Brass Pounders
I just read "Brass Pounders -- Young Telegraphers of the Civil War" by Alvin F. Harlow.
Available on Amazon Brass-Pounders-Young-Telegraphers-The-Civil-War
It is a collection of stories I assume to be mostly true of the young men and their adventures in their service as telegraphers during the Civil War. There's really not much in there about telegraphy in particular, more just about the gumption of those young men (boys really). Also this was long before radio-telegraphy so it has nothing to do with amateur-radio or CW but some may find it an interesting read.
It certainly was a different time and different sensibilities regarding the independence of boys and what they can accomplish. It's certainly no great literary work but it is an interesting read.
It does show the growing recognition of the importance of the telegraph in war-time communications.
Some of the telegrapher's became well known such as Jesse Bunnell who later designed an improved sideswiper key to deal with telegrapher "glass arm"
That's all for now.
So lower your power and raise your expectations
73
Richard
N4PBQ
How interesting! I had no idea that there were brass pounders during the Civil War era. I plan on purchasing this book from Amazon so I can learn more about those young telegraphers. Thanks for sharing this fascinating subject with us.
ReplyDelete73, Paul AA4XX