Person:Anson Stager (1)

Anson Stager, an early pioneer in use of the telegraph, was chief of U.S. Military Telegraph in the Civil War and later was involved with Western Union as well as Vanderbilt business interests in the West.

As a youth Stager worked as an apprentice on the Rochester Daily Advertiser, where he learned printing and telegraphy. Afterwards he was a telegraph operator in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and went on to open a telegraph office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1848, he was became chief operator of the National Lines at Cincinnati, where he devised and implemented a number of technical improvements. He was the first general superintendent of the Western Union Company.

Early in the Civil War, Stager managed the telegraphs in southern Ohio and parts of Virginia. He devised a cipher which enabled secure messages to be sent. Later in the War he was appointed head of the Military Telegraph Department. In March 1865, he was awarded the rank of Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers for his service.

After the War Stager held leadership positions in Western Electric, the Chicago Telephone Company, and Western Union.

1. ↑ MacColl, Gail, and Carol McD. Wallace. To Marry an English Lord. (New York: Workman Publishing, 1989).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Find A Grave.

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