SOURCE: Encyclopedia of the Civil War Albert James MYER B 1829 - D 1880 A Union Officer in the Civil War, he was born in New York, and was an Army Surgeon whom helped develop the "Wig Wag" Flag-Signal System during the course of the war. He was the Army's first Signal Officer and served on the staffs of Benjamin BUTLER, Irvin MCDONWELL and George MCCLELLAN; he directed the Signal Corps listed under Signal Communications, before being assigned as Signal officer along the Mississippi. Fort MYERS, Virginia was named after Albert James MYER Signal Communications The Civil War saw many signal "firsts"; the first signal corps, the first air-to-ground telegraph, the first field-telegraph system and the earliest extensive use of electrical-telegraphy. The Union Signal Corps, established on June 21, 1860, was eventually restricted to visual signals, losing a struggle for primacy with the elaborate Military Telegraph System Corps, which was not established until 1862, developed a comparatively primitive set of communications. *NOTE: Please don't ask me what "Wig Wag" means... I'll assume it was the directional appearance of the "wave"... ;) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Chrystie MYERS, ROOTSWEB LIST ADMINISTRATOR BROOKOVER - KRABAL - MOYERS LIST NEWSGROUPS -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --