I think the engineers lost more men here - I mean now in actual combat-than in all their previous and subsequent service combined.

Ponton bridges were a source of great satisfaction to the soldiers. They were perfect marvels of stability and steadiness. No swaying motion was visible. To one passing across with a column of troops or wagons no motion was discernible. It seemed as safe and secure as mother earth, and the army walked them confidence as if they were. while my company was crosson the bridge laid at Point Webster Atkinson, a canabout six feet and a quarter low, he was afterwards morHatcher's Run, - being wellfatigue of the all-night march walked off the bridge. For

with the same serene I remember one night ing the Appomattox of Rocks that D. noneer, who stood in boots dear feltally wounded at nigh asleep from the we were undergoing, tunately for him, he

POPLAR GROVE CHURCH.

stepped-not into four or five fathoms of water, buta ponton. As can readily be imagined, an unexpected step down of two feet and a half was quite an "eye

opener" to him, but, barring a little lameness, he suffered no harm.

The engineers, as a whole, led an enjoyable life of it in the service. Their labors were quite fatiguing while they lasted, it is true, but they were a privileged class when compared with the infantry. But they did well all that was required of them, and there was no finer body of men in the service.

The winter-quarters of the engineers were, perhaps, the most unique of any in the army. In erecting them they gave their mechanical skill full play. Some of their officers' quarters were marvels of rustic design. The houses of one regiment in the winter of '63-4 were fashioned out of the straight cedar, which, being undressed, gave the settlement a quaint but attractive and comfortable appearance.

Their streets were corduroyed, and they even boasted sidewalks of similar construction. Poplar Grove Church, erected by the Fiftieth New York Engineers, a few miles below Petersburg, in 1864, still stands, a monument to their skill in rustic design.

CHAPTER XXI.

TALKING FLAGS AND TORCHES.

"Ho! my comrades, see the signal
Waving through the sky;
Re-enforcements now appearing,
Victory is nigh."

ES, there were flags in the army which talked for the soldiers, and I cannot furnish a more entertaining chapter than one which will describe how they did it, when they did it, and what they did it for. True, all of the flags used in the service told stories of their own. What more eloquent than "Old Glory," with its thirteen stripes, reminding us of our small beginning as a nation, its blue field, originally occupied by

the cross of the English flag when Washington first gave it to the breeze in Cambridge, but replaced later by a cluster of stars, which keep a tally of the number of States in the Union! What wealth of history its subsequent career as the national emblem suggests, making it almost vocal with speech! The corps, division, and brigade flags, too, told a little story of their own, in a manner already described. But there were other flags, whose sole business it was to talk to one another, and the stories they told were immediately written down for the benefit of the

soldiers or sailors. These flags were Signal flags, and the men who used them and made them talk were known in the service as the Signal Corps.

What was this corps for? Well, to answer that question at length would make quite a story, but, in brief, I may say that it was for the purpose of rapid and frequent communication between different portions of the land or naval forces. The army might be engaged with the enemy, on the march, or in camp, yet these signal men, with their flags, were serviceable in either situation, and in the former often especially so; but I will begin at the beginning, and present a brief sketch of the origin of the Signal Corps.

The system of signals used in both armies during the Rebellion originated with one man Albert J. Myer, who was born in Newburg, N. Y. He entered the army as assistant surgeon in 1854, and, while on duty in New Mexico and vicinity, the desirability of some better method of rapid communication than that of a messenger impressed itself upon him. This conviction, strengthened by his previous lines of thought in the same direction, he finally wrought out in a system of motion telegraphy.*

Recognizing to some extent the value of his system, Congress created the position of Chief Signal Officer of the army, and Surgeon Myer was appointed by President Buchanan to fill it. Up to some time in 1863 Myer was not the Chief Signal Officer alone, but the only signal officer commissioned as such, all others then in the corps and there were quite a number being simply acting signal officers on detached service from various regiments.

One of the officers in the regular army, whom Surgeon

* These facts are taken from a small pamphlet written by Lieutenant J. Willard Brown of West Medford, Mass., and issued by the Signal Corps Association. Other facts pertaining to signalling have been derived from "A Manual of Signals," written by General Myer (Old Probabilities) himself, since the war.

Myer had instructed in signalling while in New Mexico, went over to the enemy when the war broke out and organized a corps for them.

From this small beginning of one man grew up the Signal Corps. As soon as the value of the idea had fairly penetrated the brains of those whose appreciation was needed to make it of practical value, details of men were made from the various regiments around Washington, and placed in camps of instruction to learn the use of the "Signal Kit," so called. The chief article in this kit was a series of seven flags, varying from two feet to six feet square. Three of these flags, one six feet, one four feet, and one two feet square, were white, and had each a block of red in

the centre one-third the dimensions of the flag; that is, a flag six feet square had a centre two feet square; two flags were black with white centres, and two were red with white centres. When the flags were in use, they were tied to a staff, whose length varied with the size. of the flag to be used. If the distance to signal was great, or obstructions intervened, a long staff and a large flag were necessary; but the four-foot flag was the one in most common use.

It will be readily inferred that the language of these flags was to be addressed to the eye and not the ear. To make that language plain, then, they must be distinctly seen by the persons whom they addressed. This will explain why they were of different colors. In making signals, the color of flag to be used depended upon the color of background against which it was to appear. For example, a white flag, even with its red centre, could not be easily seen against the

PLATE 1.