From the N. Y. Evening Post
We have been shown a dispatch for message in cipher, from Beauregard to some Confederate in Washington, which, in addition to the ingenuity which characterizes the cipher, contains intrinsic evidence both as to its origin and the desperate means proposed by the rebel general for getting possession of the capital. It seems certain that arson and assassination were component parts of the chivalry of which we have heard so much a year or so ago, and perhaps the publication of such a dispatch as this, may modify the tender sensibility of those who adhere to the kid-glove policy in dealing with the rebels who themselves stick at nothing in prosecuting their traitorous schemes. The message deciphered, reads thus:
“I shall cross the river at Little Falls on Sunday at 2 a. m. Signal red and white rockets from Turner’s Hill. For God’s sake don’t fail us. Fire the city at all points as agreed upon at once. Despatch [sic] Lincoln and Scott as you suggest, and let the execution of our plot be perfect.
BEAUREGARD.”
The construction of the cipher in which the above interesting communication is made is difficult of explanation but simple in practice. It consists in laying over a white surface a piece of paper on which is printed the alphabet in various combinations and in parallel lines, covering the entire sheet. By perforating both pieces at the letters needed to spell out such words as the writer wishes to use, the white paper becomes an inexplicable medley of little holes, useless to every one who has not the corresponding printed sheet under it. of course the confederate conspirator has only to fit the white paper sent to him to the key in his possession to read with facility what his friends in Dixie would have him know and do.
We may add that the message above printed was found under the circumstances which verify it as authentic and genuine. It is in the hands of a gentleman of this city, and is highly prized as in important link in the chain of evidence which will go to condemn the great treason when History shall make up the account.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, April 14, 1862, p. 2
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We have been shown a dispatch for message in cipher, from Beauregard to some Confederate in Washington, which, in addition to the ingenuity which characterizes the cipher, contains intrinsic evidence both as to its origin and the desperate means proposed by the rebel general for getting possession of the capital. It seems certain that arson and assassination were component parts of the chivalry of which we have heard so much a year or so ago, and perhaps the publication of such a dispatch as this, may modify the tender sensibility of those who adhere to the kid-glove policy in dealing with the rebels who themselves stick at nothing in prosecuting their traitorous schemes. The message deciphered, reads thus:
“I shall cross the river at Little Falls on Sunday at 2 a. m. Signal red and white rockets from Turner’s Hill. For God’s sake don’t fail us. Fire the city at all points as agreed upon at once. Despatch [sic] Lincoln and Scott as you suggest, and let the execution of our plot be perfect.
BEAUREGARD.”
The construction of the cipher in which the above interesting communication is made is difficult of explanation but simple in practice. It consists in laying over a white surface a piece of paper on which is printed the alphabet in various combinations and in parallel lines, covering the entire sheet. By perforating both pieces at the letters needed to spell out such words as the writer wishes to use, the white paper becomes an inexplicable medley of little holes, useless to every one who has not the corresponding printed sheet under it. of course the confederate conspirator has only to fit the white paper sent to him to the key in his possession to read with facility what his friends in Dixie would have him know and do.
We may add that the message above printed was found under the circumstances which verify it as authentic and genuine. It is in the hands of a gentleman of this city, and is highly prized as in important link in the chain of evidence which will go to condemn the great treason when History shall make up the account.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, April 14, 1862, p. 2
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