Storms, strikes, and surveillance: The U.S. Army Signal Office, 1861-1891

Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences

Volumn 30, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 315-332

  Fleming, James Rodger ^a  

^a Health Services and Department of Biology   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0034355150     PISSN: 08909997     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/27757833     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. John Grable to William J. Rhees, 27 Jan 1872, RU 60, Meteorological project records, Smithsonian Institution Archives. The elision continfues, "to be run by Professor Henry as long as he lives, and improve it from time to time with the assistance of practical meteorologists, as far as can be done."
2. Alan Nevins, The war for the union, vol. 1, The improvised war, 1861-1862 (New York, 1959-1960), v; quoted in George M. Fredrickson, The inner civil war: Northern intellectuals and the crisis of the union (New York, 1965), 111.
3. Alan Nevins, The war for the union, vol. 1, The improvised war, 1861-1862 (New York, 1959-1960), v; quoted in George M. Fredrickson, The inner civil war: Northern intellectuals and the crisis of the union (New York, 1965), 111.
4. Robert V. Bruce, Lincoln and the tools of war (Indianapolis, 1956).
5. Peter Dobkin Hall, The organization of American culture, 1700-1900: Private institutions, elites, and the origins of American nationality (New York, 1982), 242 and 227-239.
6. Woodrow Wilson, Memorial Day address, 31 May 1915, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
7. The standard accounts of modernization are Samuel P. Hays, The response to industrialism, 1885-1914 (Chicago, 1957) and Robert H. Wiebe, The search for order, 1877-1920 (New York, 1967).
8. The standard accounts of modernization are Samuel P. Hays, The response to industrialism, 1885-1914 (Chicago, 1957) and Robert H. Wiebe, The search for order, 1877-1920 (New York, 1967).
9. Thomas Hughes, Networks of power: Electrification in western society, 1880-1930 (Baltimore, 1983), esp. 2.
10. This sketch of Myer's life is based on James Rodger Fleming, "Albert James Myer," in John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American national biography, 16 (New York, 1998), 197-198; and on Paul J. Scheips, "Albert James Myer, founder of the Army Signal Corps: A biographical study" (Ph.D. dissertation, American University, 1966). Myer's personal papers are located at the U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA and in the Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress. His military service records and most of his official papers as Chief Signal Officer (RG-111) and head of the National Weather Service (RG-27) are in Archives II of the National Archives and Records Administration [Hereafter Archives II].
11. This sketch of Myer's life is based on James Rodger Fleming, "Albert James Myer," in John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American national biography, 16 (New York, 1998), 197-198; and on Paul J. Scheips, "Albert James Myer, founder of the Army Signal Corps: A biographical study" (Ph.D. dissertation, American University, 1966). Myer's personal papers are located at the U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA and in the Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress. His military service records and most of his official papers as Chief Signal Officer (RG-111) and head of the National Weather Service (RG-27) are in Archives II of the National Archives and Records Administration [Hereafter Archives II].
12. Paul J. Scheips, "Union signal communications: innovation and conflict," Civil war history, 9 (1963), 399-421.
13. William H. Powell, compl., List of officers of the Army of the United States from 1770 to 1900 [1900] (Detroit, 1967), s.v., Myer, Albert J., p. 499.
14. The Manual of signals was expanded and reissued by Van Nostrand (1866, 1868, 1872 and 1874) and in revised form by the USGPO (1877, 1879).
15. Donald R. Whitnah, A history of the United States Weather Bureau (Urbana, IL, 1961); Joseph M. Hawes, "The Signal Corps and its weather service, 1870-1890," Military affairs, 30 (1966), 68-76; and Lewis J. Darter, Jr., comp., List of climatological records in the National Archives (Washington, D.C., 1942). See also Paul J. Scheips, "'Old probabilities': A.J. Myer and the Signal Corps weather service," Arlington historical magazine, 5 (1974), 29-43; George M. Kober, "General Albert J. Myer and the United States Weather Bureau," Military surgeon, 65 (1929), 65-83; and Rebecca Robbins Raines, Getting the message through: A branch history of the U.S. Army Signal Corps (Washington, DC, 1996), esp. chapt. 2.
16. Donald R. Whitnah, A history of the United States Weather Bureau (Urbana, IL, 1961); Joseph M. Hawes, "The Signal Corps and its weather service, 1870-1890," Military affairs, 30 (1966), 68-76; and Lewis J. Darter, Jr., comp., List of climatological records in the National Archives (Washington, D.C., 1942). See also Paul J. Scheips, "'Old probabilities': A.J. Myer and the Signal Corps weather service," Arlington historical magazine, 5 (1974), 29-43; George M. Kober, "General Albert J. Myer and the United States Weather Bureau," Military surgeon, 65 (1929), 65-83; and Rebecca Robbins Raines, Getting the message through: A branch history of the U.S. Army Signal Corps (Washington, DC, 1996), esp. chapt. 2.
