Thomas Thompson Eckert

THOMAS THOMPSON ECKERT, President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, New York, was born April 23, 1825, in St. Clairsville, Ohio. He learned the telegraph art in 1848, and the following year, having been appointed postmaster at Wooster, O., opened the first postal telegraph service by receiving the Wade wire into his office, and uniting the duties of postmaster and operator. J. F. Wallick was his assistant. J. H. Wade, now deceased, was at that time building telegraph lines westward, with Dennis Doren as his chief of construction. He saw in young Eckert's aggressive vigor and industry a man he needed. Without much hesitation he offered to him the superintendency of the Union Telegraph lines then being extended from Pittsburgh, Pa., by way of the Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad to Chicago. The Union Telegraph lines were operated in connection with the Wade, Speed and Cornell lines, then somewhat extensively throughout the Northwest. They were of the gossamer order, and all needed whatever support an earnest man could give them.

Mr. Wade having identified himself with the Western Union Telegraph Company soon after its formation, his lines one by one were absorbed thereby. Superintendent Eckert thus came into the service of the company over which in later years he was to become the managing head. In his new relations he became soon known for his energy, good judgment, and capacity for labor. Yet in 1859, he resigned, and went to superintend the affairs of a gold mining company in Montgomery County, N. C. Here he remained until the breaking out of the war, in 1861, when he returned north, and resided in Cincinnati, O.

He was not long permitted to be idle. A few months after his return to Ohio, Colonel Thomas A. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War, called him to Washington, where he was placed in charge of the military telegraphs at the headquarters of General McClellan. In 1862 he accompanied General McClellan to the Peninsula as superintendent of the Military Telegraph Department of the Potomac, with the rank of Captain and Assistant Quartermaster. In September of the same year he was called to Washington to establish the military telegraph headquarters in the War Department buildings, and was promoted to be Major and Assistant Quartermaster.

In this service Major Eckert was thoroughly at home. His duties placed him in the most intimate relations with President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton, by both of whom he was highly trusted and esteemed. An evidence of this confidence was shown by his appointment, at a very delicate stage of the war, to meet the leaders of the Southern Confederacy at City Point, in January,1865, a mission which he performed with discretion, intelligence and fidelity. It was not the only service thus discreetly and successfully rendered during the long night of the nation's peril.

It is one of the unwritten facts connected with that period that General Eckert, on his way back from City Point, after his interview with the Confederate chiefs, was met by gentlemen from New York, who offered him, but in vain, a large sum of money to give them the result of his mission.

On the afternoon when the message came from the army in Virginia, “We are in danger, send Sheridan,” Stanton and Sheridan were in the War Department, in anxious council. Instantly Major Eckert took possession of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, ordered it cleared, and a special engine made ready to carry Sheridan to Harper's Ferry. This was soon done, and all through the night every operator remained at his post, guarding the road until the iron horse had sped beyond. At the break of day the car entered the depot at Winchester, and there pawing the ground, and ready for the great ride to the field, stood the gallant horse which was to make “Sheridan's Ride” famous in all coming history.

In 1864, Major Eckert was breveted Lieutenant-Colonel, and soon after Brigadier-General. The same year also he was appointed Assistant Secretary of War, which position he held until August, 1866, when he resigned to accept the office of General Superintendent of the Eastern Division of the lines of the Western Union Telegraph Company. This included the entire territory between Washington and Cape Breton, including all the New England states, the state of New York and eastern Pennsylvania. His position assumed unusual importance and responsibility on account of the opening up of the transatlantic correspondence, which followed the successful laying of the Atlantic Cable. He carried into this work much of the discipline, vim, and thoroughness which characterized him in the War Department as assistant to his great chief and friend, Edwin M. Stanton.

On January 14, 1875, General Eckert, who had but recently resigned the general superintendency of the Western Union Telegraph Company, was elected president of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. His management of the interests then intrusted to his care was entirely successful. On January 1, 1880, General Eckert became President of the American Union Telegraph Company, and he retained this position until the consolidation of that company with the Western Union Telegraph Company.

Mr. Jay Gould's chivalric friendship for General Eckert, which appears in connection with the latter company, is curious and interesting. It secured for him a post of honor and of responsibility as General Manager of the vastest industry of the world. No one believes that Mr. Gould erred in his choice. General Eckert was a force he needed, and whom therefore he selected and held. As a man General Eckert has personal qualities which endear him to his friends. His physique is powerful, well formed, and indicative of self reliance and capacity of resistance. His feelings are strong, alert, sensitive. As an officer he is punctilious, insists on recognition, on prompt obedience and respect. He has, however, beneath all his official vigor a wealth of consideration and kindness which renders him gentle and approachable, and secures to him a large circle of devoted friends. In the service of the War Department this was especially noticeable. It was just the character of labor in which the fellowship of men becomes strong, fraternal, affectionate. It often challenged heroic devotion. It awoke in the sense of danger the profoundest sentiments of sympathy, respect and love. Among his most trusted lieutenants are some of the men who served under him in the War.

On the death of Dr. Norvin Green, President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, in 1892, General Eckert was elected President of the company, and he was re-elected at the annual meeting in October, 1893.

SOURCE: John B. Taltavall, Telegraphers of To-day: Descriptive, Historical, Biographical, p. 13-4