February 26, 1862
Congress grants President Lincoln authority to operate all telegraph lines. The New York Times reported: “The Secretary of War has issued an order announcing: 1. That from and after to-day, the President takes military possession of all telegraph lines; 2. All telegrams relating to military operations, excepting those from the Department and the Generals commanding, are prohibited transmission; 3. Journals publishing military news, unauthorized, are to be punished; 4. Appoints a military supervisor of messages, and a military superintendent of telegraph offices: 5. This order not to interfere wit the ordinary operations of said companies.” The President develops the habit of regularly visiting the War Department next door to the White House to read the latest war news in the Telegraph Office, which also functioned as a sanctuary from the demands he faced when back in the White House.
The President’s son Tad is better.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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