17. Donald R. Whitnah, A history of the United States Weather Bureau (Urbana, IL, 1961); Joseph M. Hawes, "The Signal Corps and its weather service, 1870-1890," Military affairs, 30 (1966), 68-76; and Lewis J. Darter, Jr., comp., List of climatological records in the National Archives (Washington, D.C., 1942). See also Paul J. Scheips, "'Old probabilities': A.J. Myer and the Signal Corps weather service," Arlington historical magazine, 5 (1974), 29-43; George M. Kober, "General Albert J. Myer and the United States Weather Bureau," Military surgeon, 65 (1929), 65-83; and Rebecca Robbins Raines, Getting the message through: A branch history of the U.S. Army Signal Corps (Washington, DC, 1996), esp. chapt. 2.
18. Donald R. Whitnah, A history of the United States Weather Bureau (Urbana, IL, 1961); Joseph M. Hawes, "The Signal Corps and its weather service, 1870-1890," Military affairs, 30 (1966), 68-76; and Lewis J. Darter, Jr., comp., List of climatological records in the National Archives (Washington, D.C., 1942). See also Paul J. Scheips, "'Old probabilities': A.J. Myer and the Signal Corps weather service," Arlington historical magazine, 5 (1974), 29-43; George M. Kober, "General Albert J. Myer and the United States Weather Bureau," Military surgeon, 65 (1929), 65-83; and Rebecca Robbins Raines, Getting the message through: A branch history of the U.S. Army Signal Corps (Washington, DC, 1996), esp. chapt. 2.
19. Donald R. Whitnah, A history of the United States Weather Bureau (Urbana, IL, 1961); Joseph M. Hawes, "The Signal Corps and its weather service, 1870-1890," Military affairs, 30 (1966), 68-76; and Lewis J. Darter, Jr., comp., List of climatological records in the National Archives (Washington, D.C., 1942). See also Paul J. Scheips, "'Old probabilities': A.J. Myer and the Signal Corps weather service," Arlington historical magazine, 5 (1974), 29-43; George M. Kober, "General Albert J. Myer and the United States Weather Bureau," Military surgeon, 65 (1929), 65-83; and Rebecca Robbins Raines, Getting the message through: A branch history of the U.S. Army Signal Corps (Washington, DC, 1996), esp. chapt. 2.
20. Donald R. Whitnah, A history of the United States Weather Bureau (Urbana, IL, 1961); Joseph M. Hawes, "The Signal Corps and its weather service, 1870-1890," Military affairs, 30 (1966), 68-76; and Lewis J. Darter, Jr., comp., List of climatological records in the National Archives (Washington, D.C., 1942). See also Paul J. Scheips, "'Old probabilities': A.J. Myer and the Signal Corps weather service," Arlington historical magazine, 5 (1974), 29-43; George M. Kober, "General Albert J. Myer and the United States Weather Bureau," Military surgeon, 65 (1929), 65-83; and Rebecca Robbins Raines, Getting the message through: A branch history of the U.S. Army Signal Corps (Washington, DC, 1996), esp. chapt. 2.
21. James Rodger Fleming, Meteorology in America, 1800-1870 (Baltimore, 1990).
22. More complete documentation of this case study appears in the author's "Historical introduction: The Signal Office and the bibliography of meteorology," in James Rodger Fleming and Roy E. Goodman, eds., International bibliography of meteorology: From the beginning of printing to 1889 (4 vols., Upland, PA, 1994).
23. Albert J. Myer to Congressman Halbert K. Paine, 18 Jan 1870, "Letters...relative to storm telegraphy," U.S. House of Representatives, ex. doc. 10, pt. 2, 41st, 2d sess., p. 22. Commercial and military interests play significant roles in the history of meteorology. A particularly good case study is R.M. Friedman, Appropriating the weather: Vilhelm Bjerknes and the construction of a modern meteorology (Ithaca, 1989).
24. Halbert E. Paine to H.L. Dawes, U.S. Senate, 18 Sep 1888, Congressional record 19, no. 224 (19 Sep 1888), 9564-9565. See also Halbert Paine to Duane Mowry, 8 Oct 1903, quoted in Eric R. Miller, "New light on the beginnings of the Weather Bureau from the papers of Increase A. Lapham," Monthly weather review, 59 (1931), 68.
25. Halbert E. Paine to H.L. Dawes, U.S. Senate, 18 Sep 1888, Congressional record 19, no. 224 (19 Sep 1888), 9564-9565. See also Halbert Paine to Duane Mowry, 8 Oct 1903, quoted in Eric R. Miller, "New light on the beginnings of the Weather Bureau from the papers of Increase A. Lapham," Monthly weather review, 59 (1931), 68.
