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PI #155, compiled
by Mabel E. Deutrich (Washington: 1963).
Introduction
On June 21, 1860, Congress, at the recommendation
of the Secretary of War, passed an act appropriating money to
procure equipment and apparatus for a system of signal communication
based on a plan devised by Dr. Albert J. Myer, an assistant Army
surgeon. The act authorized the appointment of a Signal Officer
on the staff of the Army to have charge, under the Secretary of
War, of all signal duty and all books, papers, and apparatus connected
therewith. Accordingly the post of Signal Officer, with the rank
of major, was given to Myer, effective June 27, 1860. Two weeks
later the Signal Officer was ordered to the Department of New
Mexico to participate in the campaign against hostile Navahos.
In May 1861 the Signal Officer was recalled
from the West to establish a signal system for the Union Army.
Although assigned to General McClellan's staff in August 1861
and eventually becoming the Chief Signal Officer of the Army of
the Potomac, Major Myer retained his position as Signal Officer
of the Army. Assistants were trained at several camps of instruction;
the central camp during the Civil War was the one established
at Georgetown, D.C., on August 30, 1861. On March 3, 1863, an
act was passed providing for a separate Signal Corps.
A conflict over the control of telegraphic communications developed between the Signal Officer and the Superintendent of the United States Military Telegraph, a civil bureau of the War Department made responsible for military telegraph service before the Signal Officer had returned from the West. Although failing to obtain control of the electric telegraphs, the Signal Officer succeeded temporarily in obtaining signal telegraph trains for a portable telegraphic system. A later attempt by the Signal Officer, in the fall of 1863, to gain some control over the electric telegraphs resulted in the removal of the portable system from the jurisdiction of the Signal Corps, the transfer of the telegraph trains to the United States Military Telegraph, and the relief of Colonel Myer as Chief Signal Officer of the Army. (The act of March 3, 1863, changed the rank of the Chief Signal Officer from major to colonel. Later an act of February 24, 1880, increased the rank to brigadier general.)
At the close of the Civil War the Signal Corps and the United States Military Telegraph were terminated, but an act of July 28, 1866, fixing the military peace establishment, provided for a Chief Signal Officer and a limited Corps. Among the responsibilities assigned to the new Corps was that of equipping and managing the field electric telegraph. In fact, during the next two decades the most important military activity of the Corps was the extension and operation of military telegraph lines along the frontier where commercial lines were not yet available.
The principal activity of the Signal Corps
between 1870 and 1890, however, was that of meteorological observation
and forecasting. Under a joint resolution of Congress, approved
February 9, 1870, the Secretary of War was authorized and required
to take "meteorological observations at the military stations
in the interior of the continent, and at other points in the States
and Territories, "and to give "notice on the northern
lakes and on the sea-coast, by magnetic telegraph and marine signals,
of the approach and force of storms." The Signal Corps emphasized
meteorological activities until, by an act of October 1, 1890,
the Weather Bureau was created in the Department of Agriculture
to carry out these functions. Signal Corps activities were then
confined to strictly military matters.
During and after the war with Spain the Signal
Corps rendered an important service in the construction, rehabilitation,
and operation of telephone and telegraph lines, including the
laying of several cables. It was during this period that the
Signal Corps turned increasingly to the radio as a means of communication,
but advances were also made in telephony and telegraphy.
An act of May 26, 1900, provided for an extensive
system of military telegraph and cable lines in Alaska. Although
radio stations were installed as early as 1903, it was not until
early 1930's that the submarine cable system and all telegraph
stations, with the exception of the line along the Alaska Railroad,
were replaced by radio equipment. Experiments in air observation
through the use of balloons had been conducted as early as the
Civil War. Office Memorandum No. 6, dated August 1, 1907, created
an Aeronautical Division within the Office of the Chief Signal
Officer. Seven years later, an act of July 18, 1914, authorized
the establishment of an Aviation Section within the Signal Corps.
Army aeronautics continued to be a function of the Signal Corps
until May 20, 1918, when all air service activities were transferred
to the Bureau of Military Aeronautics and the Bureau of Aircraft
Production.
When the War Department library was under the
Chief Signal Officer between 1894 and 1904, the Signal Corps had
acquired photographs and negatives of historical value, including
the Brady Civil War Collection. In 1917 responsibility for ground
photography was also done by the Signal Corps. When aviation
activities were divorced from the Signal Corps in 1918, all aerial
and ground photography pertaining to aviation activities was transferred
to the Air Corps. The Signal Corps continued to have responsibility
for maintaining the historical files of still and motion pictures,
the production of training film, and other ground photographic
work not specifically assigned to other services. In 1925 the
Signal Corps became responsible for the pictorial publicity work
of the Army.
