Thomas Eckert

Thomas T. Eckert
Thomas T. Eckert (1825-1910)
Birth name	Thomas Thompson Eckert
Born	April 23, 1825 St. Clairsville, Ohio
Died	October 20, 1910 (aged 85) New York City
Buried at	St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, New York City
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service/branch	Union Army
Years of service	1861 - 1866
Rank	Brevet Brigadier General
Commands held	U.S. Military Telegraph Corps
Battles/wars	American Civil War
Other work	Assistant Secretary of War President, Western Union

Thomas Thompson Eckert (23 April 1825 – 20 October 1910) was an officer in the U.S. Army, Chief of the War Department Telegraph Staff from 1862–1866, United States Assistant Secretary of War from 1865–1867 and an executive at Western Union.

Early life

Thomas Thompson Eckert was born April 23, 1825 in St. Clairsville, Ohio.^[1] At a young age Eckert became interested in the use of the telegraph and the actions of Samuel F.B. Morse. Reading The National Intelligencer he became fascinated with the proceedings between Morse and Congress in which Morse was granted money to construct an experimental telegraph line.^[2] In 1847, after telegraph lines were built from New York to Washington D.C., Eckert decided to travel to New York in order to see the Morse telegraph in action and became an operator with the Morse Telegraph Company.^[3] Eckert then returned home to Ohio and learned how to telegraph. When Eckert returned home, he took a job as an operator at the Wade Telegraph Company, which was owned by J.H. Wade. While working as one of Wade's operators in Wooster, Ohio, in 1849 Eckert was appointed local postmaster as well.^[3][4] Eckert combined these two jobs by connecting the telegraph wire to the post office. In 1852, Wade appointed Eckert to superintend the construction of a telegraph line between Pittsburg and Chicago on the Fort Wayne route. The lines under Eckert's management became part of the Union Telegraph Company, and his jurisdiction was substantially enlarged.^[3][4]

Eckert held this position as superintendent until 1859, when he moved to Montgomery County, North Carolina, to manage a gold mine.^[3][4] In 1861, Eckert returned to Ohio to bring his wife Emma D. Whitney and his children to North Carolina.^[5] But upon returning to the mines, Eckert found he had been accused of being a Northern spy. When his case was heard before a judge, the judge acquitted Eckert due to lack of proof. After the case, Eckert and his family escaped back north to Cleveland with the help of influential friends in 1861.^[6]

Service During the Civil War

Major Thomas T. Eckert near Petersburg, Va., 1864.

After arriving in Cleveland, Eckert telegraphed Assistant Secretary of War Thomas A. Scott that his services were available. Eckert was ordered to Washington D.C. and assigned to General George B. McClellan's headquarters as captain and aide-de-camp in charge of military telegraph operations, and accompanied him on the Peninsula Campaign as superintendent of the military telegraph for the Department of the Potomac.^[4][7] His service on the battlefield did not last long because in September 1862 he was sent to Washington D.C. to organize and administer the War Department's military telegraph (a position he held until 1866) under the rank of major.^[4][8] Eckert was well respected by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and President Abraham Lincoln for his organizational skills. Both Stanton and Lincoln charged him with important missions that went above Eckert's formal duties.^[3] In 1864 Eckert was brevetted lieutenant colonel and then later was granted the rank of brigadier general of volunteers in 1865. Later, Stanton went on to appoint him Assistant Secretary of War in 1866, a position Eckert held until 1867.^[3][4]

After the war

Eckert resigned as Assistant Secretary of War and established himself as a major figure in the American telegraph industry. His first job after his resignation was managing the eastern division of Western Union. In 1875 he became president of the Atlantic and Pacific telegraph company, and then in 1880, Eckert became president of the American Union Telegraph, Western Union's main competitor.^[3][4] When Western Union and American Union Telegraph merged in 1881, Eckert was named vice president and general manager of the expanded Western Union.^[3][4] Eckert, in his role as vice president, was an integral part of Western Union's management and growth. In 1893, Eckert succeeded Dr. Norvin Green to become president of Western Union.^[3] He retired from this position in 1900 to become chairman of the board of directors.^[3] Eckert held this position until close to his death on October 20, 1910.^[3]

References

• Mr. Lincoln's White House

1.  Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Eckert, Thomas Thompson". Encyclopedia Americana.
2. David Homer Bates, Lincoln in the Telegraph Office, New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, (1907), 124.
3. Edward Hagerman (Feb 2000). "Eckert, Thomas Thompson". American National Biography Online.
4.  Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). "Eckert, Thomas Thompson". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
5. Bates, 125.
6. Bates, 129-130.
7. Bates, 131.
8. Bates, 45 & 137

External links

• "Western Union's President.; Gen. Thomas T. Eckert Elected to Succeed Dr. Green," New York Times, March 9, 1893.
• "Gen. T.T. Eckert's Birthday; The Western Union's President Vigorous at Seventy Years," New York Times, April 24, 1895
• Biography by Earl D. Berry, New York Times Illustrated Weekly Magazine, Sept. 5, 1897.
• Obituary, New York Times, Oct. 21, 1910.
• Find A Grave: Thomas T. Eckert