26. Report of the Chief Signal Officer in the annual reports of the Secretary of War, 1873, 306; Scheips, "Old probabilities," 35; Lewis J. Darter, Jr., "The origin and development of the Weather Bureau," Darter, comp. (ref. 12), 14.
27. Report of the Chief Signal Officer in the annual reports of the Secretary of War, 1873, 306; Scheips, "Old probabilities," 35; Lewis J. Darter, Jr., "The origin and development of the Weather Bureau," Darter, comp. (ref. 12), 14.
28. Report of the Chief Signal Officer in the annual reports of the Secretary of War, 1873, 306; Scheips, "Old probabilities," 35; Lewis J. Darter, Jr., "The origin and development of the Weather Bureau," Darter, comp. (ref. 12), 14.
29. A recent summary of the history of telegraphy likens Samuel F.B. Morse to "an immense spider in the center of a vast web he himself had woven;" Tom Standage, The Victorian internet (New York, 1998), 182. Standage says nothing, however, about the interrelatedness of telegraphy and weather forecasting, for example as in the careers of Joseph Henry and Albert J. Myer.
30. [Albert J. Myer], "Some of the chief uses and adaptabilities of the Signal Office reports and publications," typeset copy in Albert J. Myer Papers, Library of Congress. For details see Report of the Chief Signal Officer in the annual reports of the secretary of war, 1871-1891.
31. [Albert J. Myer], "Some of the chief uses and adaptabilities of the Signal Office reports and publications," typeset copy in Albert J. Myer Papers, Library of Congress. For details see Report of the Chief Signal Officer in the annual reports of the secretary of war, 1871-1891.
32. Robert V. Bruce, 1877: Year of violence (Indianapolis, 1959), 73, 230, 271, 276.
33. Ibid.; telegrams were edited for clarity.
34. Ibid., 279-280, 291.
35. William H. Leckie, The military conquest of the southern plains (Norman, OK, 1963), 187, quoting Martin S. Garretson, The American bison: The story of its extermination as a wild species and its restoration under federal protection (New York, 1938), 128.
36. William H. Leckie, The military conquest of the southern plains (Norman, OK, 1963), 187, quoting Martin S. Garretson, The American bison: The story of its extermination as a wild species and its restoration under federal protection (New York, 1938), 128.
37. Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano, testimony before Congress, 10 Jan 1874, House report No. 384, 43rd Cong., 1st sess., 99, quoted in Robert Wooster, The military and United States Indian policy 1865-1903 (New Haven, 1988), 171.
38. Mary Clemmer Ames, Ten years in Washington: Or, inside life and scenes in our national capital as a woman sees them (Hartford, 1882), 502.
39. See for example H.H.C. Dunwoody to W.G. Atkinson, chairman, meteorological committee, Merchant's Exchange, Baltimore, 27 June 1877, OCSO, Miscellaneous Letters Sent, RG-27, Archives II.
40. D. Marean to Henry E. Williams, 7 Apr 1922, Other records, reminiscences of employees & miscellaneous historical meteorological information, item 47, RG 27, Archives II.
41. Report of the Chief Signal Officer, 1877, p. 500; Willis Conner Sorensen, "Brethren of the net: American entomology, 1840-1880" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis, 1984), p. 254. See also letter to C.V. Riley, St. Louis, Mo, 20 Feb 1877, OCSO, Miscellaneous Letters Sent, RG-27, archives II.
42. Report of the Chief Signal Officer, 1877, p. 500; Willis Conner Sorensen, "Brethren of the net: American entomology, 1840-1880" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis, 1984), p. 254. See also letter to C.V. Riley, St. Louis, Mo, 20 Feb 1877, OCSO, Miscellaneous Letters Sent, RG-27, archives II.
43. Cleveland Abbe to Elias Loomis, 13 Mar 1878, Elias Loomis Papers, Beinecke Library, Yale University.
44. George W. Cullum, Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. from its establishment, in 1802 to 1890 with the early history of the United States Military Academy, 3rd edn., Vol. 2 (10 vols., Boston, 1891), s.v., Hazen, William B., no. 1704, pp. 632-635. See also Paul Andrew Hutton, ed.. Soldiers west: Biographies from the military frontier (Lincoln, NE, 1987).
45. George W. Cullum, Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. from its establishment, in 1802 to 1890 with the early history of the United States Military Academy, 3rd edn., Vol. 2 (10 vols., Boston, 1891), s.v., Hazen, William B., no. 1704, pp. 632-635. See also Paul Andrew Hutton, ed.. Soldiers west: Biographies from the military frontier (Lincoln, NE, 1987).
46. William Babcock Hazen, Our barren lands: The interior of the United States west of the 100th meridian and east of the Sierra Nevadas (Cincinnati, 1875).