During World War I the Signal Corps provided
special meteorological service for the Army, and because of continued
special needs of the Air Corps and other branches of the Army,
this service was continue until 1937, when the operation of meteorological
service was transferred to the using arms. Responsibility for
the development, procurement, supply and maintenance of meteorological
equipment was retained by the Signal Corps until the Army Air
Forces took over the research and development programs for meteorological
and other air-related equipment in the fall of 1944.
On March 1, 1923, the War Department Message Center was organized and established in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer. The special wire and radio service it provided for the War Department and other Government agencies to important contributions of the Signal Corps during World War II.
The scope of Signal Corps activities was greatly
expanded during World War II. As headquarters office for one
of the major technical services (placed organizationally under
the Army Service Forces from March 1942 to June 1946), the Office
of the Chief Signal Officer was responsible for supervising the
research and development, maintenance, and supply programs of
all signal, electronic, meteorological, photographic, cryptographic,
and related equipment and supplies, except communications and
weather equipment used exclusively by the Army Air Forces; the
installation, operation, and maintenance of the Army's major wire
and radio communication systems and networks; and the production,
collection, and preservation of still and motion pictures, except
for photographic materials peculiar to air operations. The Office
also exercised certain technical supervision over the training
of Signal Corps troops.
This record group contains 932 cubic ft. of
textual records, 724 cubic ft. of photographs, 3,726 cubic ft.
of motion pictures, and less than 1 cubic ft. of maps. The textual
records are divided for convenience sake into three roughly chronological
periods that reflect the varying fortunes of the Corps: the period
between the appointment of a Signal Officer in 1860 and the initiation
of the Corps' meteorological activities in 1870; the period between
1870 and 1890, the documentation for which is fragmentary because
of the transfer of most of the records for that period to the
Weather Bureau (see RG-27); and the period from 1890 to 1940.
The actual dates of the records vary slightly at times from these
dates.
The records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer for the period from 1870 to 1890 that remained after the transfer of most of its records to the Weather Bureau consist mainly of personnel and training records.
Signal Corps records of the American Expeditionary
Forces, 1917-19, are in Record Group 120. Some of the records
of the Aeronautical Division (1907-14) and of the Aviation Section
(1914-18) of the Signal Corps have been removed from the general
correspondence of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (entry
44) and placed with the central correspondence of the Office of
the Chief of the Air Corps in Record Group 18. Some records relating
to Signal activities are in Record Group 98, Records of United
States Army Commands. Records of the Office of the Chief Signal
Officer and the divisions of that office for the period 1940-59,
as well as earlier security-classified documents, are in the care
of the Federal Records Center, Alexandria, Va.
Records of the U.S. Military Telegraph Lines,
Telegraph Division, consist of letter books, registers of letters
received, letters and telegrams received, logs of messages received
and sent, logs of line repairs, and cashbook for line receipts
of the Northern, New Mexico, Northwestern, and Texas Divisions,
and of the signal operators within them.
Cartographic records, 1879-1945 (31 items),
include maps indicating locations of signal stations, communications
lines, administrative boundaries, and meteorological reporting
stations. Audiovisual records include still pictures, 1860-1945
(295,432 items), including photographs of Signals Corps officers,
activities in Alaska and equipment; and motion pictures described
below.
11. ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICER.
1870; 1879-90. 11 vols. 2 ft. Arranged chronologically.
34. GENERAL ORDERS AND CIRCULARS. 1884; 1888.
2 vols. 2 in. Issuances of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer.
Arranged numerically. Name, place, and subject indexes are in
each volume.
35. SPECIAL ORDERS. 1882-83; 1885-89. 7 vols.
10 in.
Issuances of the Office of the Chief Signal
Officer. Arranged chronologically, and thereunder numerically.
Each volume includes name, place, and subject indexes.
36. PAPERS RELATING TO THE SELECTION OF SERGEANTS
FOR COMMISSIONS. 1878-86. 8 in. Papers relating to recommendations
for and the selection of sergeants to compete in examinations
for appointments as second lieutenants. They include proceedings
of selection boards, examination questions, reports of examination
results, and reports on the qualification of sergeants. Arranged
numerically (Nos. 45-69).
37. REPORTS RELATING TO INSTRUCTION IN SIGNALING.
July 1889-June 1891. 1 vol. 1 in. A record of dates on which
instruction reports were received, the number of officers and
men receiving signal instruction, and the type of instruction.
Arrangement varies as follows: By posts; by departments and
thereunder by names of officers; and by regiments.
38. RECORD OF ENLISTED MEN INSTRUCTED IN MILITARY
SIGNALING. Sept. 1869-July 1871. 1 vol. 1 in. Tabulations showing
the military department, name of instructor, names of enlisted
men who received signal instruction, number of hours in various
types of instruction, progress made, and other related information.
Arranged in rough chronological order by month in which instruction
was given.
39. SYNOPSES OF COURTS-MARTIAL CASES. Mar.
1876-July 1890. 1 vol. 1 in. Show for each case the name of
the accused, his rank, the number and date of the order stating
the charges, the specifications, the findings, the sentence, and
remarks. Cases are arranged and numbered (Nos. 478-650) in chronological
order. A name index is at the front of the volume.
