's raid on Washington in 1864.

[CIVIL WAR.] William B. Wilson, Telegraph Key Used in Civil War, 1862-1864. In inner box with interior inscription and signature by Wilson, January 6, 1913, within outer box with exterior inscription and signature by Wilson, n.d. 6.5" x 2.5" x 1.75" instrument; 7.5" x 3.625" x 2.25" outer box. Some wear to boxes. very good. Ex Malcolm Forbes.

Complete Transcript
[Inscription on outer box:]
Field instrument used by me in the Cumberland Valley during the Confederate raids and invasions into Pennsylvania and [Maryland?] during the Civil War.
William Bender Wilson

[Inscription on inner box:]
This Field Instrument was used by me in Scouting Duty in The Cumberland Valley during the Confederate Invasions and Raids into Pennsylvania 1862-1863 and 1864
On my death it is to go to my then living eldest son to be transmitted as an heir loom to my oldest male descendant
William Bender Wilson
January 6, 1913

Historical Background
In the Civil War, the telegraph allowed unprecedented access to information for battlefield commanders and political leaders. During the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, President Abraham Lincoln first received news of a Union victory by telegraph twenty-five miles away in Washington. After returning from a carriage ride, Lincoln learned the full extent of the Union defeat, also by telegraph. A year later, during the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862, Lincoln actively communicated with officers on the field by telegraph, asking questions and seeking clarifications. As the war progressed, Lincoln used the telegraph to prod reluctant generals and praise and encourage aggressive ones. Generals in the field had more and quicker notifications of enemy troop movements and conditions on the battlefield from intrepid military telegraphers who acted as scouts.

During the Civil War, some 1,200 men and boys served as telegraph operators for the Union Army. By the end of the war, they had constructed more than 15,000 miles of telegraph lines, which were eventually sold to commercial companies. Because they were civilians, they generally received neither military recognition nor pensions for their services.

William Bender Wilson (1839-1919) was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. During the Civil War, he served as a military telegrapher. In April 1861, he ran telegraph wires to the Pennsylvania governor's office. He later worked in Washington, D.C., where he had frequent contact with President Abraham Lincoln in the telegraph office. During the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns and during Confederate General Jubal A. Early's raid, Wilson served as a scout, taking his telegraph instrument into the field. After the war, Wilson worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company until his retirement around 1899. Wilson wrote A Few Acts and Actors in the Tragedy of the Civil War in the United States (1892) and a history of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 2 vols. (1895). In 1866, he married Sarah A Urich (1845-1905), with whom he had five children. After her death, he married Mary F. Urich (b. 1855).

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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