Communications During The Civil War

    There was many ways to communicate during the Civil War, even though they did not have email, phones, or social media. Some of the ways they did communicate by however included newspapers, photography, telegraphs, boats with the enemies, and semaphore flags.

    Newspapers looked a lot different from the ones you see today, appearance wise. They pretty much are the same with their content, but the ones during the Civil War were black and white. Also, the ones during the Civil War had a lot less pictures since photography was just starting up.

    Photography was only in black and white during the Civil War. Individuals or newspaper companies could hire photographers to take photos for them. There were also photographers for the military. The photographers would travel by horse and carriage so they could capture the action. Back then, cameras were a lot bigger than they are now. Quite often photographers followed armies into battle so they could get pictures of the action. This was nice for the citizens because he could see what was going on without having to fight or join the army.

    Telegraphs were emerging during the Civil War. They were used to send messages from different locations. Telegraph people followed the army around, letting them be able to communicate from the battlefront. They set up telegraph poles and wires which allowed them to do so.

    Even though the North and South sides were fighting each other, they still were just people. The two sides would exchange goods and information like newspapers, tobacco, and coffee. They did this by sending a sailboat across the river filled with the goods they were giving to the other side. They would tie the sail in place. Then the other side would load it with their goods and send it back. They did this without their commanders knowing.

    Semaphore Flags are/were a way to communicate. You did this by getting far away from another person, but so they could still see you. Then you could message back and forth using the flags. This was good because the enemy wouldn’t be able to notice you unless they knew exactly where to look.

    There was many ways to communicate during the civil war, and there are many ways to communicate now. Some of the ways to communicate back then included newspapers, photography, telegraphs, boats with the enemies, and semaphore flags. We have gotten so much more technology since then, so what will come in the future?