40. "TELEGRAPH CIPHER." July 1875.
1 vol. 1/4 in. A revised edition of the "Telegraph Cipher"
issued by the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, containing the
code, instructions, and examples for enciphering meteorological
reports made after July 1875.
44. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE. 1889-1917. 540
ft. Letters received, reports, telegrams, and related papers.
Record cards, containing digests of the correspondence and showing
action taken, are interfiled in the correspondence with the exception
of the cards for the period September 1912-March 1913 (Nos. 31235-32429),
which are filed separately. Arranged numerically within the following
chronological breakdowns: 1889- 90 (which includes correspondence
back to 1885 on the J. A. Swift case), 1890-91.
Audio-visual records
List of World War I Signal Corps Films.
Compiled by K. Jack Bauer. Washington:
1957.
Before World War I, the Signal Corps had given relatively little attention to photography, and few officers or enlisted men had much training in that specialized field. On July 21, 1917, the Signal Corps was designated the bureau responsible for obtaining photographic coverage of American participation in World War I. The photographic coverage was ordered for propaganda, scientific, identification, and military reconnaissance purposes but primarily for the production of a pictorial history of the war. When these films were transferred to the National Archives the Signal Corps' excellent scene index was also transferred. This permits the location of scenes by person, content, place, or date. Hence, the National Archives is in a position to locate specific footage taken by the Signal Corps during World War I. The films described in this special list may be viewed at the National Archives. Copies of them may be purchased subject to certain restrictions.
Part I. Military Operations; The AEF in
Combat; Aviation Activities
148. ACTIVITIES OF THE 90TH AERO SQUADRON. 1 reel.
Loading and releasing carrier pigeons, installing
a 52-cm. aerial camera, training use of double Lewis gun mounting,
personnel of 90th Aero Squadron at Bethelainville, two Sopwith
Camels taking off, a meteorological station, and a baseball game.
RG-112. RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE SURGEON
GENERAL (ARMY).
NM-20 compiled
by Patricia Andrews and revised by Garry Ryan (1964).
Introduction
During the Revolution there had been an army
medical organization under a director-general, but it was mustered
out with the Continental Army. Except for the periods of the
war scares of 1798 and the War of 1812, no really organized medical
department existed from 1783-1818. An act of April 14, 1818 (3
Stat. 426), regulating the staff of the Army, provided for a Surgeon
General an Assistant Surgeon General, and an increase in the number
of post surgeons. From 1818 to 1963, the Surgeon General and
the Surgeon General's Office have remained the administrative
head and headquarters, respectively, of the Army Medical Service.
The mission of this service, known as the Medical Department
until 1950, is to maintain the health of the Army and conserve
its fighting strength. The records amount to about 4,240 cubic
feet. Related records are in RG-94, 98, 120, and 160.
Surgeons General who were active in the collection of meteorological records:
Central Office
Correspondence, 1818-90.
1. NAME AND SUBJECT INDEXES TO PART (1871-89)
OF SERIES 2. 20 vols. 3 ft. Yearly indexes.
2. LETTERS AND ENDORSEMENTS SENT. APR. 1818-OCT.
1889. 90 VOLS. Arranged chronologically. The volumes for the
period 1818-73 have name and subject indexes. For name and subject
indexes for the period 1871-89 see series 1.
4. LETTERS AND ENDORSEMENTS SENT TO THE SECRETARY
OF WAR. Mar. 1837-May 1866. 6 vols. 1 ft. Arranged chronologically.
Name and subject indexes available.
6. LETTERS AND ENDORSEMENTS SENT TO THE WAR
DEPARTMENT. Sept. 1862-Oct. 1889. 25 vols. 5 ft. Arranged
chronologically. Name and subject indexes available.
9. NAME AND SUBJECT INDEXES TO PART (1862-89)
OF SERIES 12. 39 vols. 6 ft. Yearly indexes.
10. REGISTERS OF LETTERS RECEIVED. 1822-89.
62 vols. 15 ft. Arranged by period, thereunder alphabetically
by initial letter of correspondent's surname, and thereunder generally
by date of receipt. The entries are numbered consecutively.
12. LETTERS RECEIVED. 1818-89. 530 ft. Arranged
alphabetically by initial letter of correspondent's surname and
thereunder chronologically to 1870. From 1871 to 1889 arranged
by year and thereunder arranged and numbered in chronologically
order. For registers to these letters see series 10. For name
and subject indexes see series 9.
Records of Individual Medical Department
Officers, 1820-1936.
226. LETTERS SENT BY SURGEON THOMAS LAWSON.
Apr. 1820-July 1822; Oct. 1825. 1 vol. 1 in. Arranged chronologically.
227. LETTER BOOK OF SURGEON THOMAS F. AZPELL.
1862-76. 1 vol. 1 in. Arranged chronologically.
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