Lincoln in the Telegraph Office:

“As the Civil War raged, President Abraham Lincoln spent many hours in the War Department’s telegraph office, where he received all his telegrams. Morning, noon, and night Lincoln would visit the small office to receive the latest news from the armies at the front. The place was a refuge for the president, who waited for incoming dispatches and talked while they were being deciphered. David Homer Bates, one of the first military telegraphers, recollects those presidential visits during times of