47. In April 1881 the National Academy of Science appointed a committee on meteorology to confer and cooperate with the chief signal officer. Members included Simon Newcomb (chairman), Elias Loomis, Wolcott Gibbs, H.A. Newton, William Ferrel, Charles A. Schott, Samuel P. Langley, Ogden N. Rood, and Charles A. Young. Fleming and Goodman, eds. (ref. 14).
48. "Testimony before the [Allison] commission to consider the present organization of the signal service..." U.S. Senate, misc. doc. 82, 49th Cong., 1st sess. See also A. Hunter Dupree, Science in the federal government: A history of policies and activities (Cambridge, MA, 1957), 190, 215, et seq.
49. William Babcock Hazen, A narrative of military service (Boston, 1885).
50. Powell (ref. 10), s.v., Greely, Adolphus W., p. 339; and Dictionary of American biography (New York, 1928-36), s.v., Greely, Adolphus W.
51. Powell (ref. 10), s.v., Greely, Adolphus W., p. 339; and Dictionary of American biography (New York, 1928-36), s.v., Greely, Adolphus W.
52. Adolphus W. Greely, Three years of arctic service: An account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-84, and the attainment of the farthest north (2 vols., New York, 1886); and International Polar Expedition, The United States expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Land, Proceedings, 49th Cong., 1st sess. House misc. doc. no. 393 (2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1888).
53. Adolphus W. Greely, Three years of arctic service: An account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-84, and the attainment of the farthest north (2 vols., New York, 1886); and International Polar Expedition, The United States expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Land, Proceedings, 49th Cong., 1st sess. House misc. doc. no. 393 (2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1888).
54. [H. Helm Clayton], The transfer of the United States Weather Service to a civil bureau (Boston, 1889). See also Thomas J. Brown, The necessity for a civilian directorship of the new Weather Bureau, as against a military protectorate (n.p. 1891), copy in the American Philosophical Society Library; and "Records relating to the transfer of meteorological functions from the war department to the agriculture department, 1887," RG 27, archives II.
55. [H. Helm Clayton], The transfer of the United States Weather Service to a civil bureau (Boston, 1889). See also Thomas J. Brown, The necessity for a civilian directorship of the new Weather Bureau, as against a military protectorate (n.p. 1891), copy in the American Philosophical Society Library; and "Records relating to the transfer of meteorological functions from the war department to the agriculture department, 1887," RG 27, archives II.
56. N.S. Shaler, "The weather service should be non-military," Boston herald (10 Mar 1889), quoted in Clayton (ref. 37), 15.
57. W.A. Glassford, "Historical sketch of the Signal Corps, United States Army," Journal of the military service institution (Governor's Island, New York Harbor, n.d.).
58. Exemplary in these regards are John M. Staudenmaier, Technology's storytellers: Reweaving the human fabric (Cambridge, MA, 1985); Michael L. Smith, Pacific visions: California scientists and the environment, 1850-1915 (New Haven, 1987); and Ann Shelby Blum, Picturing nature: American 19th-century zoological illustration (Princeton, 1993). The importance of the geophysical tradition in America was first argued by Nathan Reingold, ed., Science in 19-th-century America: A documentary history (Chicago, 1964), 59-107 and 127-161.
59. Exemplary in these regards are John M. Staudenmaier, Technology's storytellers: Reweaving the human fabric (Cambridge, MA, 1985); Michael L. Smith, Pacific visions: California scientists and the environment, 1850-1915 (New Haven, 1987); and Ann Shelby Blum, Picturing nature: American 19th-century zoological illustration (Princeton, 1993). The importance of the geophysical tradition in America was first argued by Nathan Reingold, ed., Science in 19-th-century America: A documentary history (Chicago, 1964), 59-107 and 127-161.
60. Exemplary in these regards are John M. Staudenmaier, Technology's storytellers: Reweaving the human fabric (Cambridge, MA, 1985); Michael L. Smith, Pacific visions: California scientists and the environment, 1850-1915 (New Haven, 1987); and Ann Shelby Blum, Picturing nature: American 19th-century zoological illustration (Princeton, 1993). The importance of the geophysical tradition in America was first argued by Nathan Reingold, ed., Science in 19-th-century America: A documentary history (Chicago, 1964), 59-107 and 127-161.
61. Exemplary in these regards are John M. Staudenmaier, Technology's storytellers: Reweaving the human fabric (Cambridge, MA, 1985); Michael L. Smith, Pacific visions: California scientists and the environment, 1850-1915 (New Haven, 1987); and Ann Shelby Blum, Picturing nature: American 19th-century zoological illustration (Princeton, 1993). The importance of the geophysical tradition in America was first argued by Nathan Reingold, ed., Science in 19-th-century America: A documentary history (Chicago, 1964), 59-107 and 127-161.