Victor Rosewater, Edward Rosewater Biography, undated, pages 34-37, Rosewater Family Papers (MS-503), American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio.

President Lincoln in the Telegraph Office

Victor Rosewater, a Nebraska politician and a founding member of the American Jewish Committee, wrote an unpublished biography of his father, Edward Rosewater, a telegraph operator for the War Department in Washington, D.C. during a portion of the Civil War.

In the biography, Victor Rosewater described Edward?s work at the telegraph office and made several references to his encounters with President Abraham Lincoln. Victor explained that the lack of telegraphic service in the White House led to Lincoln?s daily visits to the War Department?s telegraph office. Lincoln spent the majority of the Battle of Fredericksburg (13 December 1862) at the office, receiving and dictating dispatches, and even lunching with Edward and others on beer and crackers. In Victor?s biography, Edward described Lincoln as ?downcast and depressed? after the loss of life at Fredericksburg (pages thirty-four through thirty-five). In a more humorous reminiscence, Lincoln, rather than becoming despondent over a cartoon that depicted him as a ?butcher,? turned it into a joke (page thirty-five).

Victor also described Edward?s work in dispatching Lincoln?s Emancipation Proclamation; although Edward Rosewater?s diary of the time did not mark the Proclamation with any major significance, he seemingly grasped its importance later, writing that when Lincoln had come to the office and delivered the message, ?He was entirely calm and made no reference to the act which since has been surrounded by artists of the pen by such a halo.? (page thirty-five)

A copy of pages thirty-four through thirty-seven of the Rosewater biography is available in PDF format through the "Download Image" link above.