On Nov. 25, 1862, Abraham Lincoln sent this dispatch to Gen. Ambrose Burnside at Aquia Creek, Va.:
Can Inn Ale me withe 2 oar our Ann pas Ann me flesh ends NV Corn Inn out with U cud Inn heaven day nest Wed roe Moore Tom darkey hat Greek Why Hawk of abbott Inn B chewed I if.
What did it mean?
|
SelectClick for Answer |
David Homer Bates, manager of the War Department Telegraph Office, explains: “By reading the above backward, observing the phonetics, and bearing in mind that flesh is the equivalent of meat, the real meaning is easily found”:
If I should be in a boat off Aquia Creek at dark tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, could you without inconvenience meet me and pass an hour or two with me? — A. Lincoln
“It cannot be said that this specimen exhibits specially clever work on the part of the War Department staff, nor is it likely that the Confederate operator, if he overheard its transmission, had much trouble in unraveling its meaning. As to this we can only conjecture.” Burnside understood it, and the two met.
(David Homer Bates, “Lincoln in the Telegraph Office,” The Century Magazine, June 1907)
|
