U.S. Army Signal Corps

The U.S. Army Signal Corps was founded in 1861 by United States Army Major Albert J. Myer, a physician by training. The Signal Corps develops and tests communication equipment for the battlefield

Early history

Major Myer first used his visual signaling system, called "wigwag, in New Mexico during the 1860–1861 Navajo expedition. It was tested in Civil War combat in June 1861 to direct the fire of a harbor battery at Fort Calhoun (Fort Wool) against the Confederate positions opposite Fort Monroe. On 3 March 1863 Congress authorized a regular Signal Corps for the duration of the war. Some 2900 officers and enlisted men served in the Civil War Signal Corps.

Related Topics:
New Mexico - 1860 - 1861 - Navajo - Civil War - Fort Wool - Confederate - Fort Monroe - 3 March - 1863 - Congress

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Myer's Civil War innovations included an unsuccessful balloon experiment at First Bull Run and an electric telegraph in the form of the Beardslee magnetoelectric telegraph machine. Even in the Civil War the wigwag system was waning in the face of the electric telegraph.

Related Topics:
First Bull Run - Telegraph

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The electric telegraph became a Signal Corps responsibility in 1867. In 1870, the Signal Corps established a national weather service. The weather bureau became part of the Department of Argiculture in 1891, while the Corps retained responsibility for military meteorology.

Related Topics:
1867 - 1870 - Department of Argiculture

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During the Spanish American War of 1898 and the subsequent Philippine Insurrection the Signal Corps, in addition to providing visual signaling, supplied telephone and telegraph wire lines and cable communications, employed combat photography, and renewed the use of balloons. Shortly after the war, the Signal Corps constructed the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS), the first wireless telegraph in the Western Hemisphere.

Related Topics:
Spanish American War - 1898 - Philippine Insurrection - Telephone - Western Hemisphere

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On 1 August 1907 an Aeronautical Division was established within the office of the Chief Signal Officer. In 1908, the Wright brothers made test flights of the Army's first airplane built to Signal Corps' specifications. Army aviation remained within the Signal Corps until 1918 when it became the Army Air Service.

Related Topics:
1 August - 1907 - 1908 - Wright brothers - Army Air Service

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During World War I, Chief Signal Officer Major General George O. Squier created a major signal laboratory at Camp Alfred Vail (Fort Monmouth). Early radiotelephones developed by the Signal Corps were introduced into the European theatre in 1918.

Related Topics:
World War I - George O. Squier - Fort Monmouth - 1918

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Colonel William Blair, director of the Signal Corps laboratories at Fort Monmouth, patented the first Army radar demonstrated in May 1937.

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