captainrlm
Member
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I just finished it today and enjoyed it. He provides a nice new perspective on Lincoln's communication skills by concentrating on the fact that Lincoln used this newe technology more than on what the actual messages were.
He contends there were 3 stages in Lincoln's development as a telegraph user: 1. Early in the war, he barely used it 2. His "electronic breakthrough" in May/June 1862 when he used it often to send messages to McClellan on the Peninsula and to his general fighting Stonewall in the Valley and 3. The last 13 months or so of his life when he used his new-found telegraph experience and developed an "electronic leadership" model.
He shows that Lincoln was the first US President to have this technology available so much, especially during wartime, and Lincoln had to figure out how to use it himself, with no precedent to look back on.
Wheeler also includes discussions of other effects of the telegraph such as how the newsmedia used it, how lines could be tapped into and, thus, messages had to be in code, and how Lincoln found a way to use it to stop military executions.
The book is not terribly long - 183 pages on the small paperback edition I have, but is very readable, enjoyable and informative. I would definitely recommend it for anyone interested in the Civil War or Lincoln, or especially for those interested in the technologies of the war. The telegraph had been in use since about 1843, but never in a major way, especially for the government, until Lincoln learned how to take advantage of it.
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