p. 413 | DEATH OF GEN. MYER

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 16, 1880

DEATH OF GEN. MYER.

A NOTABLE man has died. Gen. Myer was the father of the signal service which is now so beneficial to the country, and especially to commerce. His reports of the probabilities of the weather won for him the title of "Old Probabilities." But all are ready to accord to him the honor he so faithfully won. The following synopsis of his service as given in the Advance will be appreciated for the incident which gave rise to one of P. P. Bliss' most popular pieces:—

"The death of Gen. Albert J. Myer, chief signal officer of the United States, at Buffalo last Wednesday, brings to notice his valuable services to the country. He had passed from the position of Assistant Surgeon of the Army into the signal service just before the breaking out of the Rebellion. As signal officer on Gen. Butler's staff at Fortress Monroe he saw his first active duty of the war. Afterward he became the chief signal officer to McClellan, and in 1862 was put at the head of the Bureau at Washington. The efficiency of the corps and the important practical services rendered in the field are attributed largely to the energy of its chief. At first both officers and soldiers used to ridicule the flag-waving on the hill-tops and from the high trees. But in the Atlanta and Savannah campaigns of Sherman, where detached mountains were accessible, overlooking vast stretches of country, it was soon found that the information gained by means of signals of the movements of the enemy and the celerity in sending orders and messages to distant points, made the operations of the Signal Corps as important as those of any department of the Army. One of the most remarkable feats was the receiving of messages by Sherman on Kennesaw Mountain from a beleaguered garrison at Altoona Pass and the transmission of orders some fifteen miles over the heads of the Rebel Army. By this means re-inforcements were ordered up and the garrison and valuable stores were saved, which could have been done in no other way. The writer of this stood near Gen. Sherman when the message came, by use of signal flags and field telescopes, that Gen. Corse, the commanding officer at Altoona, was wounded in the head, and Col. Tourtelotte, the second in command, severely in the leg. Gen. Sherman signaled to hold on and he would soon bring relief. Gen. Corse replied that he was determined to hold out, and he did so. Upon this incident related by Maj. Whittle, P. P. Bliss founded his well-known Sunday-school song, 'Hold the Fort.' And very fittingly Gen. Myer's brevet as Brigadier-General made mention of the date of this remarkable service of his corps—October 5, 1864,—as an achievement worthy of commemoration, and the credit of which he was entitled to share."