Aspects: Photography, Telegraphs, Signal Corps, Postal Service

Communication during the Civil War period wasn't especially characterized by the development of new methods of contact, but rather through the utilization of a few relatively new inventions and a method which spanned back a few thousand years.

Although it was not a direct means of communication on the battelfield in the civil war, photography proved to be an effective method of informing the public about the ensuing conflicts during the war.  Having been recently invented, the civil war became the first war to be documented in this fashion.  Along with continuous newspaper coverage, photography allowed the general people of both the Union and the Confederacy to keep up with the happenings of the war, as well as inform the soldiers of what was going on in their respective hometowns.

Also a relatively new invention, the military forces used the telegraph to send messages to their front lines.  As the armies advanced, the telegraph lines were extended in order to maintain contact with the generals.  However, when telegraph usage was impossible, the armies sometimes used a system of flag signaling in order to relay a message.  This system, called the Signal Corps, was utilized by both the Union and the Confederacy to send its coded messages by means of flags, lights, and rockets through posts until it could get to a telegraph system.

Sources & Pictures:

Kidport.  Communication during the Civil War.  Accessed 11 February 2004. <http://www.kidport.com/RefLib/UsaHistory/CivilWar/
Communication.htm>

• This site provided a good summary of the methods of communication used during the civil war

Maryland with PRIDE.  Flags.  Accessed 11 February 2004.  <http://www.intandem.com/NewPrideSite/MD/Lesson19/flags.html>

• This site provided information on the flag system of communication