Decoding the Weitzel Telegram Snapshot: In this activity, students practice using the Union coding (cipher) system to decode a telegram sent by President Abraham ​ Lincoln to Major General Godfrey Weitzel. The activity includes five parts and can be completed in one class period (about 50 minutes). Materials: ● Encoded Weitzel telegram ● Weitzel telegram in ledgerbook form ● Weitzel telegram de-routed in ledgerbook ● Weitzel telegram with arbitraries replaced ● Weitzel telegram images including Weitzel telegram memo written by Lincoln ● Blank grid needed to record the coded telegram message ● Stationary to write the final decoded message Activity overview for teachers This activity includes five steps in which students will decode a telegram message sent by President Lincoln to Major General Godfrey Weitzel and compare it to the original handwritten message from Lincoln. Students will likely need background information on the Union telegraph operating system and the methods for encoding secret telegrams (see background section below). To begin the activity, students will receive a coded version of the Weitzel telegram. The coded telegram begins, “Whats next news I the prayers I to while coming star what you you mean dispatch zebra.” Of course, this text makes no sense! That was the goal for the Union cipher system. Students will transfer the garbled coded text onto a blank grid, carefully writing each word in a separate box. This is precisely what a telegraph operator would have done when receiving an encoded message. Next, students will use the Union codebook to decode and rewrite the telegram. This will involve following specific routing instructions found in the codebook and replacing “arbitraries,” which were random words that replaced real words in the telegram message used to further confuse someone who might have intercepted the message. Additional “null words,” which were added to appear at the end of columns. These must also be removed. The decoded text can then be compared to the actual memo that Lincoln wrote for the telegraph operator in Washington to send out to Weitzel. Lincoln wrote this telegram message to General Weitzel, in part, to respond to questions about prayers being offered for President Lincoln in churches in Richmond, Virginia, after the city fell to Union troops on April 3, 1865. Weitzel had been embroiled in a disagreement with Secretary of War Stanton about the opening of churches in Richmond for Sunday services on April 9, 1865. There was considerable disagreement and confusion about whether ministers in Richmond should be required to proclaim their loyalty to the United States and offer what was at the time a standard prayer for the president. The second part of this telegram concerned an offer that Lincoln made to John A. Campbell and the Confederate leadership describing a process for Confederate armies to surrender. Campbell was a former U.S. Supreme Court Justice from Alabama, who resigned when the war began and served as Confederate Assistant Secretary of War. Campbell had emerged as a lead negotiator in sporadic peace talks that began in January of 1865. Later in the day, Lincoln telegraphed Weitzel again following up on his communication with Campbell (just 48 hours before leaving for Ford's Theater) - this is the last telegram Lincoln would send. Background for teachers and students President Abraham Lincoln and the Union Army used telegraphs to communicate during the Civil War. Many of these messages were written in code so that if the messages were intercepted, the enemy would not be able to understand the messages. Telegrams were encoded by writing the telegram on a grid in a ledger book and then sending the telegram in a scrambled form following a method for routing the message by sending words in columns in a jumbled order. For example, the Weitzel telegram was sent using the words for column 6 first, followed by the words from column 10, then columns 1, 8, 2, 4, 7, 3, 5, and then 9. Each encoded telegram also included a short phrase at the beginning of the telegram that was used by the telegraph operator to determine which order to follow when unscrambling the telegram. Telegraph operators also used replacement words called arbitraries to create more secrecy. Routing information and arbitraries were included in secret printed codebooks that were only available to telegraph operators. The Weitzel telegram is interesting for a couple of reasons. It was one of the last telegrams Lincoln ever sent, having been delivered on April 12, 1865, just two days before his assassination. The telegram also gives us some insight into how Lincoln was planning to deal with the southerners and Reconstruction. You can learn more about this telegram at the following website: http://wiki.lincolntelegrams.com/index.php?title=April_12,_1865. ​ ​ Directions for students It’s April 12, 1865, and you are in a telegraph office in Richmond, Virginia. The Civil War is coming to an end. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Virginia just surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. The capital of the Confederacy, where you are now stationed as a Union telegraph operator, fell to Union troops just nine days earlier on April 3. On that day, Union General Godfrey Weitzel sent a telegram message to General Grant: "We took Richmond at 8:15 this morning. I captured many guns. The enemy left in great haste. The city is on fire in two places. Am making every effort to put it out. The people received us with enthusiastic expressions of joy." General Godfrey was charged with restoring order in Richmond and asserting Union control and authority. It was in this context that President Abraham Lincoln wrote a telegram message for his telegraph operator to send to Weitzel. Since tensions were still very high and there was a great danger that the telegram message could be intercepted by a Confederate spy or traitor, Lincoln ordered that the message be sent using a ciphering system, which is a special way of encoding the message so it would not be understood unless you had the codebook. That’s where you come in. You have the encoded message and the codebook. Now, you need to decode the message. So, let’s get started. Step 1 - Routing the telegram message: Use Union Cipher #1 codebook with the top secret information about how to read encoded ​ telegrams to decode this telegram. The codebook includes a list of special arbitrary words and routing information to write the telegraph in unscrambled order on a blank grid. Starting with the words “I the prayers,” fill in column 6 from top to bottom with one word per box, copying the words of the encoded telegram. Continue copying the telegram following the route on the key. Step 2 - Replacing the arbitraries: Use the arbitrary key provided to circle all the arbitraries in the telegram. Then, write the original ​ word, words, or punctuation mark above the replacement arbitrary word. Step 3 - Finding the null words: To provide one more layer of secrecy, telegraph operators used extra null words at the end of ​ columns or rows that were not part of the telegram text. Return to the Weitzel telegram, and cross out any null words at the end of columns or lines that don’t make sense in the message. Step 4 - Final decoding: With the telegram decoded on your grid, write out the message on stationery provided by your teacher. ​ Step 5 - Check for accuracy: Compare your decoded message to the copy provided and answer the following reflection questions: ​ ● What was the hardest part of the code? ● Do you think this is an effective or useful code? ● What might have happened if the Confederate Army broke the code? Sources Encoded Weitzel telegram Encoded telegraph message as transmitted by telegraph operator Thomas T. Eckert and received by operator Joseph Embrick U.S. MILITARY TELEGRAPH. Apr 12 1865 By Telegraph from War Dept 1865 To J. H. Emerick Whats next news I the prayers I to while coming star what you you mean dispatch zebra I you spirit there understanding any if the piloted your offer there such of any and have was I to Emma never seen of of no toby Zodiac on there is with what remains yoke as sign my sign temper acted in to paradise flood over weitzel abe remember pekin that my walnut to form such why not say may it if together there you have spoken matter have senses shelter bardie not galway in manifested torch letter in no bologne plenty dont sign me you legislature me appeared but bearing out unity in your prayers while doubt the is the is pedlar draw you down T. T. Eckert 123 Note for web developer - Audio version in Dropbox - HERE ​ Weitzel telegram in ledgerbook form Encoded telegraph message as entered in the ledgerbook 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 null words I the prayers I to while coming star what you you mean dispatch zebra I you spirit there understanding any if the piloted your offer there such of any and have was I to Emma never seen of of no toby Zodiac on there is with what remains yoke as sign my sign temper acted in to paradise flood over weitzel abe remember pekin that my walnut to form such why not say may it if together there you have spoken matter have senses shelter bardie not galway in manifested torch letter in no bologne plenty dont sign me you legislature me appeared but bearing out unity in your prayers while doubt the is the is pedlar draw you down Weitzel telegram de-routed in ledgerbook Here the Weitzel telegraph message is presented in ledgerbook form in the order the text was written, but still containing arbitraries.